Miles Pennoyer is the creation of author Margery Lawrence, a "psychic doctor" who uses his training in the mystic arts to solve supernatural mysteries and cure the spiritual maladies of his clients. Aiding Pennoyer in his work is his trusty friend, part-time assistant, and faithful chronicler Jerome Latimer. Lawrence drew inspiration from Algernon Blackwood's John Silence and Dion Fortune's Dr. Taverner stories, blending the suspense of detective fiction with the tension of paranormal and fantastic horror.
Lawrence wrote twelve Pennoyer stories, eleven of which were published during her lifetime. The first seven stories were published under the title Number Seven Queer Street in 1945:
- The Case of the Bronze Door
- The Case of the Haunted Cathedral
- The Case of Ella McLeod
- The Case of the White Snake
- The Case of the Moonchild
- The Case of the Young Man with the Scar
- The Case of the Leannabh Sidhe
Four more cases were published under the title Master Of Shadows in 1959:
- The Woman on the Stairs
- Saloozy
- Circus Child
- The Twisted Christ
The twelfth and final Pennoyer story was published posthumously in 1971 as part of August Derleth's Dark Things horror anthology:
The works have received relatively little attention over the years, with reprints few and far between. The 1967 and '69 reprints of Number Seven Queer Street omitted "The Young Man with the Scar" and "Leannabh Sidhe," while a 2003 variant titled The Casebook of Miles Pennoyer: Volume 1 omitted "Moonchild". Master of Shadows and "The Case of the Double Husband" have never been reprinted.
Tropes Found in Miles Pennoyer Stories:
- The Case of...: Eight of Lawrence's twelve Pennoyer stories are titled "The Case of the...". The only exceptions are the stories published in "Master of Shadows."
- I See Dead People: Pennoyer's training in the mystic arts allows him to detect spirits that are invisible to the rest of the world. In some stories he can bring these spirits to the attention of others who haven't undergone the same training.
- Most Writers Are Writers: The character of Jerome Latimer introduces himself in the "foreword" of the first collection as a former solicitor and current writer of moderate success. The short stories are largely framed as accounts of cases solved by Pennoyer and later relayed to Latimer (though "The Case of the Moonchild" and "The Case of the Young Man with the Scar" are adventures in which Latimer participated and recorded first hand).
- Occult Detective: Pennoyer would describe his line of work as a "psychic doctor" as administering to the maladies of the soul, but a fair bit of his process involves Paranormal Investigation into just what sort of supernatural factors are causing those maladies. His powers include the ability to sense paranormal forces, to broadcast waves of suggestive force to weak-willed individuals, and to manipulate the psychic energy of a space to protect himself and others from the malign influence of the supernatural. Additional training in quasi-magical disciplines allows him to perform rituals to identify and control some otherworldly entities, and to astrally project himself both in the physical and spiritual realms.
- Paranormal Investigation: Though he calls himself a "psychic doctor," Miles Pennoyer uses his extensive training in the mystic arts to solve mysteries pertaining to supernatural phenomenon. In his work he crosses paths with various ghosts, vampires, necromancers, mages, and changelings.
- Series Continuity Error:
- There seems to be some internal confusion about how much of Pennoyer's family is still around. In "The Case of the White Snake" (published in 1945), Pennoyer describes how he grew close with his distant cousin Jane Ormond, citing a barren family tree that left him with few relatives to turn to: "Jane had 'mothered' me when I was a lonely boy in my teens, and although we were both too busy to correspond with any regularity, we had kept in touch with each other from time to time... outside our two selves and a few stray elderly relatives like Uncle Benbow, we were both more or less alone in the world." In "Saloozy" (published 1959), Pennoyer describes how he and his sister were alone after their parents' death; "Clare and I had lost our parents early, so we had grown up together more or less alone and were, I think, rather more to each other than are many brothers and sisters..." "Saloozy" also introduces Clare's two young children Michael and Susan, and Clare's soon-to-be second husband Alan Hemingway.
- "The Woman on the Stairs" (published 1959) ends with Jerome Latimer musing over how it would be impossible to tell his sister-in-law Dolly Forster and his niece Pamela of the danger Pennoyer has saved them from (in the form of a psychic vampire who'd latched onto young Pamela), saying "...I can't tell you how grateful I am to you, Pennoyer, and how grateful Pam's mother and father ought to be - and won't be, since they don't know anything about this!" "The Case of the Double Husband" (published in 1971) sees Pennoyer meeting a friend of Dolly's who seems to know all the details of how he saved Pamela, having heard the story from Dolly herself.
