Ernest Bramah (1868-1942) was an English author of 21 novels and numerous short stories and features. His humorous works have been ranked with Jerome K. Jerome and W. W. Jacobs, his detective stories with Conan Doyle, his politico-science fiction with H. G. Wells, and his supernatural stories with Algernon Blackwood.
In his stories of detection, Bramah hit on the idea of a blind detective, Max Carrados, whose triumphs are all the more amazing because of his disability.
In The Comedy at Fountain Cottage, Max Carrados is intrigued by the problem which his friend Louis Carlyle's niece is having with her neighbour. The man has developed an unpleasant nocturnal habit of throwing stewed kidneys over the fence into her garden. Carrados at once arranges to go round and investigate....and uncovers a most unusual plot.