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The Melody of Death

Gilbert Standerton learns that he has been disinherited by his cantankerous uncle, and is forced to find a way to provide for his newly wedded high-society wife. After quitting his appointment at the Foreign Office, he develops a new interest in the stock market, and takes an avid interest in the antics of a gang of safe-cracking burglars. His wife becomes concerned as he frequently begins staying out late at night, and shows an unusual interest in a particular musical melody despite having lost interest in all of his other music interests.

Edgar Wallace · Adventure · 17 ch

The Laughing Cavalier

A young woman in 17th century Holland inadvertently overhears the details of a plot to kill a political figure. The principal figures in the plot, one of whom is her brother and another her former lover, hire an insolent English mercenary to kidnap her to get her out of the way until their deeds are done. From there very little goes according to plan.

Baroness Orczy · Adventure · 48 ch

Mystery at Lynden Sands

Chief Constable Sir Clinton Driffield’s holiday on the coast is interrupted when he’s asked to assist with the investigation of a murder on a nearby country estate. As Sir Clinton, his friend Wendover, and the local police work to uncover who’s behind the murder, they encounter an expanding web of clues, characters with possible motives, questions related to the large inheritance involving the estate, and additional misdeeds. Working against time and the tides, Sir Clinton and his team must piece together an increasingly complex puzzle of clues, potential suspects, and crimes.

J. J. Connington · Mystery · 17 ch

The Charing Cross Mystery

The Charing Cross Mystery follows a young lawyer, Hetherwick, who happens to be on a train alongside a former police inspector who dies suddenly in front of him. The other man in the carriage runs off at the next stop and vanishes. Hetherwick takes it upon himself to investigate what turns out to be a murder.

J. S. Fletcher · Mystery · 27 ch

Kate Plus 10

Scotland Yard Inspector Michael Pretherston has been called to attend a case of missing jewelry at Lord Flanborough’s home. While investigating, Inspector Pretherston comes across a familiar face—and an intriguing mystery to challenge his skills and intellect: a woman by the name of Katharine Westhanger. Kate has been a person of interest in various capers across Europe despite her innocent looks and charming personality.

Edgar Wallace · Mystery · 20 ch

The Clue of the New Pin

Tab Holland, newspaper reporter and a friend of a local police investigator, is surprised to discover that his roommate’s uncle Jesse Transmere, a wealthy miser, has been found murdered in a cellar vault locked from the inside. More surprising is the fact that Ursula Ardfern, a famous actress and new acquaintance of Tab’s, has had her plays backed by the murder victim in the past. Although he has been regularly reporting on the case for the newspaper, Tab’s interest in the case intensifies after both his own apartment and the murdered man’s house are ransacked.

Edgar Wallace · Mystery · 41 ch

Huntingtower

Published in 1922, Huntingtower is the first of John Buchan’s novels to feature Dickson McCunn. McCunn, recently retired, embarks upon a walking tour of southwestern Scotland and encounters a poet and former soldier on his travels. They spend the evening in a small village, and when they investigate a large empty house nearby, they hear a woman singing from within.

John Buchan · Adventure · 18 ch

The Story of Ivy

Published in the United Kingdom in 1927, The Story of Ivy is a melodramatic murder mystery centered on a young woman, Ivy Lexton, who is caught up in the lifestyle of fashionable London during the Roaring Twenties. Having run through her late husband’s fortune after only a few years, Ivy chances upon a millionaire whom she seems to be able to charm—at least at first, before he refuses her further advances. Meanwhile, Ivy must also untangle herself from her devoted lover, a poor but handsome doctor.

Marie Belloc Lowndes · Mystery · 25 ch

Pimpernel and Rosemary

Rosemary, the former love of Peter Blakeney, is about to be married to one of Peter’s friends. A famous journalist, she is asked to come to Transylvania and report on the Romanian occupation following the First World War, having travelled there many times in her childhood with Peter’s mother. She agrees to move up her wedding so that her fiancé can travel with her.

Baroness Orczy · Adventure · 50 ch

The Wrong Letter

While in his office, Superintendent Sinclair receives a phone call from an unknown caller, who claims that they murdered the Home Secretary in his home. Together with Sylvester Collins, an eccentric sleuth, Sinclair goes to the Home Secretary’s house to investigate the truth of the call, only to discover the body of the victim in a locked room. Is this a bizarre suicide, or is it a skillfully executed murder?

Walter S. Masterman · Mystery · 18 ch

The Mercy of Allah

The Mercy of Allah is a humorous, satirical novel on the methods by which the merchant Mahmoud rises from humble beginnings to massive wealth. The setting in a fictionalized Middle East provides deeply Catholic author Hilaire Belloc a “far-off land” in which to attack what he saw as the rapacious nature of the British businessmen, industrialists, and bankers of his day. Each episode of Mahmoud’s life satirizes greed, from small frauds and outright theft, to market manipulation, money-printing, and funding both sides in a long war.

Hilaire Belloc · Comedy · 15 ch

The Clue of the Twisted Candle

John Lexham, a famous mystery writer, finds himself with money problems after an investment goes poorly. His problems multiply when a confrontation leads to a dead creditor, and John quickly finds himself convicted of the crime and given a lengthy prison sentence. Kara, a rich friend with a shady past, helps John break out of prison and escape abroad.

Edgar Wallace · Adventure · 23 ch

The Man Who Knew

John Minute, formerly an unscrupulous African mining magnate, has flown to England, but can’t escape his past. Constantly threatened by blackmailers, he fears death and financial ruin. At the suggestion of the commissioner of police, “The Man Who Knows” is hired to assist in determining the source of these threats.

Edgar Wallace · Adventure · 17 ch

Sir Percy Hits Back

In the Dauphiné area of France, soldiers have come to arrest some local aristos as part of the French Revolution’s anger and revenge on anyone with money. A young woman rescues the family’s papers and money from their house after their arrests, and persuades a childhood friend to hide the valuables. The friend is soon arrested for the theft, so the young woman seeks to go to where he has been taken in order to defend him.

Baroness Orczy · Adventure · 39 ch

The Middle Temple Murder

Spargo, reporter extraordinaire for the Watchman, stumbles over a murdered man in London’s Middle Temple Lane, and, based on a journalistic hunch, decides to investigate. As the circle of interest widens, strange connections start to emerge; connections that lead towards an unsuspected conspiracy of twenty years before. The Middle Temple Murder is one of the prolific J.

J. S. Fletcher · Mystery · 36 ch

The Avenger

When a severed head is discovered, Mike Brixan of the Foreign Office is asked to return from Europe and assist in apprehending the murderer, known as “The Headhunter.” The trail leads to Chichester and the set of a motion picture crew located on an English manor. Brixan discovers that the scriptwriter has a connection with both The Headhunter and an unscrupulous neighbor with a history of misadventure, a love of exotic pets, and an enthusiasm for young ladies. Published in 1926, The Avenger was adapted for film in 1960.

Edgar Wallace · Adventure · 47 ch

Khaled

Khaled is a hard-working and faithful genie who, in his zeal, goes a little too far and kills a faithless man. This puts him under scrutiny from the powers above, who curse him to live as a human. Since genies have no souls, he will vanish from existence when he dies; but, if he can find true love, he’ll be granted a soul and thus be allowed into heaven.

F. Marion Crawford · Fantasy · 26 ch

The Cloven Foot

The Cloven Foot follows the fortunes of John Treverton, who is at a very low point in his life. He has squandered his small inheritance and has had to sell his commission as a lieutenant in a cavalry regiment. Though he has been making a small amount of money from drawing comic sketches, he is feeling desperate and miserable when a telegram unexpectedly summons him to the death-bed of his wealthy uncle Jasper.

M. E. Braddon · Mystery · 47 ch