General Besserleys Puzzle Box

E. Phillips Oppenheim

General, his companion pronounced, you are getting fat. Too many cocktails. General Besserley, late of the Secret Service at Washington and now a very popular member of Monaco society, glanced downwards at his slightly increasing outline. He was rather a fine figure of a man and his carriage was beyond reproach, but it was certainly true that there was sometimes a little difficulty about the two bottom buttons of his waistcoat.

General Besserleys Second Puzzle Box

E. Phillips Oppenheim

General Besserley sat before his writing-table, drawn close up to the wide-flung windows of his summer-house, his pen clasped in his idle fingers, his eyes wandering though a tangle of drooping roses and clematis beyond the gardens below to where a car was crawling up the mountain road. He leaned a little sideways and touched a bell. In a few moments a white-coated butler opened the door and approached the table.

Gleanings

E. Phillips Oppenheim

The clamour of crushing boughs and howling wind sank every now and then into insignificance before the roaring of deep-throated guns, whose red fire flashed out across what seemed to be a bottomless abyss. Below, the army of the Turks decimated in numbers, yet still a host, within the walls of Crersa, the defenders of an oppressed and brave country making their last stand in their ancient stronghold.

Harvey Garrards Crime

E. Phillips Oppenheim

Harvey Garrard, as his limousine crawled over London Bridge and turned into the dingy streets beyond, leaned forward in his seat looking out of the window with the half-weary anticipation of one who revisits familiar but distasteful scenes. There was a faint air of disgust in his expression as the well-known odours of the neighbourhood assailed his nostrils. Forty-eight hours ago he had been living in a paradise of mimosa and roses warmed by Riviera sunshine, his senses reacting pleasurably to the mild excitement, the music and the gaiety of Monte Carlo.

Havoc

E. Phillips Oppenheim

Havoc occurs when European countries are discussing covert alliances. The story revolves around the creation of a secret alliance between Germany, Russia, and Austria. The English hope to split Russia away by holding the Czar to his previous public commitments, but they need proof of what was done to create the pressure. All the pressures that lead to WWI are there, but the intrigues and secret treaties create an interesting background to the twists and turns of the plot.

Jacobs Ladder

E. Phillips Oppenheim

Jacobs Ladder begins: Seated at breakfast on that memorable July morning, Jacob Pratt presented all the appearance of a disconsolate man. His little country sitting-room was as neat and tidy as the capable hands of the inimitable Mrs. Harris could make it. His coffee was hot and his eggs were perfectly boiled. Through the open windows stretched a little vista of the many rows of standard roses which had been the joy of his life. Yet blank misery dwelt in the soul of this erstwhile cheerful little man, and the spirit of degradation hung like a gloomy pall over his thoughts and being. Only the day before he had filed his petition in bankruptcy.

Jeanne of the Marshes

E. Phillips Oppenheim

The Princess opened her eyes at the sound of her maids approach. She turned her head impatiently toward the door. Annette, she said coldly, did you misunderstand me? Did I not say that I was on no account to be disturbed this afternoon? Annette was the picture of despair. Eyebrows and hands betrayed alike both her agitation of mind and her nationality.

Jednooki Budda

E. Phillips Oppenheim

Powieść sensacyjna napisana żywym i błyskotliwym stylem. Narratorem jest major Owston, zaangażowany przez milionera Martina Hewsa do ochrony swojej unikalnej kolekcji obrazów i rzeźb. Na cenne zbiory Hewsa czyha nieuchwytny przestępca Jeff, ścigany przez Scotland Yard, jednak dzięki umiejętności charakteryzacji i kamuflażu kpi sobie z całej londyńskiej policji. E. Phillips Oppenheim, nazywany w swoim czasie mistrzem wśród twórców powieści kryminalnych i sensacyjnych, był znanym na całym świecie autorem thrillerów kryminalnych i szpiegowskich. Jego powieści i opowiadania zawierają wszystkie elementy pełnych napięcia przygód i intryg, i są uważane za prekursorskie dla współczesnych powieści kryminalnych.

Jennerton & Co

E. Phillips Oppenheim

Impatient of the numerous checks which had held up his car all the way from Croydon, Gerald Jennerton let down the window and looked out. London, he realised at once, was swallowing him up. Not the London upon which he had gazed half an hour ago from his earthward-gliding aeroplanea huge, tumbled chaos of obscurity, with its far-spreading myriads of lightsbut an engulfing wilderness of endless streets, through which cars from every direction seemed to be racing to some magnetic centre.

Jeremiah and the Princess

E. Phillips Oppenheim

American Millionaire meets Ruritanean Princess, Jeremiah Vavasour Strole meets the Princess Marya of Pletz at a weekend party in the Hamptons on Long Island. The year is 1933. Much of the world has been plunged into economic ruin by the stock market crash. Maryas country, Jakovia, is ruled by a playboy monarch who would rather spend his nights with courtesans in Paris, than pay attention to the starving people of his homeland. Michael Grogner, the chief of police and son of the Prime Minister, Nicholas Grogner, has followed the Princess to America to prevent her from seeking funds to overthrow her cousin, the King.

Last Train Out

E. Phillips Oppenheim

Though dated stylistically, this novel has the makings of a decent movie thriller. The story takes place between the Anschluss, the Nazi takeover of Austria, March 1938, and the invasion of Poland in September 1939. A wealthy Jewish banker, philanthropist, and art collector is forced to flee Vienna to avoid imprisonment by the Nazis. He disappears on the night the Germans march into Austria, and his fortune and collection vanishes with him, leaving behind his personal secretary, Pamela Grey, and his agent, the mysterious Marius Blute.

Madame and Her Twelve Virgins

E. Phillips Oppenheim

The two men hesitated upon the tee, gazing down the glade towards the distant-green. Their caddies were still pointing in excitement to a motionless object stretched upon the smooth turf close to the flag. Look there! Its a man! He is dead! The players paused to consider the situation. They were oddly contrasted combatantsone, Mr. Edgar Franks, elderly, large and florid, with a mass of flaxen hair only slightly streaked with grey, a transatlantic millionaire, and owner of the finest villa in the neighbourhood of Antibes the other tall and slim, a mere lad, whose name was Armand Toyes, and who motored down occasionally from his home somewhere in the hills behind Cagnes.

Master of Men

E. Phillips Oppenheim

Victorian Socialist Romance. Enoch Strone is a book-loving rustic loner who lives in a remote hand-built cabin. He works as a mechanical engineer in the industrial town of Gascester. One evening he meets a poor factory girl, Milly, who has been abandoned by her friends during a walk in the woods. On the same day he is accosted by the Reverand Martinghoe who introduces Strone to his beautiful, widowed, wealthy sister Lady Malingcourt. Strone is bewitched by her lovely singing and the seductive manners of the jaded upper class widow.

Matornis Vineyard

E. Phillips Oppenheim

In an interesting precursor to the later I Spy television series, the novel follows the activities of a young British tennis professional, Mervyn Amory, who is spending the season in Monte Carlo. While traveling from Paris on Le Train Bleu, he meets an Italian secret agent who is carrying documents which show the treachery of the dictator Matorni. Matorni is a thinly disguised Mussolini. (The title of the novel bears no relation to the book). Interestingly, this novel was written in 1928, which was only 2 years after Mussolini assumed dictatorial powers over the country. The partisan resistance to the fascists are given the name red shirts.

Michaels Evil Deeds

E. Phillips Oppenheim

Michaels Evil Deeds (and they are very evil at times) is a rather ingenious crime novel in more ways than one. Firstly the 11 chapters each represent a separate incident but overall they do link together, if on occasions somewhat loosely. And secondly the tale is told by various of the protagonists so there is often a different point of view within each chapter.

Miss Brown of X.Y.O

E. Phillips Oppenheim

This novel was written in 1926, almost ten years after the Russian revolution. The nature and tragedy of the Soviet revolution and the new regime are clearly described in this novel. The ruthless and deadly power of Soviet communism tries to extend its reach to the Trade Unions of the postwar United Kingdom. The activities of various secret agents, civilian, commercial, military and cultural are described in this book.