The Adventures of Mr. Joseph P. Gray

E. Phillips Oppenheim

Joseph P. Cray is an American manufacturer who has just completed a year serving coffee to the troops in France during World War 1. He is motivated by good will, and also to escape his American second wife who is the head of a temperance organization. With sybaritic glee, he returns to London, dons civilian garb, and enjoys his first cocktail. He is soon joined by his daughter, the beautiful Lady Sara Sittingbourne, who lives in London. Together the two seek adventure in the form of crimes foiled, jewels recovered, spies uncovered, and plots smashed. Edward Phillips Oppenheim was an English novelist, in his lifetime a major and successful writer of genre fiction including thrillers.

The Amazing Judgment

E. Phillips Oppenheim

This is a very early novel by E. Phillips Oppenheim from 1897. The wealthy and bored Lord Hildyard, Marquis of Esholt, is on a yachting tour with a group of friends, including his kept lover, Pauline Owston. When Hildyard spies an apparently uninhabited island, he slips off the ship in search of adventure. In the middle of the night, he hears wonderful violin music and finds a young and beautiful girl, Bertha, playing in the forest. She is accompanied by a cruel and misshapen dwarf. Enchanted, Hildyard stays on the island, where he finds an old college chum, Stanley Owston, the estranged husband of the actress, who is the guardian of the girl, and the owner of the island. The adventures are continuing...

The Amazing Partnership

E. Phillips Oppenheim

E. Phillips Oppenheim wrote most famously of secret agents and duplicitous diplomats, secret treaties and international conspiracies, moonlit Riviera casinos, Swiss hotel suites, perilous yacht trips, and glamorous trans-European express trains. Known in his time as the Prince of Storytellers, Oppenheim, like the brand names of todays best seller lists, offered readers in the first half of the 20th century a steady, predictable, and entertaining supply of pop fiction. The Amazing Partnership is one of E. Phillips Oppenheims most intriguing stories. This story deals with a young man and a young woman who make an informal partnership in criminal investigation.

The Avenger

E. Phillips Oppenheim

Yet another collection of linked short stories from Oppenheim. By chance a young man and woman meet and set up an agency to aid Scotland Yard, but is romance in the air? This story deals with a young man and a young woman who make an informal partnership in criminal investigation. This whodunit murder mysteries collection brings to you some of Oppenheims finest murder mysteries to keep you at your toes: The Evil Shepherd Murder at Monte Carlo, or Wolves Amongst the Honey, The Glenlitten Murder and others. Phillips Oppenheim was an internationally renowned author of mystery and espionage thrillers. His novels and short stories have all the elements of blood-racing adventure and intrigue and are precursors of modern-day spy fictions.

The Battle of Basinghall Street

E. Phillips Oppenheim

The story of a young man, Lord Sandbrook, who takes revenge against the directors of a company he holds responsible for the deaths of his father and mother. The battlefield is Basinghall Street, where the offices of Woolito, Limited, are situated. A textile business is the center of strange machinations suicides, failures, conflagrations, disaster to various directors, finally a raid on the stock, and the president is a ruined man. In this story Mr. Oppenheim takes a vacation from international intrigue in a Monte Carlo setting and devotes himself to describing a big business battle in London. The story is told with the usual Oppenheim flourish, a great deal of action, many details of personality and adventures.

The Betrayal

E. Phillips Oppenheim

Guy Ducaine is a recent graduate of Oxford University. Through a series of unfortunate events he is penniless and starving in the rural town of Brasters. Seeking to make a few shillings, he schedules a lecture on local history. On the same time, Lord Rowchester invites the officer and explorer Colonel Mostyn Ray to the village to speak. Ducaines lecture fails and he returns to his small house and collapses from hunger. Found there by Ray, and Rowchesters lovely daughter, Lady Angela, they revive him and set in motion a complicated, entertaining, and devious plot. With many twists and turns Ducaine eventually works as secretary to a War Preparations Committee which is chronically leaking plans to the enemy and saves the nation!

The Bird of Paradise

E. Phillips Oppenheim

Mr. Hamer Wildburn, a young American, graduate of Harvard is wintering on the Mediterranean coast of France in his newly purchased yacht The Bird of Paradise, and is puzzled by the desire he finds in visitors coming aboard at different times to buy the vessel from him. One night he is awoken at 3 am by the cries of a beautiful, and wearing priceless emeralds, woman swimming alongside. She comes aboard and offers to buy the yacht for twice what he paid. The next day, the foreign minister of France also makes an offer to buy the yacht at an outrageous price. Soon a known terrorist develops a bomb to utterly destroy the boat and all its inhabitants. And so on, and with the material of conspiracies, French politics, love and adventure the story is woven around the yacht.

The Black Box

E. Phillips Oppenheim

The Black Box is a series of loosely connected short stories detailing the adventures of Sanford Quest, worlds greatest criminologist. The story starts off in New York City, travels to England, Egypt, and around the world to San Francisco, then into the wild west of New Mexico. There are two main plot lines which merge into one along with romance mixed in with the ever present danger. Melodramatic, episodic, supernatural. Its all great fun and Oppenheim keeps the action moving along swiftly, as he always did. Wonderful entertainment and highly entertaining. If you havent discovered the joys of Oppenheims mysteries there is a good place to start. Highly recommended!

The Box with Broken Seals

E. Phillips Oppenheim

The Box with Broken Seals is a thrilling cat and mouse murder mystery following the narrative of Jocelyn Thew and the English Service. This skillfully written and an exciting espionage story of intrigue, unfolding in the Oppenheims best style. The reader will follow with avidity the daring moves of Thew from the time he sails from New York on the City of Boston, accompanied by a dying man and a special nurse in the person of Katharine Beverley, a society girl who is under special undisclosed obligations to Thew. The eventful trip across the Atlantic and the attempts of an agent to outwit his enemies in England lead to the climax which will surprise even the inveterate Oppenheim reader.

The Channay Syndicate

E. Phillips Oppenheim

Welcome to the adventuring, thrilling world of E. Phillips Oppenheims modern retelling of Monte Cristo. Gilbert Channay is released from prison after three years. He had been framed-up by business partners in the Channay Syndicate, and sets about executing his revenge. The retired policeman, Martin Fogg, mysteriously appears, knowing too much about Channays business. He helps Channay escape an attempt on his life, and keeps turning up at crucial times. The plot is the story of Channays revenge against each of the former members of the syndicate. In various intriguing and clever ways he manages to humble them all. Fans of fiction where wronged men turn tables on foes and out-maneuver them will enjoy The Channay Syndicate.

The Cinema Murder

E. Phillips Oppenheim

Phillip Romilly is a poor art teacher in London, half-starved, both mentally and physically. His cousin, Douglas, has everything and even buys Beatrice, Philips fiancée. He strangles Douglas, throws him in the canal, and assumes his identity. Douglas had booked passage to America for the next day, so after a pleasant sea voyage Phillip arrives at the Waldorf Hotel in New York as Douglas Romilly. Philips career in New York is filled with incident. On his wedding day, he is arrested for the murder of his cousin, and he seems lost, but the unexpected happens to save the situation! With colorful characters this classic murder mystery truly captures 20th century English and American life, and culminates dramatically...

The Colossus of Arcadia

E. Phillips Oppenheim

This late novel of E. Phillips Oppenheim begins as the Train Bleu pulls into the railroad station in Monaco. Its a leisurely spy fiction tale set in Monaco as various members of aristocracy from different countries plus one vacationing American woman find themselves involved with international intrigue. The bulk of the book consists of members of the leisure class drinking cocktails, playing baccarat, and generally spending time in Monacos elite clubs. Oppenheims work often reflected the current political and social events he was living through. In the late 1930s, Oppenheim was living in the South of France, near Monaco, as that playground of the wealthy slowly emptied out it wealthy and royal clientele in advance of the coming war.

The Court of St. Simon

E. Phillips Oppenheim

E. Phillips Oppenheim, writing as Anthony Partridge, in 1912. A curious tale in three parts. The Court of St. Simon, by E. Phillips Oppenheim tells the story of Monsieur Simon with his consort Josephine, who lives in the demi-monde of Paris, consorts with criminals and artists, and exacts contributions from various evil-doers in the Court of St. Simon an underground tribunal of, for, and by, the criminal class. One evening, he brings along with the jaded youth Eugene dArgminac who falls under the spell of blood lust and becomes a criminal himself. Edward Phillips Oppenheim provides a thrill of another sort!

The Curious Quest

E. Phillips Oppenheim

Edward Phillips Oppenheim (1866-1946) was an English novelist, in his lifetime a major and successful writer of genre fiction. This novel is an Oppenheim classic from 1919 about a high society villain: characteristic of Oppenheims typical works, with the characters living in luxury, and a very flowing and exact story. Much of Oppenheims work possesses a unique escapist charm, featuring protagonists who delight in Epicurean meals, surroundings of intense luxury, and the relaxed pursuit of criminal practice, on either side of the law. The Curious Quest is a lovely tale of a rich man having to spend a year earning his own money because he is bored and ill. Full of action and scams.

The Deliberate Detective

E. Phillips Oppenheim

The adventures of Mr. Stanely Brooke, The Deliberate Detective. E. Phillips Oppenheims detective Stanley Brooke unearths the strange and criminous underbelly of London, but the greatest challenge he tackles is how to capture the heart of his beautiful but grim partner, Constance. This detective contributed to the foundation of the genres history. The collection also includes the following stories: The Rescue of Warren Tyrrwell, The Princess Pays, The Other Side of the Wall, The Murder William Blessing, The Disappearance of Monsieur Dupoy, The Spiders Parlor, The Silent People, and The Glen Terrace Tragedy.

The Devils Paw

E. Phillips Oppenheim

Julian Orden, son of a British aristocrat attends a dinner party and meets Catherine, a young woman of mixed antecedents British and Russian. She is entrusted with important documents. When she is suspected of being a spy and arrested, she saves herself by giving the papers into the keeping of young Orden. A beautiful, intelligent young woman is she a traitorous spy or a patriot? These two characters become caught up in a plan by the leaders of the working people of Germany and England to force a premature end to World War I. Secret agents, an international conspiracy, and the threat of war make The Devils Paw a thrilling tale of romance and adventure!

The Distributors

Lord Evelyn and a group of seven like-minded esthetes make up The Ghosts a cabal of social arbiters, of whom the mere mention is regarded as a faux pas. They are imbued with almost mystical power in setting tastes and trends and behavior for the members of Society in London in 1908. Desperate for stimulation The Ghosts embark on a risky program of wealth redistribution... other peoples wealth. Meanwhile, a spurned aspirant to their club, the American debutante Sophy Van Heldt, seeks revenge against them. Originally published in 1908 as The Ghosts of Society this intriguing novel carries the theme of social boredom, ennui, and sensation craving which entranced late Victorian Europe in the pre-war period.

The Double Life of Mr. Alfred Burton

E. Phillips Oppenheim

Alfred Burton, a smooth-talking salesman, is having a perfectly ordinary day on the job when he stumbles across a strange plant with green leaves and a cluster of queer little brown beans hanging down from them in an old house. The virtue of the beans is that he who eats one shall see nothing, think nothing, say nothing but the truth. Alfred Burton has a well-meaning, rather ordinary wife who becomes unendurable to him, and he falls in love with a charming girl who would have no appeal for the man he formerly was. What Alfred really doesnt realize is that the fruit of the plant, when eaten, will change not merely the entire course of his life, but in fact his very self.

The Double Traitor

E. Phillips Oppenheim

The Double Traitor is an espionage novel set in the days leading to the first World War. The main character is Francis Norgate, an aspiring British diplomat who falls in disfavor with his superiors for defending a woman while stationed in Berlin. The resulting scandal causes Norgate to be recalled. On the way home, he meets a German gentleman, Selingman, who claims to be a crockery salesman. But, Selingman is not what he appears to be. Disillusioned by the English government, Norgate allows himself to be recruited by Selingman. Oppenheim tells a good story a little romance, a little adventure turn of the century tales of success and failure, gain and loss.

The Dumb Gods Speak

E. Phillips Oppenheim

This mystery that takes place in 1947 in Nice about conflicting political goals between an American and a Chinese. Shortly thereafter, the granting of independence to the Philippine Islands by the United States, Japan attempts to seize them by force. When the Japanese attempt to invade the newly freed islands, their entire fleet is destroyed by a single battleship of the United States Navy using a weapon that concentrates and amplifies electric currents in the earths atmosphere. Much of the story concerns the current state of government of China and Russia, both of which are seen as lawless tyrannies. It is more than slightly ironic that the goal of the heroes is to use advanced technologies to restore the monarchy to these two countries, much in keeping with Oppenheims traditionalism.

The Evil Shepherd

E. Phillips Oppenheim

Welcome to 1922 and E. P. Oppenheims The Evil Shepherd. A businessman is found stabbed through the heart, the obvious suspect his partner: Oliver Hilditch, a cold-eyed fellow with a paper-thin alibi. Francis Ledsam is a defense barrister and is congratulating himself on a brilliant performance which has just seen Oliver Hilditch acquitted of murder. His ego is pricked by Margaret Hilditch confessing to him that Hilditch was guilty of crimes far more monstrous than murder. Ledsam vows never again to defend a guilty man. But when his newfound principles run up against the harsh reality of real-world justice, he finds himself trapped between his love for a beautiful woman and a powerful desire to do the right thing no matter the cost.

The Ex-Detective

E. Phillips Oppenheim

Malcolm Gossett is a Scotland Yard detective, fed up by the endless conferences and hierarchy of The Yard, he resigns his position and establishes himself as a private investigator, specializing in helping hopeless cases. Clients whom everyone believes to be guilty. There is a great sequence of mysterious cases; International commerce and politics, kidnapping and the international sex trade, Indian succession, jewel theft, and romance. Written in 1933, compounded of a series of episodes in which an ex-detective comes to the assistance of the innocent suspects. Its all great fun and Oppenheim keeps the action moving along swiftly, as he always did. Wonderful entertainment and highly entertaining.

The Exploits of Pudgy Pete

E. Phillips Oppenheim

The Exploits of Pudgy Pete story was written in 1927 by E. Phillips Oppenheim. Peter Bragg and his tormentor from school days George Angus, join forces to run a modern Enguiry Agency in London. The cases which come to them are complex, romantic, dangerous, humorous, and clever. Together the two solve social and criminal problems, and find their romantic mates. These short story collection by Mr. Oppenheim containing also: Drama in the Dolls House, A Comedy in Divorce, Lady Katherines Better Nature, Three to Four, The Ninety-Ninth Thread and others. These stories were originally written as separate magazine stories, then published together.

The Fortunate Wayfarer

E. Phillips Oppenheim

A best-selling author of novels, short stories, magazine articles, translations, and plays, Oppenheim published over 150 books. He is considered one of the originators of the thriller genre, his novels also range from spy thrillers to romance, but all have an undertone of intrigue. He was the earliest writer of spy fiction as understood today, and invented the Rogue Male school of adventure thrillers that was later exploited by John Buchan and Geoffrey Household. This 1927 old detective story by Oppenheim revisits the plot device of a young man who comes into a large fortune suddenly and explores the class differences between the lower middle, and the upper class.