Barr (1849-1912) was a Scottish-Canadian short story writer and novelist. Born in Glasgow, Scotland, his family emigrated to Canada when he was four and he was educated at Toronto Normal School. He took up teaching at Centre School in Windsor, Ontario, eventually becoming headmaster and began contributing short stories to the Detroit Free Press. In 1876 he left his teaching position and joined the staff of that publication, using the pseudonym Luke Sharp, and rising to the position of news editor. In 1881 he relocated to London to establish a weekly English edition of the paper and in 1892 founded the magazine The Idler in collaboration with Jerome K Jerome. He retired from its co-editorship in 1895 by which time he had become a prolific author, primarily in the crime genre. This murder mystery of 1893 is illustrated throughout.