The Mystery of the Gold Box

Valentine Williams

In the dark days just before the outbreak of WW1, Philip Clavering, a British Secret Service agent, is despatched to Europe to recover a gold box carried by a now dead agent, the box holding a deep secret. But the Kaisers man, Dr. Grundt, alias Clubfoot, is also on the trail of that box and its secrets. The chase is on! The Mystery of the Gold Box is the fourth in the seven book series about the evil Dr. Adolph Grundt. He answers to no one except the Kaiser. Hes a big man with a clubfoot. Since hes behind a lot that goes on his nickname is the Crouching Beast. The first in the series is The Man With The Clubfoot (1918), written as Douglas Valentine and the last entry is Courier To Marrakesh (1944). Dr. Grundt is an over the top villain but that makes the series even better. A hard boiled mystery, suspense, and espionage thriller.

The Pigeon House

Valentine Williams

The novel begins in Paris on the wedding night of Sally and Rex Garrett. A former member of the French Foreign Legion Rex mysteriously disappears on the night of his wedding. At The Pigeon House, a lonely inn, a band of conspirators await the arrival of a deserter from the Foreign Legion, who is their key man in their plan to start an uprising in French Morocco. The conspirators have also driven the bridegrooms closest friend into exile and a shameful death, which means he must hunt them down and destroy them. Williams spy story, The Pigeon Man (1927), presents us with a character whose motivations are as obscure as any in modernist literature. Why is the hero doing what he is doing? Why, for that matter, are the other characters? George Valentine Williams never says explicitly, leaving readers to puzzle this out for themselves.

The Red Mass

Valentine Williams

On the day of the execution, Voulland saw the tumbrils approaching. Come, said he to those who were at his side, let us go to the high altar and see them celebrate the Red Mass. The Red Mass is a bustling action tale of the French Revolution and of the sulky and wild young British officer who in one day in London manages to insult a French nobleman, get challenged to a duel and throw a glass of wine in the face of the Prince Regent George the Fat. Sent abroad on a secret mission, both he and his French sweetheart come close to the guillotine. But that is not the end far from it. Written in 1925 by English journalist, actor, lecturer and screenwriter Valentine Williams who was the son of G. Douglas Williams, Chief Editor of the Reuters News Agency.

The Return of Clubfoot

Valentine Williams

An Espionage/Adventure Classic! With The Return of Clubfoot, Valentine Williams has penned a thrilling page-turner of mystery, love, adventure, and intrigue. Whilst spending a holiday in a small Central American Republic, Desmond Okewood, of the Secret Service, learns from a dying beachcomber of a hidden treasure. With the assistance of a millionaire, he sets out for an island in the Pacific. To his astonishment he discovers that the Man with the Clubfoot, whom he had regarded as dead and who had shot his brother Francis, has anticipated him. The circumstances of how Okewood gains knowledge of the treasure and the subsequent pursuit by Okewoods nemesis, Clubfoot, in which the millionaires pretty daughter takes a prominent part, made for a fast-paced, suspenseful, and entertaining read highlighted by a romantic interest and a satisfying ending.

The Yellow Streak

Valentine Williams

George Valentine Williams (1883-1946) was an English journalist, actor, lecturer, screenwriter, and author of many crime and thriller novels. He created The Fox (Baron Alexis de Bahl), Clubfoot (Dr. Adolph Grunt), Mr. Treadgold the tailor and Detective Sergeant Trevor Dene. The Yellow Streak is the first book in the Inspector Manderton series. A wealthy industrialist with a mysterious past, has a group of friends staying with him at his country house in England. He apparently commits suicide, but a good friend of the young woman engaged to the industrialist believes its murder and seeks to find the murderer. Good old fashioned country house novel: sort of locked room, suicide or murder mystery. Highly recommended for people who like to treat a mystery story as a solvable riddle!