The Feathered Serpent

Edgar Wallace

The Feathered Serpent is a mystery-thriller novel penned by the remarkably prolific Edgar Wallace. A number of people receive threatening cards emblazoned with the device of a feathered serpent, a device that we later find is associated with ancient Aztec religion and with a cult that still exists in Mexico and Central America. Reporter Peter Dewin suspects the card mysteriously left in the handbag of actress Ella Creed is a publicity stunt. He soon discovers that a wealthy artist, a boxing promoter and a nouveau riche stockbroker share her fear. Then, after leaving the house of millionaire philanthropist and African explorer Gregory Beale, Daphne Olroyd is followed. The Feathered Serpent case will eventually lead to murder and two kidnappings. Who is behind the crimes of The Feathered Serpent?

The Fellowship of the Frog

Edgar Wallace

The Fellowship of the Frog is a typical, fast-paced Edgar Wallace thriller. The plot centers around the identity of an arch-criminal who is using down and outs to do his dirty work. The Frog is a menace to Society. A criminal mastermind who has organized the tramps of Britain into an unlawful army. He murders, he robs, he blackmails... He must be stopped. But who is he? There is no shortage of suspects and no shortage of twists. Richard Gordon, a prosecutor, and Sgt. Elk, set out to unmask the head Frog and bring him to justice. But it seems that the Frog has some insiders at Scotland Yard, who help captured criminals escape and who help misdirect the forces of justice.

The Fighting Scouts

Edgar Wallace

The second of Edgar Wallaces two short story collections about Scottish airman Tam during World War I. In this book Tam is joined by a new young American protégé Billy Best. The stories of Tam the pilot are not mysteries. They are the entertaining stories of the exploits of a cockney aviator who supposedly was Charles Lindberghs childhood inspiration to fly. Tam is a real person, and all the adventures set forth have actually happened, though names and places are necessarily fictitious. In these stories Mr. Wallace describes a rare character, a Glasgow mechanic who becomes a Royal Flying Corps pilot. Wonderful entertainment and highly entertaining.

The Flying Fifty-five

Edgar Wallace

Edgar Wallace was an English novelist, journalist and playwright, who was an enormously popular writer of detective, suspense stories, and practically invented the modern thriller. His popularity at the time was comparable to that of Charles Dickens one of Wallaces publishers claimed that a quarter of all books read in England were written by him. The Flying Fifty-Five is a novel set in the horse racing community and follows the ups and downs of turf life. Its all great fun and Wallace keeps the action moving along swiftly, as he always did. Although he takes us into some of the intricacies of betting in the horse racing arena, it is not so tedious that you cant get through those sections, but otherwise a wonderfully written, funny and happy ending.

The Flying Squad

Edgar Wallace

The creek between the canal and the river flows under Ladys Stairs, a crazy wooden house inhabited by Li Yoseph known to the police as a smuggler. The neighborhood suspects he is rich, and knows he is mad. Inspector Bradley is out to break a drug-smuggling gang which operates from an old house overhanging the Thames; the gang is headed by a criminal called Mark McGill. The disappearance of young Ron Perryman whom McGill has murdered and dumped in the river gives the Inspector his ideal opportunity to begin asking questions... Edgar Wallace established his reputation as a writer of detective thrillers, a genre in which he wrote more than 170 books, with the publication of The Four Just Men.

The Forger

Edgar Wallace

Forged notes have started to appear everywhere. Mr. Cheyne Wells of Harley Street has been given one. So has Porter. Peter Clifton is rich, but no one is quite certain how he acquired his money not even his new wife, the beautiful Jane Leith. Jane, newly married to this man she does not love, is plunged into a nightmare of murder and madness. What is the secret of her husbands immense fortune? Is he The Clever One who has baffled the police, the banks and the world with his clever forgeries? Or is he a homicidal maniac? Inspector Rouper and Superintendent Bourke are both involved in trying to solve the mystery.

The Four Just Men

Edgar Wallace

Written in 1905, it is one of Wallaces many popular thriller novels. Four Just Men was the start of a series about a determined band of European vigilantes who decide to kill off people in the world whom the law cannot punish. Their ingenuity and ability to keep several steps ahead of those who would thwart them, including police, are the essence of the plot. When the British Foreign Secretary Sir Philip Ramon decides to push through a law which will allow the enforced return of political refugees to their countries of origin, he becomes a target of the Four Just Men. These are iconic stories of adventure, intrigue and retribution set in the time immediately following the First World War. Highly recommended for people who like to treat a mystery story as a solvable riddle.

The Fourth Plague

Edgar Wallace

The Fourth Plague is an intriguing crime novel that was published in 1913, during the early years of Wallaces career as a novelist. Here again pits a master detective against a powerful crime syndicate, this time with an Italian background. An Italian secret society, burglary, kidnapping, detectives, mysterious artefacts, remarkable coincidences! This is a tale of the Red-Hand, a criminal organization that makes Count Festini, its secret head, the most dangerous man in Europe. But for his hated eldest son, the Red-Hands plans for the downfall of the country may succeed. The cat and mouse game about high treasure, a beautiful woman and a bio-weapon never really leaves the ground and grips the reader.