White Face by Edgar Wallace

A man with a white mask dubbed 'White Face' is causing havoc in London West End by relieving rich women of thousands of pounds worth jewellery. Nobody knows who White Face is. It looks like the work of a lone operator. Who is the White Face? This story is not a robbery case but a murder case. Dr.Marford of Tidal Basin witnesses a scuffle between two men on the pavement outside his clinic. One man falls down and the other confused runs away. After a while the fallen man rises and has a brief conversation with a passing policeman. The Policeman walks away and the fallen man falls again. An opportunistic small time thief makes an attempt to steal from the fallen man, the policeman notices it and catches him. They find that the fallen man is stabbed. Who stabbed him and how? Is it the devil of the Tidal Basin? Is it the White Face? How could whoever stabbed the man do it without being noticed by the people in the crime scene?

Initially I thought that crime reporter Michael Quigley is going to play a major role in investigating this case. But it is not so. While other policeman play a role, it is Chief Inspector Detective Mason who solves the case. Some of the interactions are funny. For example, when the thief caught at the crime scene quotes poetry while interrogation and detective asks him where he learnt it. He points out

“When I'm in stir I only read poetry," he explained. "The book lasts longer because you can't understand it.”

When the reporter Quigley questions Mason about the case, he responds

“You shall have the story when it's properly cooked—at present the oven is just heating up.”

In this work of fiction, Sergeant Elk explains the difference between real police work and a work of fiction.

“It was all about who-did-it. First of all they introduced you to about twenty characters, told you where they were born and who their fathers were, and what money they wanted and who they were in love with—you couldn't help knowing that the fellow who did the murder was the red-nosed waiter. But that's not police work, Dr. Marford. We're not introduced to the characters in the story; we don't know one. All we've got in a murder case is the dead man. What he is, who his relations are, where he came from, what was his private business—we've got to work all that out. We make inquiries here, there and everywhere, digging into slums, asking questions of people who've got something to hide.”

If you ever wondered what a Jury is, Elk explains
“The jury," said Mr. Elk oracularly, "is a body or institution which gives everybody the benefit of the doubt except the police.”

When Bray complains that his subordinate Elk is taking over the investigation sidelining him, Mason tells him

“As a matter of fact, you oughtn't to complain. These darned regulations about questioning prisoners are so framed that it's good to have some other officer responsible for breaking them—you can always pass the kick on to him. Shoot 'em in, Bray.”

While this book is not as fun as Yellow Snake by Edgar Wallace I read last year, it is a fairly decent mystery. Even though I guessed who White Face is, Wallace plays a nice little trick that very soon I am off track. I couldn't really guess how the man is stabbed with none of the witnesses seeing it.

This work is in public domain in countries where copyright is Life+70 and can be downloaded for free from Feedbooks.

W is for Edgar Wallace

This is my post for Crime Fiction Alphabet W.

I don't know why I never read a Edgar Wallace book before. This year I read Yellow Snake by Edgar Wallace and it was fun. If you haven't guessed from the title, this book is about Chinese- Chinese domination of the world. Yep! Racist, but given the times, I suppose Yellow Peril novels were quite common then. If you could overlook this bit you can have some great fun.

With twists and turns Yellow Snake is a fun read with some surprises, kidnapping, murders, mistaken identities and an evil chinaman with a mission to capture the world. Yellow Snake was published in 1926. I downloaded the book from Feedbooks. This work is in public domain in countries where copyright is Life+70.

Yellow Snake by Edgar Wallace

I was looking for a book with Yellow in the title for the color coded challenge. I found a free book in feedbooks.com. This work is available in public domain for countries where copyright is Life+70. Yellow Snake published in 1926 is first Edgar Wallace book I read. If you haven't guessed from the title, this book is about Chinese- Chinese domination of the world. Yep! Racist, but given the times, I suppose Yellow Peril novels were quite common then. If you could overlook this bit you can have some great fun. I read Yellow Claw by Sax Rohmer last year and it was a great thriller. Everytime I pass Limehouse in London can't help thinking of Opium dens in Yellow Claw.

Now about this book. Stephen Narth's business is close to bankruptcy. He had speculated with his clients' money. Joe Bray, Narth's second cousin, the wealthiest man in China, dies leaving his fortune to Narth on condition that one of his daughters or cousin marry his assistant Clifford Lynne. Both his daughters Letty and Mabel refuse to the condition and decide to sacrifice Joan, the 'Cinderella', who has nil prospects anyway. Joan reluctantly agrees even before seeing Clifford Lynne. Stephen Narth also borrows from Grahame St Clay.

The Narth sisters are happy that they escaped a horrible fate when they meet the eccentric Clifford Lynne, with a long, straggly beard. Joan takes an immediate liking to Clifford despite his appearances. But when Clifford shaves his beard he turns out to be not only best-looking man in China but also the wealthiest man. Could the girls Mabel and Letty let him go off easily?

Grahame St Clay is really crazy and has plans of world domination. To fulfill his mad mission he needs shares of the company owned by Bray and Lynne. He decides to kidnap Joan to coerce Lynne from parting his shares. So what will happen? Will he kidnap Joan? How will Clifford stop Grahame St Clay from taking control of the world?

With twists and turns Yellow Snake is a fun read with some surprises, kidnapping, murders and mistaken identities. Grahame St Clay, a strange name isn't it? His real name is Fing-Su. Oh! A real Yellow Snake does appear in the first few pages of the novel. I didn't expect the book to be such a delightful read.

Thursday Memes

Theme Thursday is a fun weekly Meme hosted at Reading Between the Pages.

This weeks theme is Day

I am posting from Edgar Wallace's The Yellow Snake

"Today is Monday," he said. "We will be married on Friday by special licence. Friday will be an unlucky day—for somebody."

I haven't participated in Booking Through Thursday for a while. Todays question is
Have you ever bought a book, started reading it and then realised you have already read it? If so, how far did you get? (Can you tell this happened to me for the first time ever this week!?!)
And–did you keep reading??

This happened to me many times. This is the reason I started a blog. I didn't keep track of books I read. When somebody recommends a book to me, something I would like, I buy it to realise that I have read it before. I realise after reading maybe forty, fifty pages. I can't leave a book unfinished. I will have to finish it. Unfinished books haunt me.