Uncle Abner, the mystery solving West Virginian backwoodsman, is the best-known literary creation of Melville Davisson Post. Uncle Abner solved the mysteries that confronted him in a backwoods West Virginia community, immediately prior to the American Civil War and before the infant nation had any proper police system. He had two great attributes for his self-imposed task: a profound knowledge of and love for the Bible, and a keen observation of human actions. One example of Uncle Abner's keen deductive skills is his showing a deaf man had not written a document, because a word in it was phonetically misspelt. The first one of these tales, “The Angel of the Lord”, is perhaps the very first work in the historical mystery genre. Melville Davisson Post (1869–1930) was an American author, born in West Virginia. Although his name is not immediately familiar to those outside of specialist circles many collections of detective fiction include works by him. Post's best-known character is the mystery solving, justice dispensing West Virginian backwoodsman, Uncle Abner. Table of Contents: The Doomdorf Mystery The Wrong Hand The Angel of the Lord An Act of God The Treasure Hunter The House of the Dead Man A Twilight Adventure The Age of Miracles The Tenth Commandment The Devil's Tools The Hidden Law The Riddle The Straw Man The Mystery of Chance The Concealed Path The Edge of the Shadow The Adopted Daughter Naboth's Vineyard
