The Incident of the Princess In Disguise and the Conspiracy in the Hostelry at Wittichau

Percy Andreæ (1858–1924) was an English-American brewer and influential anti-prohibitionist during the early part of the 20th century. He was born in Clapham, London to a German father, Carl Andreæ of Frankfurt, and an English mother, Emilie Sillem. During the 1890s, Andreae published short stories and novels, many of which first appeared in The Windsor Magazine.

His fiction drew on his roots, incorporating international mystery and suspense with adventure, set in the height of the Victorian era. The hero of “The Emperor’s Detective” series is a British man-for-hire who finds himself working for a very interesting employer, one who has no qualms about assigning him impossible cases.

Andreæ immigrated to the United States in 1896. He settled in Cincinnati before moving to Chicago, becoming a U.S. citizen in 1914. Shortly after his immigration, Andreæ abandoned fiction writing for a career in brewing. He soon became involved in politics when the rising temperance movement threatened his livelihood. After the Anti-Saloon League made sweeping victories in the 1908 Ohio state elections, Andreae formed a resistance group, The National Association of Commerce and Labor, which fought temperance organizations on the national level. (It largely employed former state Senators and Representatives to further its work.) Andreæ died in Winnetka, Illinois, aged 65.

But back to our interests, his books include:

Stanhope of Chester: A Mystery (1894)

The Mask and the Man: A Novel (1894)

The Signora: A Tale (1895)

The Vanished Emperor (1896)

A Life at Stake (1902)