First published in 1916, The Crimson Gardenia and Other Tales of Adventure gathers Rex Beach's shorter fiction at the height of his fame — stories of prospectors and gamblers, masked balls and frozen trails, where fortunes turn on a single daring throw. In the title story, a chance encounter at a New Orleans Mardi Gras ball spirals into a comedy of mistaken identity and unexpected love, while the surrounding tales carry readers from the gold camps of the far North to the carnival streets of the Crescent City. Written with the brisk momentum and hearty humor that made Beach a bestseller alongside Jack London, these stories capture an era's appetite for risk, romance, and rough justice. This edition reproduces the complete, unabridged original text, paired with a new introduction and reader's notes that set the collection in its historical context. Part of The Founding Texts Library.