The master mystery-story teller presents an omnibus of his spine-chilling stories. „The Edgar Wallace Reader of Mystery and Adventure” is a collection of short stories that include „On the Witney Road”, „The Pick-Up”, „Kid Glove Harry”, and thirteen others. Edgar Wallace was a British novelist, playwright, and journalist who produced popular detective and suspense stories and was in his time „the king” of the modern thriller. Wallace’s literary output – 175 books, 24 plays,...

Urokliwy, acz niebogaty młodzieniec, Juljan Lester, ma śmiałe plany matrymonialne wobec młodziutkiej Marji. Porywy serca są jednak studzone podszeptami rozumu, który nakazuje absztyfikantowi rozeznać sytuację majątkową potencjalnej małżonki. Dziewczyna jest córką przedwcześnie zmarłej hrabianki, która na łożu śmierci oddała ją pod opiekę swojej służącej. Juljan zgłasza się po pomoc do detektywa Johna Morlaya, który oficjalnie odrzuca zlecenie, ale wiedziony prywatną ciekawośc...

Jedna z najbardziej znanych powieści kryminalnych w dorobku Edgara Wallace'a, aż czterokrotnie przenoszona na srebrny ekran. Gdy James Beardmore otrzymuje list z żądaniem wysokiego okupu, postanawia nie dać się zastraszyć. Organizacja Czerwony Krąg niewiele jednak robi sobie z jego nieposłuszeństwa - w kolejnych dniach zasypie swoją ofiarę kolejnymi listami z czerwonym znakiem i brutalnie wtargnie w codzienność jego i bliskich mu osób. Wszystko wskazuje na to, że finał tych p...

„The Yellow Snake” is an entertaining and breathtaking 1926 thriller by the master of mystery Edgar Wallace. Fing-Su is a graduate of Oxford and head of the dread Society of the Joyful Hands, which he leads in his quest to dominate the world. The name „Yellow Snake” was bestowed on him by his opponent, Clifford Lynne. A bit more practical than Fu Manchu, Fing-Su employs terrestrial strategies like blackmail, bribery, and kidnapping to further his own nefarious aims. Under h...

Edgar Wallace był angielskim pisarzem, autorem tomu poezji i licznych, bardzo poczytnych powieści awanturniczo-kryminalnych. Mimo trudnego dzieciństwa i braku wykształcenia oraz licznych niepowodzeń ciężką pracą i ciekawymi pomysłami osiągnął olbrzymią popularność. Zostawił po sobie prawie 170 powieści, cieszących się wielkim uznaniem w Polsce okresu międzywojennego, później objętych zapisem cenzury, a następnie wielokrotnie wznawianych. Wiele z nich odwoływało się do kilku...

The hero, the discharged Army Captain Reginald Hex, was the prototype for Anthony Newland, whose adventures were related several years later in The Brigand (Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1927). The first two Hex stories were revised and published as Anthony Newland stories in that collection under the titles „Buried Treasure” and „A Contribution to Charity”. The stories are adventurous and well written but definitely a product of their time and place. Edgar Wallace was a ...

Edgar Wallace is continuing to introduce readers to Mr. J. G. Reeder, one of the least glamorous of all fictional detectives. Mr. J. G. Reeder is neither a police detective nor an amateur crime-fighter, nor is he a private detective. In fact he is employed by the Bank of England, and acts as a kind of consultant to Scotland Yard. This is vintage Wallace, with no great depths but a good deal of humor and plenty of engaging goings-on along Wallace’s beloved Thames. Wallace wa...

„The Council of Justice” is the sequel to much-lauded „The Four Just Men”, a novel which caused a sensation way back in 1905 by encouraging readers to guess the mystery ending. The Four Just Men, in this second of Wallace’s ingenious series of thrillers, pit themselves against The Red Hundred, an organization dedicated to international anarchy, led by the charismatic and beautiful assassin, the Woman of Gratz. As always, the avengers’ methods are meticulously planned and ru...

An excellent crime novel which contains a cunning villain, love, revenge and locked room murder by the master of British thrillers. The hero John Lexman, is a mystery writer, like the author himself, and is married to a lovely woman who hides a secret. The Greek aristocrat, Remington Kara is stunningly handsome and immensely rich and he nurses an unrequited passion for Lexman’s wife. When Lexman gets himself into financial problems with an Albanian moneylender, the plot beg...

In this 1923 mystery by Edgar Wallace, Jesse Trasmere is thrifty and does not trust banks, so he keeps all of his money in his prison-like house. Although his nephew, Rex Lander, receives a generous allowance from his uncle, it is not enough for his extravagant lifestyle. Trasmere breaks with routine and informs his valet, Walters, that he is going out of town for a while to avoid an acquaintance from his past. One day he turns up dead, in a completely locked vault, the onl...

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 d...

An international criminal arrives in London. Basically there’s the typical foreign bad guy, Caesar Valentine, who is suspected of many shady things but Scotland Yard, or any other police department for that matter, can’t pin any crimes on him so they send in an undercover operative only known as Number Six to find out enough to put Valentine away for good. The thing is nobody at Scotland Yard knows who Number Six is and neither does Charles Valentine! Along the way we meet ...

The further escapades of the incorrigible Evans, Edgar Wallace’s? cockney hero of the Turf feature in these twelve tales. The Educated Evans stories combine Wallace’s talent for humor with his hallmark detective story themes. His story of Evans is full of amusing incidents of love and adventure set amidst the bustle and excitement of the racecourse. There are bets, bookmakers, horses, tip-offs, winners, journalists and women. There is banter, humor and much fun to be had al...

This is an enjoyable short story by Edgar Wallace, set in England during the 1920’s. „The Green Rust”, his twelfth crime novel, is one of three books he published in 1919. It begins at the English home of the severely ill American millionaire, John Millinborn. With him are his best friend, Kitson, and a local doctor, the Dutch van Heerden. He is murdered, stabbed to death in his sick bed in the first chapter, having just left his fortune to his niece, Oliva, whom he has nev...

Ex police officer Socrates Smith and his brother Lexington, who is also an amateur sleuth, are invited to spend a weekend at Peter Mandle’s country home. Shortly after they arrive the brothers notice many precautions taken against intruders, a message flashed in Morse code, and someone skulking across the lawn. „Come three oaks”, it spells in Morse code. Early next morning the brothers take a stroll, and there, tied to an oak branch, is a body with a purple mark where the b...

Edgar Wallace (1875-1932) was a publishing phenomenon in his day, his name being synonymous with the word „thriller,” a genre some would credit him with inventing. His popularity at the time was comparable to that of Charles Dickens – one of Wallace’s publishers claimed that a quarter of all books read in England were written by him. „The Thief in the Night” is an enjoyable easy going, fast moving mystery novella, set in England during the 1928’s. Diamond plaques are being ...

The setting is Nigeria a century ago, and British District Commissioner R.G. Sanders oversees the tribes. He discovers that Bosambo has been acting as chief without approval, but is so impressed with his skills Sanders allows him to remain in place, but Sanders heads to England to marry and unrest follows. The classic Commissioner Sanders stories about Africa by Edgar Wallace. This is the second collection in the series, following „Sanders of the River”. Wallace served in A...

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 t...

A series of enthralling mysteries written by Edgar Wallace. They feature the enigmatic figure of Mr. J.G. Reeder who works for the Public Prosecutor’s 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 Hind...

A slick young man buys a jewel with a cheque that bounces. Then two men are searching for James Tynewood, a young tearaway: one is a police inspector, while the other is his solicitor. But Tynewood has mysteriously disappeared... „The Man Who Was Nobody” is an enjoyable lightweight murder mystery thriller that manages to preserve at least some of the characteristic Edgar Wallace atmosphere. During the 1920’s and 30’s, it was said that one of every four books read in England...

The body of a young man is found splayed out in the middle of one of the most august public squares in England. Soon it is discovered that the dead man was at the center of a beguiling web of entanglements and intrigue. Constable Wiseman is at the scene, as is the handsome Frank Merril, nephew of rich John Martin. A small, shabby man in an ill-fitting frock coat and large gold rimmed spectacles pulls a newspaper advertisement from the deceased’s waistcoat pocket. Will the i...

This novella was created by Edgar Wallace, a famous British author of mystery genre. Best remembered for penning the screenplay for the classic film „King Kong”, he was an astoundingly popular luminary in the action-adventure genre in the early twentieth century. „The Man Who Killed „X"” is a story packed with intrigue, treachery, assassinations, and machinations, and it highlights Wallace’s unmatched skill in setting a pulse-pounding pace. It’s all great fun and Wallace ke...

„The Secret House” by Edgar Wallace is a mystery set about 1920 in England. Scandalous periodical „The Gossip’s Corner” is run by a supposed blackmailer whose identity has baffled the police. Inspector T.B. Smith of Scotland Yard, a singularly acute Assistant Commissioner, has got a lot to sort out. Introduced as an „eccentric”, though there is little evidence provided for this assertion, the characterless Smith tangles with dodgy doctors, dangerous criminals and a missing ...

During 1907 Edgar Wallace (1875-1932) travelled to the Congo Free State, to report on atrocities committed against the Congolese under King Leopold II of Belgium and the Belgian rubber companies, in which up to 15 million Congolese were killed. Isabel Thorne of the Weekly Tale-Teller penny magazine, invited Wallace to serialize stories inspired by his experiences. These were published as his first collection „Sanders of the River” (1911), a best seller. This volume, grouped...