'The late Edgar Wallace was probably the most prolific writer of thilers we have known, but in spite of an occasional, but' almost inevitble, repetition of plot and events, his books nearly always came full of Interest to the average, and" yypereritieal reader. The gripping power of this author lay, T think, Rot so much in the stories themselves, But In the characers which it, Wallace drew to people them. For, almost without exception, each and every one of his criminals, tradesmen, navvies, bust ness magnates, and so on talked and behaved like the real people If, for Instance, he wanted to Introduce into story a henpecked, middle-aged and impecunious chemist in a poky ttle shop in the depressed high street of a SE. suburb, then he would fake pains to ensure that the charac-for he sketched for the part would be so realistic that he would ft into story easily with natural reac. tions to whatever occurred and not "stieke out" uncomfortably and_ just say his lines like a retired colonel playing the part of a butler in amateur theatricals (lo adapt a
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.