Anderson Crow, Detective

The marshal of Tinkletown, a village constable of enormous self-regard and modest gifts, solves crimes that are mostly not crimes, and one that is. McCutcheon wrote best-sellers of Graustark romance and turned aside to make fun of the detective story just as it was becoming respectable. Anderson Crow is a caricature who keeps turning out to be right for the wrong reasons. Fifty-nine plates by painters including Eastman Johnson and John Sloan follow small-town life from cranberry fields to city streets, matching the village comedy within.