Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago
After many years of unblemished service to his employers, Jerrold Pogarty, a middle-aged and mild-mannered bank clerk, is inspired to devise and commit the Perfect Crime, one which will go undetected and yet set him up for the rest of his life... The story starts at 00:01:20
Narrated/performed by Simon Stanhope, aka Bitesized Audio. If you enjoy this content and would like to help me keep creating, there are a few ways you can support me (and get access to bonus content):
* Monthly support on Patreon: patreon.com/bitesizedaudio
* Occasional/one-off support via Buy Me a Coffee: buymeacoffee.com/bitesizedaudio
* Donate via PayPal: paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=HMMUWZ7URN26A
* Visit my Bandcamp page to hear more of my performances of classic stories, and you can purchase and download high quality audio files to listen offline: bitesizedaudio.bandcamp.com
* Become a Bitesized Audio Classics member on YouTube, from $1 / £1 / €1 per month:
youtube.com/c/BitesizedAudioClassics/join
00:00:00 Teaser and Narrator's Introduction
00:01:20 The Perfect Crime
00:44:50 Credits, thanks and further listening
For a selection of other classic detective stories, including Sherlock Holmes, Max Carrados, Dr. Thorndyke, Loveday Brooke, Father Brown, Martin Hewitt and more, do take a look at my "Victorian and Edwardian Detective Stories" podcast:
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLi95qAoufCZJMv5kcx_Is-ntdo4W8Wi0r
About the author: Austin James Small (1894–1929) had a short but fairly prolific career as an author of thrillers, detective stories, science fiction and adventure novels and short stories. Despite some contemporary popular success (several silent films were based on his stories in the 1920s), his work has since fallen into relative obscurity. This may be partly due to his early, untimely death at the age of just 34, and his name may also be less familiar than it might otherwise be because he published his fiction in Britain under a pen name, "Seamark".
Born in Luton, Bedfordshire, he went to sea aged 13 and travelled the world as a sailor in his youth. He served in the Royal Navy during World War I, taking part in several key actions, most notably the attack on German submarine pens at Zeebrugge. He was also a champion heavyweight boxer during his time in the Navy. Small began his writing career while still on active service, and it's believed that he adopted the pen name Seamark* to comply with Admiralty regulations at the time; in the United States his work was published under his own name, Austin J. Small.
* "Seamark" has two definitions according to Meriam Webster: (1) a line on a coast marking the tidal limit; (2) an elevated object serving as a beacon to mariners. The second definition is the more common use in British English.
As a young aspiring writer, Small met the American author Jack London and was inspired by him to pursue a literary career; on hearing Small's account of running away to join the Navy at 13, London reportedly said to him: "You must buy a pen and write it all down". Later in his career he was also influenced by the British thriller writer Edgar Wallace. Sadly, it appears that Small suffered from depression for several years in the 1920s, and he took his own life in January 1929. Several of his works were published posthumously.
The Perfect Crime appeared in The Strand Magazine in September 1923; so far as I can ascertain it was Small's only contribution to the Strand.
Title card image: The Letter, by the Slovenian painter Janez Šubic (1850–1889)
Recording © Bitesized Audio 2026
After many years of unblemished service to his employers, Jerrold Pogarty, a middle-aged and mild-mannered bank clerk, is inspired to devise and commit the Perfect Crime, one which will go undetected and yet set him up for the rest of his life... The story starts at 00:01:20
Narrated/performed by Simon Stanhope, aka Bitesized Audio. If you enjoy this content and would like to help me keep creating, there are a few ways you can support me (and get access to bonus content):
* Monthly support on Patreon: patreon.com/bitesizedaudio
* Occasional/one-off support via Buy Me a Coffee: buymeacoffee.com/bitesizedaudio
* Donate via PayPal: paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=HMMUWZ7URN26A
* Visit my Bandcamp page to hear more of my performances of classic stories, and you can purchase and download high quality audio files to listen offline: bitesizedaudio.bandcamp.com
* Become a Bitesized Audio Classics member on YouTube, from $1 / £1 / €1 per month:
youtube.com/c/BitesizedAudioClassics/join
00:00:00 Teaser and Narrator's Introduction
00:01:20 The Perfect Crime
00:44:50 Credits, thanks and further listening
For a selection of other classic detective stories, including Sherlock Holmes, Max Carrados, Dr. Thorndyke, Loveday Brooke, Father Brown, Martin Hewitt and more, do take a look at my "Victorian and Edwardian Detective Stories" podcast:
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLi95qAoufCZJMv5kcx_Is-ntdo4W8Wi0r
About the author: Austin James Small (1894–1929) had a short but fairly prolific career as an author of thrillers, detective stories, science fiction and adventure novels and short stories. Despite some contemporary popular success (several silent films were based on his stories in the 1920s), his work has since fallen into relative obscurity. This may be partly due to his early, untimely death at the age of just 34, and his name may also be less familiar than it might otherwise be because he published his fiction in Britain under a pen name, "Seamark".
Born in Luton, Bedfordshire, he went to sea aged 13 and travelled the world as a sailor in his youth. He served in the Royal Navy during World War I, taking part in several key actions, most notably the attack on German submarine pens at Zeebrugge. He was also a champion heavyweight boxer during his time in the Navy. Small began his writing career while still on active service, and it's believed that he adopted the pen name Seamark* to comply with Admiralty regulations at the time; in the United States his work was published under his own name, Austin J. Small.
* "Seamark" has two definitions according to Meriam Webster: (1) a line on a coast marking the tidal limit; (2) an elevated object serving as a beacon to mariners. The second definition is the more common use in British English.
As a young aspiring writer, Small met the American author Jack London and was inspired by him to pursue a literary career; on hearing Small's account of running away to join the Navy at 13, London reportedly said to him: "You must buy a pen and write it all down". Later in his career he was also influenced by the British thriller writer Edgar Wallace. Sadly, it appears that Small suffered from depression for several years in the 1920s, and he took his own life in January 1929. Several of his works were published posthumously.
The Perfect Crime appeared in The Strand Magazine in September 1923; so far as I can ascertain it was Small's only contribution to the Strand.
Title card image: The Letter, by the Slovenian painter Janez Šubic (1850–1889)
Recording © Bitesized Audio 2026
