Philo Gubb, Correspondence-School Detective

A hilarious parody of the detective genre — Philo Gubb dreams of becoming a detective like Sherlock Holmes and quitting his job as a wallpaper-hanger. He enrolls in a correspondence course which offers lessons and various disguises. He soon gets involved in several cases and much to his surprise — and those around him — proves to be rather adept at solving crimes. Amazingly, he solves many puzzles and even catches some real thieves and other criminals usually by some mistake or turn of circumstance that puts the criminals in his lap.