This is a dime novel, first published about 1900. On its own merits, I'd rate it a 1.0 but given it's historical status I adjusted significantly.The story took about an hour to read and it has everything you'd expect in a dime novel. Hero Jack and heroine Roxy work in Nick Carter's detective agency and they are hot on the trail of a firebug. In the course of the story, Jack trips into at least three cliff-hanger situations, each resolved in the next chapter - and when Jack is only seconds away from a river of volcano-hot foundry slag, along comes Roxy suspended by a chain, grabbing Jack and yanking him from sure death. There are coded messages, disguises, phony accents, painted dogs. There is also a rather well done climax, and in the end the number one bad guy manages to escape, so we'll have to read the next book to.....Why a dime novel ? Well, I've done a fair amount of reading American West history, and I have come across many references to dime novels and their incredible popularity in the late 19th century. Based on my sample of one, the prose may not be all that great, though there are a few high-phalutin' words tossed in every so often, nor is the story line anything that hasn't been done 1000 times since, but it does give a picture of our forefathers' entertainment of over 100 years ago, and for that the price was worth every nickel. ( )