The Crimson Wraith

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Updated: 5/20/26

Legacy of the Crimson Wraith

Legacy of the Crimson Wraith is noir superhero web novel inspired by costumed crimefighters like Batman, the Shadow, and Green Hornet.

For over 80 years, the Crimson Wraith has fought crime in Titan City, defending the defenseless against such villains as the Blue Banshee, Queen Cleopatra, the Shadowmaster, Dr. Oblivion, and the Troubadour. But when a murder hits too close to home, he faces a case that he won’t be able to solve on his own.

Meet Gracie Chapel, a 23-year-old former teenage runaway who has survived the streets of Titan City relying on her wits and fists to handle whatever trouble might come her way. She never expected the Crimson Wraith to emerge from a cloud of smoke and rescue her, much less to need her help in return.

Together, they will dig through a mystery with roots going back decades…

Praise for the Crimson Wraith!

“An enthralling crime-fighting saga that focuses on the people behind the mask” – Kirkus Reviews

“This comic book-inspired plot is packed with complicated and enigmatic characters who bring to life the heart of the story.” – Self-Publishing Review

“A really fun take on this idea of superheroes who have existed for multiple decades.” – The Arkham Sessions

Table of Contents

From Kirkus Reviews

Foreword to Legacy of the Crimson Wraith

From “Nights of Justice: a Study of Titan City’s Crimson Wraith”

Part One

1: The Watcher in Red

2: Shadows at Sunset

3: Scream of the Blue Banshee

4: A Stranger in True Crime 

5: Whispers from a Friend

6: Blood, Glass, and Ghost

7: The Hunger and the Hustle

8: What Price Justice?

9: The Wraith’s First Flight

10: Don’t Be Afraid

11: Return to Sunset

12: A Father’s Love

13: What is Lawful and What is Right

14: A Ghost, Freshly risen

15: Hancock’s Plan

16: You Cannot Kill Me Again

17: Fifteen Seconds 

18: Defender of the Defenseless

19 The Other Side of Purgatory

Part Two

20: Miss Chapel

21: The Killer

22: Your Weirdo Pal in a Cape

23: The Convict

24: Bowling and Baloney

25: The Cook

26: Occupied Territory

20: Miss Chapel

21: The Killer

22: Your Weirdo Pal in a Cape

23: The Convict

24: Bowling and Baloney

25: The Cook

26: Occupied Territory

27: The Crusader

28: A Chance and a Choice

29: Faces in Old Photographs

30: Enter the Zephyr

31: Perspective Provided

32: A Seat at the Table 

33: Unmasked

Part Three

34: The Wily Wisp

35: Into the Crypt

36: The Monte Cristo Code

37: A Lineage of Mask and Cloak

38: Trial of the Crimson Wraith

39: First Steps

40: The Silver Arrow of Lady Luna

41: To Know Things

42: The Return of Shadowmaster

43: The Weight of a Cape

44: In the Lair of Shadowmaster

45: Boxing with Shadows

46: Face-to-Face with Shadowmaster

47: When a Wraith Retires

48: A Matter of Grave Importance

49: Prison, Institution, or the Grave

50: The Playwright of Peril

51: Justice to be Served

52: Curtains for the Troubadour

53: Different Choices

54: Love Whispers

55: All for Love

Part Four

56: Shifting Seasons

57: The Psychedelic Torments of Doctor Oblivion

58: What Love Is

59: The Price of Silence

60: Seduced by the Mask

61: Killers of Different Kinds

62: Quoth the Raven

63: No Chance

64: Because of You

65: The Silverback

66: The Sepulchre

67: The Regent

68: Specter Second

69: The Noble Hero

70: How a Hero Dies

71: Crimson Wraith No More

72: Don’t Say That Word

73: Misery in Summertime

74: Born for This

75: Not the Only One

76: What’s the Point?

The Crimson Wraith

a noir superhero mystery

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What's Next for the Crimson Wraith?

With the posting of its final chapter 76: What’s the Point?, I’m very pleased to say that Legacy of the Crimson Wraith is complete. But Gracie’s adventures with Titan City’s Scarlet Stranger are far from over. I’ve already begun work on the next novel in the series, and it will be some time before that is ready to share with readers. But in the meantime, Legacy of the Crimson Wraith is going to…

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76: What’s the point?

2019. Kevin took a sip from his water bottle. The deep breath he took told Gracie that he had spent plenty of time asking himself the same question. Somewhere he had found enough of an answer to give him a reason to continue the mission of the Crimson Wraith. Maybe his reason would work for her too. “Most people think of the criminal justice system as something impersonal, like some kind of…

76: What’s the point?

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75: Not the Only One

CW: This chapter depicts characters discussing their intent to commit suicide. 1972. Then Edward heard another voice — a man’s voice, strangely familiar.  “Excuse me, sir, but do you think you will be much longer? You are not the only one intending to make the leap tonight.” Edward turned. And there he was, just as he had been seven years before, face-to-face atop the Spirit of…

75: Not the Only One

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74: Born for This

2019. Stephen and Danny stood waiting for them at the steps of Finn Manor when the Taurus drove itself up to the door. Kevin was not doing well, with that gunshot having gone off only inches above his head following the Blue Banshee’s sonic assault. He was still a bit woozy and seemed to have a hard time finding his feet as Stephen helped him up to his room. Danny said to Gracie, “That was some…

74: Born for This

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73: Misery in Summertime

CW: This chapter depicts a character experiencing thoughts of suicide. 1972. There is nothing more miserable than misery in summertime. In the movies Edward had seen as a boy, a man who had lost everything would walk under an overcast sky as cold winds plucked at the collar of his heavy coat. This was a convenient fiction, telling the audience that when the hero is sad, the whole world is sad…

73: Misery in Summertime

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72: Don’t Say That Word

CW: This chapter involves the death of a character by suicide. 2019. “Let him go!” Gracie shouted mid-run, hurtling toward Betsy with every ounce of momentum she gained since leaping out of the car door down below.  Betsy brought her pistol up to aim toward Gracie, but not faster than Gracie could close the distance. Aiming her shoulder into Betsy’s midsection, Gracie speared her backward, off…

72: Don’t Say That Word

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71: The Crimson Wraith No More

1988. Hank threw the Troubadour to the side, scooping up the pistol that had been dropped and readying it in one hand while keeping the crowbar in the other.  The Crimson Wraith didn’t use guns. Hank knew this. But also the Crimson Wraith didn’t usually fight tigers.  With one hand, he drove the crowbar into the boxcar door and wedged it open, then he swung his other hand forward, pistol at…

71: The Crimson Wraith No More

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70: How a Hero Dies

2019. Betsy stood some fifty feet away from him, and just as Danny had said, she had stripped down to her underwear and covered herself in blue paint. Beside her stood a large plastic bucket that must have held the paint from the dark streaks dripping down its side.  Patches of pale skin still showed here and there — along the side of her belly, under her right shin, across her left shoulder.…

70: How a Hero Dies

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69: The Noble Hero

1988. As far as Hank could tell, there didn’t appear to be anything different about the two doors. No light came from under either doorway. No sound. Not a growl. Not a whimper.   Nothing but the words painted overhead distinguished the two. Was there some small detail in the lettering to give away the right answer? Maybe the shade of red paint he used? When he described the gory display left…

69: The Noble Hero

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68: Specter Second

2019. Gracie and Kevin left the penthouse through a different elevator than they entered, a secret elevator hidden behind the refrigerator, which slid away from the wall with surprising ease.  “How did you sneak all this construction into the Sepulchre?” Gracie asked. “I had to get special permission from the owner of the building,” said Kevin, “which is me.”  The hidden elevator brought them…

68: Specter Second

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67: The Regent

1988. One fateful night an orphan had a change of heart and refused to help a gang of Titan City youths to mug a man in a movie theater alleyway. Over fifty years later on  a hot summer’s day, a convicted felon approached that same theater. Although separated by time, they shared a name, a mantle, and a mission — the Crimson Wraith. But Hank wasn’t there to fulfill a legacy. Jasmine — the first…

67: The Regent

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66: The Sepulchre

2019. When they got back to the Zephyr, Kevin placed a call to Danny on the Crimson Wraith’s frequency. The gleaming Art Deco luxury car pulled away from the grim edifice of the TCCF, and Danny’s voice came through the Zephyr’s speakers. “Line secure, Specter Prime. This is Crypt. What’s the word?” “Suspect identified,” said Kevin. He read out the code scribbled in the corner of Betsy’s picture…

66: The Sepulchre

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65: The Silverback

2019. He reminded Gracie of the older male gorilla she’d seen at the Titan City Zoo as a kid. “Silverback,” they called him. Now there was a name for a superhero, maybe a middle-aged one.  But that was just how Hank looked. His head was shaved in a buzz cut, making a thin crown of gray around his head. His shoulders were rounded, as if tired from the years of carrying around all his bulk. He…

65: The Silverback

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64: Because of You

1988. It had been two days since Hank last saw Jasmine. She never came back from checking in on one of her friends who had said something about a client asking her to wear a white rabbit costume for an Alice in Wonderland fantasy.  Hank didn’t have that friend’s address or phone number, which left him to call every single one of Jasmine’s contacts that he knew of. So far, no one who answered…

64: Because of You

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63: No Chance

2019. Like the 6th Avenue Bridge, the Robinson Street Bridge had been destroyed at Zero Hour. Mirroring 6th Avenue’s Arch of Mercy, the Arch of Memory welcomed those who crossed the Brennert River, on whose banks stood the Titan City Correctional Facility.  The TCCF had been home to Hank Mills since 1988, adding thirty-one more years to the five he spent before. At the age of sixty-six, Hank…

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62: Quoth the Raven

1988. Jasmine had the police blanket over her shoulders when Hank arrived. He found her sitting on the front stoop with emergency lights painting the sides of the tenement buildings and bodegas all down the block. When she saw him walk up to her, she reached up like a child to be picked up by their father, letting the blanket slip away. Hank held her. “What happened?” Into his shoulder, she…

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