A young adventurer steals two complimentary idols of Buddha from a Chinese temple, one of which is supposed to have a debasing and malevolent effect upon its owners. One of the idols represents the Body, and all of the corruption and evil of Mankind, the other represents the Soul, and all that is good. The Ballastons are a spendthrift aristocratic family threatened with the loss of their ancestral home due to large debts. The son steals these idols, ends up with just the na...

Yet another collection of linked short stories from Oppenheim. By chance a young man and woman meet and set up an agency to aid Scotland Yard, but is romance in the air? This story deals with a young man and a young woman who make an informal partnership in criminal investigation. This whodunit murder mysteries collection brings to you some of Oppenheim’s finest murder mysteries to keep you at your toes: „The Evil Shepherd Murder at Monte Carlo”, or „Wolves Amongst the Hone...

E. Phillips Oppenheim wrote most famously of secret agents and duplicitous diplomats, secret treaties and international conspiracies, moonlit Riviera casinos, Swiss hotel suites, perilous yacht trips, and glamorous trans-European express trains. Known in his time as „the Prince of Storytellers,” Oppenheim, like the brand names of today’s best seller lists, offered readers in the first half of the 20th century a steady, predictable, and entertaining supply of pop fiction. „T...

Scotland Yard unearths the mysterious disappearance of a wealthy, eccentric banker, the reason for a dead man in his bank, and the vanishing of the bank’s funds. The background shifts from the bank to the club, and the missing millionaire’s known habits give necessary leads to the unscrambling of the mystery. Oppenheim continues to hold up his end. An enjoyable read! E. Phillips Oppenheim was a British author who wrote nearly 150 novels during his career. He styled himself ...

The story of a gallant soldier who is dismissed his regiment, and disowned by his father, because he has been found guilty, on „false evidence,” of cowardice in the field. He changes his name, and later his son falls in love with the daughter of the man whose false evidence led to his ruin.

This is another collection of interlinked short stories about the good life in Monte Carlo and Beausoleil after the first World War. Ten stories about Peter Hames, the former Inspector on the New York police department that got tossed off the force when he tried to stop an innocent man being railroaded by a corrupt police force. Disillusioned, but after inheriting a million dollars, he moves to France to become a painter. But the detective instincts never left and he gets i...

He might be almost forgotten now, but Mr. Oppenheim wrote an amazing 116 novels, including many bestsellers. Several are set amid the glamour of Monte Carlo, including this 1920s romantic thriller. The novel has an intriguing start, as handsome and charming Sir Hargrave Wendever gets a nasty shock from the doctor. Wealthy, handsome, intelligent, single, with the world at his feet – suddenly he finds his world crumbling. What will he do? He decides to do some good with his m...

The illicit gambling house in the Place Noire was raided by the police in Paris. Several of the gang were killed, one was caught and jailed, and one escaped by shambling off in the guise of a workman, accompanied by a young girl, a dwarf, and a monkey. Gilbert Hannaway, who was wounded as a bystander on the night of the raid, has been searching for the girl for five years but, one evening, he finds her. Lord Ellingham is a peer of the realm, with a successful marriage, and ...

Edward Phillips Oppenheim (1866 1946), an English novelist, was a major and successful writer of genre fiction, particularly thrillers. Among his books are „The Betrayal”, „The Avenger”, „The Double Life of Mr. Alfred Burton”, „The Devil’s Paw”, and „The Evil Shepherd”. Many of Oppenheim’s works appeared as newspaper or magazine serials before they were published in book form. The serial versions of his novels were often syndicated for publication in periodicals in the USA ...

This is a connected collection of short stories about the leader of a secret society pledged to protect England and their German adversary. In „The Double Four”, Peter is called out of retirement by that organization, which, since his departure, has morphed into a sort of private diplomatic secret service. Peter acquires a title, some nice clothes, and a new archenemy, a German spy, Bernadine. Light hearted with a bit of romance along with the action and fancy pants English...

Edward Phillips Oppenheim is considered one of the originators of the thriller genre, his novels also range from spy thrillers to romance, but all have an undertone of intrigue. This novel is one of E. Phillips Oppenheim’s best works and opens with a fantastic description of the boring life of Mr. Peter Cradd, leather merchant, husband, father, slave to his family, stoic self denier, and all-around put upon man in the bowler hat. He is barely able to pay his bills, has a wi...

A solitary cabin stood far away in the backwoods of Canada, outside all tracks of civilization, in a region which only the native Indians and a few daring trappers cared to penetrate. Rudely built of pine logs, it was ill-calculated to withstand the piercing cold and frost which, for nine months out of the twelve, holds this region in an iron grip. Around it, a small clearing had been effected, but the ground was many feet thick in snow, which, save where in front of the do...

Another great spy novel from the british author E. Phillips Oppenheim who achieved worldwide fame with his thrilling novels and short stories concerning international espionage and intrigue. This one is a connected collection of short stories about the leader of a secret society pledged to protect England and their German adversary. This novel is an Oppenheim classic from 1919 about a high society villain: characteristic of Oppenheim’s typical works, with the characters liv...

With the police hot on his tail, Peter Ruff decides to turn from a life of crime to the more lucrative life of a private investigator. With his ties to the underworld and his skill at disguise, Peter is the perfect sleuth. Along with his trusted and beautiful assistant, Violet Brown, Mr. Ruff is brilliantly successful in his new career. As his reputation for solving crime grows, he is noticed and adopted as a leader by a large conglomerate of criminals who have chosen to tu...

In an interesting precursor to the later „I Spy” television series, the novel follows the activities of a young British tennis professional, Mervyn Amory, who is spending the season in Monte Carlo. While traveling from Paris on Le Train Bleu, he meets an Italian secret agent who is carrying documents which show the treachery of the dictator Matorni. Matorni is a thinly disguised Mussolini. (The title of the novel bears no relation to the book). Interestingly, this novel was...

Havoc occurs when European countries are discussing covert alliances. The story revolves around the creation of a secret alliance between Germany, Russia, and Austria. The English hope to split Russia away by holding the Czar to his previous public commitments, but they need proof of what was done to create the pressure. All the pressures that lead to WWI are there, but the intrigues and secret treaties create an interesting background to the twists and turns of the plot....

It is strange to find Mr. Phillips Oppenheim choosing as his hero an earnest politician with a love for social reform. „Nobody’s Man” starts out as a standard whodunit murder mystery then makes an abrupt lane-change into British politics of the mid-1920’s. Brigadier general Andrew Tallente, late of Parliament, is implicated in the death of his male secretary, the son of a classmate at Eton. Seems the younger man may have not only been having an affair with the hero’s Americ...

E. Phillips Oppenheim was a popular 20th century writer best known for penning suspenseful thriller novels like „The Mystery of Mr. Bernard Brown”. Many of his more than 100 novels are still read today. His novels and short stories have all the elements of blood-racing adventure and intrigue and are precursors of modern-day spy fictions. „Nicholas Goade, Detective” is a collection of short mysteries about a Scotland Yard detective on holiday. As he travels across England wi...

„Mr. Mirakel” is the last novel written by E. Phillips Oppenheim in 1943. Marquis Roderigo de Cordovina is leaving his Portuguese estates in Lisbon because he is being pressured to join the German military and command a mechanical battalion. He meets Miss Anne Strangeways in the seaplane terminal. The two board an airboat for London. Shortly thereafter, they meet again at the home of Princess Rosina Di Gomez who is the niece of the Portuguese Ambassador. At this point the p...

The man was awaiting the service of his dinner in the magnificent buffet of the Gare de Lyon. He sat at a table laid for three, on the right-hand side of the entrance and close to the window. From below came the turmoil of the trains. In appearance he was of somewhat less than medium height, of unathletic, almost frail, physique. His head was thrust a little forward, as though he were afflicted with a chronic stoop. He wore steel-rimmed spectacles with the air of one who ha...

Jacob’s Ladder begins: Seated at breakfast on that memorable July morning, Jacob Pratt presented all the appearance of a disconsolate man. His little country sitting-room was as neat and tidy as the capable hands of the inimitable Mrs. Harris could make it. His coffee was hot and his eggs were perfectly boiled. Through the open windows stretched a little vista of the many rows of standard roses which had been the joy of his life. Yet blank misery dwelt in the soul of this e...

Harvey Garrard, as his limousine crawled over London Bridge and turned into the dingy streets beyond, leaned forward in his seat looking out of the window with the half-weary anticipation of one who revisits familiar but distasteful scenes. There was a faint air of disgust in his expression as the well-known odours of the neighbourhood assailed his nostrils. Forty-eight hours ago he had been living in a paradise of mimosa and roses warmed by Riviera sunshine, his senses rea...

The clamour of crushing boughs and howling wind sank every now and then into insignificance before the roaring of deep-throated guns, whose red fire flashed out across what seemed to be a bottomless abyss. Below, the army of the Turks decimated in numbers, yet still a host, within the walls of Crersa, the defenders of an oppressed and brave country making their last stand in their ancient stronghold.

Though dated stylistically, this novel has the makings of a decent movie thriller. The story takes place between the Anschluss, the Nazi takeover of Austria, March 1938, and the invasion of Poland in September 1939. A wealthy Jewish banker, philanthropist, and art collector is forced to flee Vienna to avoid imprisonment by the Nazi’s. He disappears on the night the Germans march into Austria, and his fortune and collection vanishes with him, leaving behind his personal secr...