Simon Iff

Simon Iff is the main protagonist of a series of short detective stories written by occultist Aleister Crowley. He is portrayed as a mystic, a magician and a great detective with a thorough insight into human psychology.

The stories typically revolve around an apparently unsolvable crime, which is eventually untangled by Iff's magickal 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.