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Anna Katharine Green
Early detective novelist Anna Katharine Green was a unique writer in several respects, including the fact that many of the detectives featured in her novels are women. In this mystery, protagonist Constance Sterling takes on the seemingly impossible task of uncovering the true culprits behind the drowning death of a popular well-respected clergyman who is believed to have killed himself. The news is fatal to his fiancée. Why? And why are her two sons behaving in such a sinister manner? The Mill Mystery is a book that can be classified as a sensational novel, as highly spiced as readers of this kind of fiction can desire. Green does an excellent job of giving the readers clues, but not enough clues to make the mystery easily solvable.
Edgar Wallace
John Sands needed a bride more than that, however, he needed somebody with a criminal mind. Luckily a female convict has escaped from prison that very morning and was sitting in his house. Romance and mystery, with classic twists and turns. As is typical with Wallace, this book includes a death, a love-affair, a kidnapping, an intrepid amateur. British author Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace (1875-1932) was reportedly the second biggest seller after the Bible in his heyday. He was a Reuters war correspondent during the Second Boer War and wrote thrillers to earn money. He later moved to Hollywood as a script writer and died while drafting King Kong.
Alice MacGowan, Perry Newberry
Present-day San Francisco in a good detective story The Million Dollar Suitcase (1922). Jeremiah Jerry Boyne, head of the Bankers Security Agency is hired to investigate the mysterious theft from inside a bank of a suitcase filled with nearly a million dollars in cash. Turns out to be a high spirited man with extraordinary powers of observation and logical deduction from observed facts. The case involves not one, but two locked room mysteries and a murder disguised as a suicide. Rapid action; tense excitement; nicely plotted; satisfying romance one of the best of this seasons crop of puzzle yarns. American writers Alice L. MacGowan and Perry Newberry takes you on a chase around familiar and fictional areas of California and keeps you wondering all the way to the end.
E. Phillips Oppenheim
This 1929 novel by E. Phillips Oppenheim neatly describes some of the frothy financial dealings of the late stage of the roaring 20s in England and centered around a commercial chemical formula. The formula for the process is carefully guarded from its own employees, but is stolen one night by a band of five adventurers who plan to ransom it for 1 million pounds. Two men are killed during the robbery. Plans to ransom the process are put on hold, and the documents are deposited in a London Safe Deposit company. Meanwhile, the managing director of Boothroyds, Sir Matthew Parkinson, has been forced to sell some of his shares to cover debts. His lovely daughter Grace is the only person who seems concerned about the welfare of the company and its workers.
Anna Katharine Green
Was the little girl, who appears to have been everybodys darling, kidnapped for money? Nobody comes forward asking for a ransom. Did she sneak down to the river and drown? In The Millionaire Baby, a young detective Mr. Trevitt has more than one reason for desperately wanting to solve the mysterious case of little Gwendolen, a millionaires daughter who missed since the afternoon of August the 16th from right under the nose of her nurse. Our detective soon meets the widow living next door, a close friend of the bereft mother. Something does not quite add up with neither mother nor neighbor but then there are several other characters offering clues. Or are they red herrings?
Edgar Wallace
A series of enthralling mysteries written by Edgar Wallace. They feature the enigmatic figure of Mr. J.G. Reeder who works for the Public Prosecutors office and has the mind of a criminal. At first glance J. G. Reeder is an ordinary, slightly shabby little man with red hair, weak eyes, whiskers, square-toed boots and a chest protector cravat. The eight short stories in this collection deal with a disappearance at sea that is less innocent than it appears to be, with a Hindu criminal mastermind, counterfeiters, dissipated members of the nobility, embezzlers, a fraudulent scheme for finding sunken treasure and an assortment of gangsters. There are frequent murders, more often than not carried out by unusual and exotic means.
Joseph Conrad, Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrads Mirror of the Sea was a compelling read. From love to death, Conrad explains all this, using his life in the sea to match the human condition. The Mirror of the Sea is mainly about the adventures of Joseph Conrad when he was at sea. In the adventures described above, the author discusses the risks, struggles and dangers of sailing for sailors. While he and the crew sailed, they often encounter a great terrible storm. Sailors always run the risk of a storm, and their ship is sinking. The good thing about this book is that it has a lot of personification.
E. Phillips Oppenheim
This story takes place before WWI and follows the adventures of a disgraced English politician who hasnt given up on his country in her hour of need. His nemesis is a suave but evil German prince who is plotting the downfall of he British empire. The only thing that stands in his way is our hero... and two beautiful women. The Mischief-Maker presents a fascinating picture of the political mindset of the day to go along with the twists and turns of the story. And so on, and with the material of conspiracies, politics, love and adventure the story is woven around the atmosphere of the early 20th century in London and Paris with that peculiar polish in dialogue and fascinating coloring characteristic of the popular author.
Edgar Wallace
When millionaire Rex Walton mysteriously vanishes on the eve of his wedding, a chain of strange, violent events is set in motion. Intrepid Joan Walton assists Inspector Dicker in the search for her brother. The main suspect is notorious criminal The Panda (The Prince of Blackmailers). You quickly find out that Rex has his own connection to the blackmailer. This is a great example of The Golden Age of Detection. It has many more characters than the typical mystery from this era making it difficult, if not impossible, to simply eliminate the Hero Detective, the Heroine Love Interest, and the Obvious Suspect to figure out who the bad guy is. The Missing Million is a mystery novel from the prolific author of detective fiction Edgar Wallace.
E. Phillips Oppenheim
Lady Wilhemina Thorpe-Hatton lives a life of extraordinary wealth and privilege. She is visiting her extensive estate in England, which includes the town of Thorpe, and all its inhabitants. When Victor Macheson, a young man chock full of ideals and theories about how to make the world a better place, petitions her for the use of a barn where he can speak on these subjects, she refuses. He is dismissed and harried out of town by the son of the estate manager Stephan Hurd. But he proves to be a stubborn sort. The estate manager is murdered by a mysterious stranger, and Lady Thorpe finds herself in the throws of a disturbing emotion... love. But why is Wilhelmina so incomprehensible, so affectionate and then so distant? And will Machesons ideals and high thinking stand the test of such treatment by her?
Edgar Wallace
This is an excellent collection of short stories that include The Silk Stockings, Cinema Teaching by Post, A Gambling Raid, and many more. The Mixer is a particularly cool and resourceful scoundrel who works on the philanthropic principle of robbing only the thief and outswindling the swindler. He shows unfailing ingenuity in relieving of their ill-gotten gains the successful promoters of burglaries, sweepstakes, and financial scoops. Each chapter describes, in Mr. Wallaces best manner, some fresh exploit more daring and original than the last, and so likeable does this engaging villain become that we are positively relieved when, realizing that he has gone far enough, he finally retires from business and escapes abroad.
E. Phillips Oppenheim
Sir Francis Kernham has returned from 10 years in the colonies where he has made a fortune. He is looking for Marcia, the struggling young actress who shared his misery in a Chelsea boardinghouse. He searches everywhere for her, fearful of what she may have become, only to discover by chance that she has also elevated herself and is now the Princess Hohenmahn, married to an elderly debauched member of royalty. Will they now find love and happiness together, or has time and truth forged bonds of a different sort? The fate of these characters is strictly Victorian. The novella gives an interesting picture of late Victorian society, the role of wealth and art, and the state of society in London just prior to the arrival of the automobile, and struggle for womens rights.
Arthur J. Rees
Arthur J. Rees is a past master in the art of fashioning ingenious mystery-detective yarns and The Moon Rock is one of his best. The authors many admirers will find keen enjoyment and many puzzling moments in their endeavors to solve the mystery. Robert Turold had spent his life trying to prove his claim to an ancient title. Yet, when it seems he is about to finally succeed, his body is found in a remote cottage on the Cornish coast, an apparent suicide. Detective Brannert of Scotland Yard, however, suspects murder. His young daughter, his long-time servant, his brother and nephew all have something to gain by his death. This fast-paced detective story unfolds through the tangles of complicated family ties and secrets, suspicious servants, and a mysterious Cornish legend.
Wilkie Collins
A diamond is stolen from the English country estate of Lady Verinder and the renowned Sergeant Cuff is brought in from London to help solve the case. The diamond, said to bring bad luck to its owner because it was stolen from a temple in India, was given to Lady Verinders daughter, Rachel, on her 18th birthday. It was bequeathed to Rachel from her uncle (who stole it when he was a young soldier) on his death. The story unfolds through several narrators, all of whom know a piece of what happened. As each of them writes his or her side of the story, the reader gets just a little more information that helps to solve the mystery. You can see things invented here that were directly borrowed by future writers: Holmes overconfidence (and his use of London urchins as agents); Agatha Christies exploration of narrative reliability.
Edgar Wallace, Robert Curtis
The novel of Edgar Wallaces famous play told by Robert Curtis in story form with all the dramatic excitement and suspense. In the shady setting of a solicitors office on the East End waterfront a plan is evolved all quite legal to get hold of a large American legacy bequeathed to an English girl. Murder is planned and tried: kidnapping, incarceration in a London barge, a dash for freedom, the intervention of the river police and knock-out drops all play their part in the unfolding of the tale which keeps its suspense to the last in as swift-moving a sequence of events as ever Edgar Wallace at his best devised. It is a case where the Yard was best not to call them in for reasons best known to the characters in the story as the reader will find for himself.
E. Phillips Oppenheim
Uncommon Oppenheim novel tells a strong story of the complicated love affairs, thrilling and mystifying revelations in the life of a young occult. Mr. Henry Rochester is an honest and honorable landowner in rural England. One evening he is walking his estate when he happens across the boy who is meditating on a hillside, and after a conversation, takes it into his head to give the boy money and see what hell make of himself. Unfortunately, he also tells the boy that if he fails, hed be better off killing himself. Seven years later the boys has become Mr. Bertrand Saton, a mystical adventurer, adopted son of the Comtesse Rachael, and ravisher of female London. The two become enemies, with several women at stake in the contest. Henrys wife, Lady Mary; his ward Lois, and his great love Pauline.