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William Le Queux
In this story I have dealt with an extraordinary phase of modern life in London, which to the majority will come as a startling revelation. Some will, perhaps, declare that no such amazing state of things exists in this, the most enlightened age the world has known. To such, I can only assert that in this decadent civilisation of ours the things which I have described actually take place in secret, as certain facts in my possession indisputably show.
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.
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!
J.S. Fletcher
The protagonist, a detective, was sent to Oldersike estate to investigate the sudden mysterious death of Sir Charles Stanmore. His goal is to find the culprit. His future depends on it. But when he arrives at the crime scene, he finds little evidence, which complicates his investigation...
Joseph Smith Fletcher
The Borough Treasurer (1921) by J.S. Fletcher is a tale of blackmail, murder and a secret quarry. He has quite a large cast of interesting characters in this one, and manages to bring them all to life with great detail. This novel tales place in an obscure small town by the Yorkshire moors an ideal spot for two ex-cons to start life over. Messrs. Mallalieu and Cotherstone were outsiders who had built a prosperous business in Highmarket and even been elected as Mayor and Treasurer of the borough. But when an ex-detective moves to town, 30 years of respectability is suddenly threatened by revelations from the past. How far will two upstanding citizens go to keep their past a secret?
E. Phillips Oppenheim
The Box with Broken Seals is a thrilling cat and mouse murder mystery following the narrative of Jocelyn Thew and the English Service. This skillfully written and an exciting espionage story of intrigue, unfolding in the Oppenheims best style. The reader will follow with avidity the daring moves of Thew from the time he sails from New York on the City of Boston, accompanied by a dying man and a special nurse in the person of Katharine Beverley, a society girl who is under special undisclosed obligations to Thew. The eventful trip across the Atlantic and the attempts of an agent to outwit his enemies in England lead to the climax which will surprise even the inveterate Oppenheim reader.
Ernest Bramah
The Bravo of London is a book in the Max Carrados series. Also, Max Carrados will be followed by The eyes of Max Carrados in 1923, The Specimen Case in 1924, Max Carrados Mysteries in 1927, and The Bravo of London in 1934. Max Carrados is a blind detective who uses his remaining senses in such a way that his blindness is often not immediately apparent to others. Working with his old friend, Louis Carlyle, a private investigator, the wealthy Carrados pursues his talent for detection whenever he pleases without accepting a fee. It is the first appearance of the blind sleuth Max Carrados whom, accompanied by his faithful but not always insightful Carlyle, was created as a rival to Sherlock Holmes and quickly found a strong following amongst readers.
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.