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Armiston, Oliver. Oliver Armiston was created by Frederick Irving Anderson (Judge Alan Ebbs, Godahl, Sophie Lang, Deputy Parr) and appeared twenty-four stories and three story collections from 1913 to 1946, beginning with “The Infallible Godahl” (Saturday Evening Post, Feb. 15, 1913).

Oliver Armiston is an Armchair Detective. He originally functioned as a sort of involuntary Watson for Godahl, but Anderson soon took Armiston off on his own set of adventures. After his entanglement with Godahl Armiston is approached by Deputy Parr of the New York Police Department to help solve certain particularly knotty crimes, such as those involving the beguiling jewel thief Sophie Lang. Armiston’s approach to crime solving is rather simple: he gathers as much information as he can on a crime through written and verbal accounts, while not leaving his apartment (he is one of the most immobile of the armchair detectives), and then thinks through the problem until he reaches a solution. He uses Parr for legwork, and Parr in turn receives all the credit.

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