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The Ghost of Down Hill & The Queen of Shebas Belt
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. The Ghost of Down Hill is an entertaining mystery novella, based on the idea that a ghost of a monk haunts a house built on top of former holy ground. This novella has upbeat tone and surprising outcome. The Queen of Shebas Belt features the disappearance of a priceless belt supposedly worn by the Queen of Sheba. Seemingly the theft is not through want of money but an act to set up a rival in love. Wonderful entertainment and highly entertaining. If you havent discovered the joys of Wallaces mysteries there is a good place to start.
E. Phillips Oppenheim
Glenlitten Manor is the home of Andrew, Marquis Glenlitten, and his lovely, tiny, vivacious French wife, Felice. On the night of a small game hunt, the unsavory Baron de Bresset is murdered and the priceless Glenlitten diamond is stolen. Who stole the necklace and killed de Bresset? The subplot around the origins of Felice, who was orphaned in a French chateau at a very young age, form an interesting side story. Suspects include Sir Richard Cotton, the famous London criminal lawyer, Sir Richard Haslam, the African colonial administrator, and Prince Charles de Seuss, the impoverished Russian nobleman. Very formulaic, with some interesting descriptions of English country house life just prior to the Great Depression.
Valentine Williams
Philip Clavering is a British agent using fake name James Dunlop while in Belgium. He found out that the train Berlin-Paris crashed. His boss calls and tells him that agent Charles Forrest was on this train, and Philip must find the gold box he was carrying. The woman who survived the crash is in his hotel, and he asks her if she has any information about Forrest. She is in a state of panic and loses consciousness. Returning to the lobby, he meets with Dr. Grundt, who rides upstairs to see the woman. He does not know who Grundt is. He will find out later.
Arthur B. Reeve
Guy Garrick, a detective who has made a scientific study of crime, has been the hero of a number of earlier short stories. In the present novel he is engaged in tracking down a gang of motor bandits. The police, the city detectives, the automobile detectives and Guy Garrick are all working on the problems, and the unravelling and subsequent glory of Garrick are very exciting. The eleventh volume in the chronicles of Craig Kennedy, scientific detective, takes up the familiar and successful formula for a new round of adventures, written by Arthur B. Reeve. Reeve was an American mystery writer who created 82 Craig Kennedy mystery stories. An enjoyable collection, especially for those interested in sleuthing aided by science.
Fred M. White
Fred M. Whites hobby is to confuse the reader from the very first pages. The same happens in The Golden Bat, from the very first phrases we learn about a real confident man, Lytton Barle. He was the head of the Secret Squad at New Scotland. His friend, Ray, came to London to find a man who stole $ 40,000 from him. Ray joins the Secret Squad. Together, two comrades are going to make noise and punish those responsible.
E. Phillips Oppenheim
Edward Phillips Oppenheim (1866-1946) was the earliest writer of spy fiction as understood today, inventing the rogue male school of adventure thrillers and writing over 150 novels of all sorts. In The Golden Beast, a woman curses her lovers father, a baron, who had her gamekeeper father hanged. Years afterward, three of the barons descendants disappear in a manner that baffles Scotland Yard, appearing they were the victims of that ancient curse. Written in 1925, with a powerful Jewish family as the main characters, there are strong descriptions and anti-Semitic characterizations. The men are greedy, money obsessed, and unattractive. The women are beautiful, alluring, exotic, and immoral.
Mary Elizabeth Braddon
The plot tells the story of Ida Pallizer, the daughter of a poor Anglican pastor. Miss Pughs teacher and a wealthier student named Urania Pallizer often taunts and makes silly remarks about her poverty. The best line from this part of the book is when Ida is excluded. Miss Pugh says: You can stay here as long as you need to pack your bags. Not that it takes a long time.
The Golden Face. A Great Crook Romance
William Le Queux
Imagine an organized gang of thieves, ruthless, working together like a modern machine, run by one man referred to only as Golden Face."This tale inexorably takes you step-by-step into the organization, as we follow the main characters fall into the underworld of crime.Takes place around the 1900s, but action packed and loaded with intrigue; even room for a budding romance in with all the twists and turns of the story.Really enjoyed this story, looking for more like it.