The Black Avons

Edgar Wallace

Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace was born in London, England in 1875. He received his early education at St. Peters School and the Board School, but after a frenetic teens involving a rash engagement and frequently changing employment circumstances, Wallace went into the military. He served in the Royal West Kent Regiment in England and then as part of the Medical Staff Corps stationed in South Africa. Over the rest of his life, Wallace produced some 173 books and wrote 17 plays. These were largely adventure narratives with elements of crime or mystery, and usually combined a bombastic sensationalism with hammy violence. "The Black Avons" is a novel by this pioneer of crime fiction. Fast-paced, with good twists and turns, an unusual criminal scheme.

The Book of all Power

Edgar Wallace

A really top-notch literary thriller from Edgar Wallace. The story is set in Russia and England around the time of WW1. We follow a 22-year-old man on his first assignment for a Russian-English oil company as he becomes embroiled in intrigue and romance involving a beautiful Grand Duchess, American mobster Cherry Bim, and the influential Israel Kensky and his magical book of all power. It is through Hays eyes that we see the steady erosion of the existing Russian aristocracy and the rise of the proletariat. The novel really belongs to Hay and his circle of confederates. A high-spirited romp through the Russian Revolution with the aid of more coincidences than you can shake a stick at and a good dose of dramatic licence.

The Books of Bart

Edgar Wallace

Best remembered for penning the screenplay for the classic film King Kong, author Edgar Wallace was an astoundingly popular luminary in the action-adventure genre in the early twentieth century. Born into poverty as an illegitimate London child, joining the army at 21, he was a war correspondent during the Second Boer War for Reuters and The Daily Mail. This early work by Edgar Wallace was originally published in 1923. The Books of Bart is a novel of relationships and double-crossing. As the novel is rather short and quite fast-paced with a lot of scenery-changes and adventures, this nice. Highly recommended!

The Brigand

Edgar Wallace

The Brigand (1927) is a collection of a dozen fast-paced, frothy crime capers set in a Britain still reeling from 1926s General Strike. An excellent collection of connected short stories all about likeable conman Anthony Newton. Newton returning from the Great War and unable to find employment decides start redistributing wealth in his own way. Deprived of a legal source of income and faced with homelessness and hunger he decides to become a brigand a sort of modern-day Robin Hood and trick rich capitalists into parting with their ill-gotten gains. Some of the ruses are clever, some only mildly interesting. This effectively boils down to a series of elaborate cons and heists with crooked and corrupt capitalists as his targets.

The Calendar

Edgar Wallace

An enjoyable Edgar Wallace horse-racing escapade. One of the most prolific writers of the twentieth century, Edgar Wallace was an immensely popular author, who created exciting thrillers spiced with tales of treacherous crooks and hard-boiled detectives. The setting of this mystery/thriller is the horse-racing world. A wealthy racehorse owner is banned from racing when he is double- crossed by the woman he loves. With the help of his butler an ex-burglar he succeeds in regaining a L100 note that will clear his name and he falls for the bad girls sister. In an impulsive moment, a man agrees to throw a big race-and then is faced with all the consequences.

The Cat Burglar and Other Stories

Edgar Wallace

A collection of 7 short mystery/romance stories by the great story-teller Wallace which contains the following works: The Cat Burglar, The Pick-Up, Discovering Rex, The Clue Of Mondays Settling, Establishing Charles Bullivant, Sentimental Simpson, White Stocking. The Cat Burglar takes place in the British capital. Here we can see family jealousies, intrigues and double games, all because of a mysteriously disappeared emerald. Sentimental Simpson is the story of a house breaker with a soft heart. Although Wallace wrote many stand alone novels it is, perhaps, for his series based material-always popular with readers-that he remains best known. He was one of the most popular and prolific authors of his era.

The Clue of the New Pin

Edgar Wallace

In this 1923 mystery by Edgar Wallace, Jesse Trasmere is thrifty and does not trust banks, so he keeps all of his money in his prison-like house. Although his nephew, Rex Lander, receives a generous allowance from his uncle, it is not enough for his extravagant lifestyle. Trasmere breaks with routine and informs his valet, Walters, that he is going out of town for a while to avoid an acquaintance from his past. One day he turns up dead, in a completely locked vault, the only clue is a pin found at the scene of the crime... A newspaper reporter helps clear the prime suspect and reveal the identity of the true killer.

The Clue of the Silver Key

Edgar Wallace

The story begins with the murder of Horace Tom Tickler, burglar, who is taken for a ride in the best Chicago fashion and then delivered to Scotland Yard in a stolen cab and all of England will be turned topsy-turvy until the clue of the silver key unmasks the ruthless murderer! Some intriguing twists, and the murderers identity is quite well hidden. With a wide range of suspects miserly rich uncle, heiress-actress, impecunious inventor, theatrical angel, inveterate gambler, even the underpaid butler this multiple murder mystery delivers. The Clue of the Silver Key was made into films and was very popular among viewers.