author

Richard Dallas

Best known for a single vintage mystery, this elusive writer left behind a crime story that still draws curious readers more than a century later. The little that survives about him only adds to the book’s old-world intrigue.

1 Audiobook

A Master Hand: The Story of a Crime

A Master Hand: The Story of a Crime

by Richard Dallas

About the author

Richard Dallas is remembered today for A Master Hand: The Story of a Crime, a detective novel first published in 1903. Public-domain library sources consistently connect that book with the name Richard Dallas, and both Project Gutenberg and LibriVox list the author alongside the alias Nathan Winslow Williams.

Very little firmly documented biographical information seems to survive. LibriVox gives dates of 1860–1924 and says Richard Dallas was apparently a pseudonym for Nathan Winslow Williams, while Project Gutenberg also records Williams as an alias. Because reliable details are scarce, Richard Dallas remains one of those half-hidden figures often found in early crime fiction.

That uncertainty is part of the appeal. For audiobook listeners, Richard Dallas offers a glimpse into the mood and mechanics of turn-of-the-century mystery writing: careful investigation, period atmosphere, and a story that has outlasted the man behind the pen name.