Simon Iff

Simon Iff is the protagonist of a series of short detective stories written by occultist Aleister Crowley. He is portrayed as a mystic, magician, world traveller, high society figure and great detective who is advanced in years but possesses a thorough insight into human psychology. According to publisher, editor and Crowley scholar William Breeze, the character is based on Crowley's idealised self-image of his own old age.

The stories typically revolve around an apparently unsolvable crime, which is eventually untangled by Iff's magical and psychological logic. Crowley explained the method of crafting a Simon Iff story in simple terms:

Think of a situation as inexplicable as possible, then to stop up all the chinks with putty, and having satisfied myself that no explanation was possible, to make a further effort and find one.

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