Won by Crime

“'It is no use!' she cried, at last, pushing back the mass of thick black hair falling over her white brow; 'I shall never be able to get India by heart, unless I can see the places. I wish papa would let us go reconnoitering amongst the ruined temples and other mysterious buildings; it is so annoying staying here day after day, never seeing anything outside the palace.'”

In “Won by Crime”, the Portuguese Viceroy Don Garcia has brought his daughter Lianor and nephew Pantaleone to the wild island of Goa, which will lead them on a series of dramatic adventures.

This novella was originally included in “Dyke Darrel the Railroad Detective Or, The Crime of the Midnight Express.”


Allan Frank Pinkerton was the son of Allan Pinkerton (1819-1884), the Scottish-American spy, detective and founder of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, which rose to fame in the mid-19th century. Inspired by his father work and the agency’s archives, A. Frank — like many other authors at the time — created highly sensationalised and popular novels based on the Pinkerton cases.