The Sign of the Black Ace

Edgar Wallace

The Companions of the Ace High are a group of aviators, each of whom has his own reason to hate Germans. The groups founder, Dexter, whose wife was driven mad when a German submarine attacked a liner on which she was travelling, dedicates himself to the destruction of Germany. He uses his wealth to establish a base of operations in the small republic of San Romino on the northern border of Italy. From this base the Companions of the Ace High pursue and kill Germans, their spies and sympathizers. Another breathtaking work by the master of mystery Edgar Wallace. As the novel is rather short and quite fast-paced with a lot of scenery-changes and adventures, this nice.

The Sinister Man

Edgar Wallace

A mystery novel classic by Edgar Wallace with so many twists and turns it becomes utterly baffling by the end. Superintendent Wills investigates the murder of a man found floating in the River Thames, it appears the victim was a archeology Oxford professor, murdered over three small fragments of an ancient text, working on the deciphering of some very rare tablets which if they fall into the wrong hands could cause major problems for one Asian country. He had previously been studying an archeological artefact known as the Kytang Wafers, and this is now missing. Highly recommended for people who like to treat a mystery story as a solvable riddle!

The Square Emerald

Edgar Wallace

Edgar Wallace, The Square Emerald, originally published in 1926 and made in England. The plot involves a young gentleman, secretary to a notable politician, convicted wrongly of forging a check, now released after serving his term in prison, a group of rather sinister society ladies with their sinister butler Druze, who were involved in the check and other activities, and a beautiful young woman detective from Scotland Yard, also from a stylish society background. A female sleuth is one step ahead of everyone, including the reader, and generally has jolly good fun solving the case. A mysteriously complicated plot make this Edgar Wallace book great fun with the twists coming thick and fast.

The Squeaker

Edgar Wallace

The Squeaker is a piece of early crime writing by author Edgar Wallace, first published in 1927. This novel is a traditional mystery, featuring some crooks and some policemen, a mysterious villain, a lovely girl and a plot with many twists. It is the thrilling story of a group of London jewel thieves and the company they keep. The title character is an omnipotent fence who has cornered the diamond-smuggling racket. The fence travels in polite society under the guise of a wealthy philanthropist. A Scotland Yard detective pretends to be an ex-convict in order to infiltrate the Squeakers gang and to track down the stolen gems. An entertaining tale of mystery and intrigue in Londons underworld, this volume constitutes a must-read for lovers of crime fiction.

The Steward

Edgar Wallace

This early work by Edgar Wallace was originally published in 1932. Wallace was an extremely prolific writer who wrote over 175 novels, plus numerous plays, essays and journalistic articles. During the peak of his success during the 1920s, it was said that a quarter of all books read in England were written by him. In England, in the 1920s, Wallace was said to be the second biggest seller after the Bible. Many of his novels were made into films and TV dramas. The Steward is a collection of short stories that include The left Pass, The Little Baroness, Solo and the Lady, and many more. The stories are fast-paced with some surprising twists, well written and great to read and definitely a product of their time and place.

The Strange Countess

Edgar Wallace

This genuine mystery story takes the reader from one exciting adventure to another with all the adroitness and ingenuity of Mr. Wallaces previous successful books. One is left gasping with suspense as the many clues are unraveled only to be followed by others still more stubborn. A beautiful woman has spent twenty cruel years in prison, for a suspected murder. Her daughter learns of the relationship after a chance visit at the jail. The true facts are known only after the discovery of nefarious plots to kill the daughter, visits to the home of royalty, and enforced stays at a so-called home for mental cases. This early work by Edgar Wallace was originally published in 1925. The Strange Countess is a mystery novel by this prolific author of detective fiction.

The Strange Lapses of Larry Loman

Edgar Wallace

Larry Loman is a member of the Criminal Investigation Department of New Scotland Yard. While on a special assignment in Asia he contracts a form of malaria that causes him to suffer character-changing bouts of amnesia for up to eight hours at a stretch. When Larry is assigned to deal with the Crime Trust, a syndicate which has gathered just about every crook in England into one organization, his periodic blackouts result in all sorts of unforeseen complications. However, he eventually breaks the Trust, and his disease goes into remission. The Strange Lapses of Larry Loman is an enjoyable mystery short story by Edgar Wallace with some surprising twists, well written and great to read.

The Stretelli Case and Other Mystery Stories

Edgar Wallace

This early work by Edgar Wallace was originally published in 1930. The Stretelli Case and Other Mystery Stories is a collection of short stories, some also published in other collections of Wallaces works. This volume includes: Code No. 2, Red Beard, The Man Who Killed Himself, The Mediaeval Mind, and many more. This is a nice collection of eleven short stories loosely classified as mysteries; while thriller elements are certainly present in most of them, the stories, with one exception, are indeed mysteries of one sort or another. Several stories feature detectives per se; most of them have people under pressure who must decipher baffling situations in order to correct deformations in the social structure.