New mystery audiobooks from Librivox.

John Dickson Carr's It Walks by Night

New free audio mystery releases from Librivox.

• It Walks by Night. John Dickson Carr's debut novel. Wrote the 22 Aug 1930 [Christchurch, NZ] Star, "Mr. Carr carries us along breathlessly .... this original crime story is well constructed, eminently readable, and calculated to give satisfaction to those fond of a thrill"). 
  
  
• The Continental Op, The Maltese Falcon, and Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett. The 25 Feb. 1950 Lewiston [ME] Evening Journal mentioned that the Continental Op was based on a Pinkerton detective who worked with Hammett.
  
  
• The Law of the Four Just Men by Edgar Wallace. Wrote the 3 Apr. 1926 Otago [NZ] Daily Times, "It is an illustration of Mr. Wallace's skill that he is able to cast over the story that air of verisimilitude which carries the reader along on a wave of excitement."

A blue plaque for J.S. Fletcher.

The Pontefract [UK] Civic Society announced the placement of a blue Heritage Plaque at Denby Farm, the childhood home of mystery writer J.S. Fletcher (1863–1935; author of The Middle Temple Murder [1919], etc.). In the February 1933 issue of American Mercury, Fletcher—seeking to address a question regarding his output vs. that of Edgar Wallace—reported that he had published 233 books, according to the British Museum. 

J.S. Fletcher, ca. 1912. 
Wikimedia Commons

J. S. Fletcher on his ouput.

As reported in the February 1933 issue of American Mercury, mystery author J. S. Fletcher (1863–1935) wrote to his publisher, Alfred Knopf, on 7 November 1932 about his output: 

Some controversy having arisen in a literary journal as to whether I have written as many books as Edgar Wallace, I asked the British Museum people to tell me how many books I have published. I have just had their reply—233. 

Awful!

New mystery audiobooks from Librivox.

Librivox, which marshals volunteer readers to produce free audiobooks of works in the public domain, has some new mystery-related offerings:

• A Modern Mephistopheles by Louisa May Alcott
  (an Alcott "blood and thunder" tale)
• The Tower Treasure by Frankin W. Dixon (the Hardy Boys debut)
  
• The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
• The Moon Rock by Arthur J. Rees (man with an aristocratic title claim is murdered)
  
• The Unholy Three by Tod Robbins (carnival performers become criminals)
  
• Clouds of Witness by Dorothy L. Sayers (Lord Peter's brother is accused of murder)
  
• Unnatural Death by Dorothy L. Sayers (Lord Peter looks into a potential murder)
  
• The Fellowship of the Frog by Edgar Wallace (cop and prosecutor chase a dastardly secret society)

Want to volunteer as a reader? Visit this webpage. 

Wordsworth blog: Collins, Le Fanu.

"These two figures crossed the floor diagonally." Illustration from Sheridan Le Fanu's "Mr. Justice Harbottle," Harper's Bazaar, February 1872. NYPL

Catching up with the blog on the Wordsworth Editions website:

• David Stuart Davies discusses the career of Wilkie Collins: "Remarkably, The Moonstone received a somewhat cool reception from the critics. Even Collins’s friend Dickens was of the opinion that, ‘The construction is wearisome beyond endurance, and there is a vein of obstinate conceit in it that makes enemies of the readers.'"
  
  
• Stephen Carter examines the work of legendary Irish ghost story writer Sheridan Le Fanu: "Le Fanu’s reputation was crowded out of Victorian literature by his contemporaries, Dickens, Thackeray, Wilkie Collins, and the Brontës; all of whom he in some form influenced and whose sales he frequently rivalled."

I'm looking forward to Davies's upcoming post on Edgar Wallace.

German films of Edgar Wallace works.

Edgar Wallace, Der Frosch mit der Maske
(Fellowship of the Frog)

On the Galactic Journey blog, Cora Buhlert discusses the popularity in Germany of film adaptations of the works of Edgar Wallace, including Der Zinker (The Squeaker) with Klaus Kinski.

Edgar Wallace's PC Lee on BBC's Radio 4 Extra.

Edgar Wallace, from
Wallace's My Hollywood
Diary (1932)

"England," said Police Constable Lee presently, "is the home of the free, an' the half-way house to liberty." (Wallace, "Pear-Drops" 1909)

This week, BBC Radio 4 Extra is airing stories featuring Edgar Wallace's London police constable P. C. Lee (1909). Actor Toby Jones stars, and the production company is Greenlit, which is responsible for Foyle's War.

The P. C. Lee stories can be found at this Web site; the ones noted below with an asterisk are the BBC Radio 4 Extra episodes:

• "Mr. Simmons' Profession"*
• "Change"
• "A Man of Note"*
• "A Case for Angel, Esquire"* (aka "The Inspector Gets a Brainwave" and "The Impossible Theft")
• "For Jewey's Laggin"
• "Pear-Drops"
• "How He Lost His Moustache"*
• "Sergeant Run-a-Mile"*
• "The Sentimental Burglar"
• "Contempt"
ª "Confidence"
• "Fireless Telegraphy"
• "The General Practitioner"
• "The Snatchers"*
• "The Gold Mine"
• "Mouldy the Scrivener"
• "Mrs. Flindin's Lodger"
• "The Derby Favourite"
• "The Story of a Great Cross-Examination"
• "Tanks"
• "The Silence of P.-C. Hirley"
• "The Power of the Eye"
• "The Convict's Daughter"
• "The Last Adventure"

The Evil Mind (aka The Clairvoyant, 1934).

Claude Rains plays a con artist who finds that his mind-reading act is resulting in real predictions of the future. Fay Wray co-stars. Screenplay contributors include Charles Bennett (Blackmail, Foreign Correspondent) and Bryan Edgar Wallace (son of Edgar Wallace).

Lilly Library exhibition: "The Weird Side of Detective Fiction."

Edgar Wallace. 
Painting by Philip
Tennyson Cole, which
appears in Wallace's
My Hollywood Diary (1932)

Indiana University's Lilly Library has a new summer exhibition, "Death by Gimmick! The Weird Side of Detective Fiction," which features the work of Edgar Wallace, Harry Stephen Keeler, and paperback publishers.

Wallace's Psycho-Circus (1966).

Celebrate today's birthday of Edgar Wallace (1875–1932, an important author in the development of the thriller) with Psycho-Circus, a film on the exploits of "a syndicate of evil" starring Christopher Lee, Leo Genn, and Klaus Kinski that is based on Wallace's The Three Just Men.

BBC Radio 4 Extra: Alexander McCall Smith, more Edgar Wallace.

DVD of 1969–71
Thames series The Mind of
Mr. J. G. Reeder

This week on BBC Radio 4 Extra, Precious Ramotswe's assistant Mma Makutsi takes on a case in Alexander McCall Smith's No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series set in Botswana. It also continues airing the work of Edgar Wallace with The Mind of Mr. J. G. Reeder (1925)—stories of a detective well versed in the criminal mind that, in the words of the late H. R. F. Keating, "still amuse, intrigue and notably entertain" (Crime & Mystery 32). Episodes usually may be heard for up to a week after broadcast.

BBC Radio 4 Extra: Edgar Wallace.

Edgar Wallace's White Face (1930; film 1932), in which Scotland Yard attempts to find the murderer of a con man, is featured this week on BBC Radio 4 Extra. Episodes can usually be heard up to a week after broadcast.

Recent mystery acquisitions, UK National Portrait Gallery.

Edgar Wallace, from
The Biography of a
Phenomenon, by
Margaret Lane, NYPL.

Among recent acquisitions of the UK National Portrait Gallery:

• G. K. Chesterton
• Lady Antonia Fraser (additional photos here and here)
• Graham Greene
• J. B. Priestley
• Ian Rankin
• Edgar Wallace

Mr. Ed, mystery fan.

The well-read Mr. Ed

The collection Readers & Writers, one CD from the radio program Selected Shorts: A Celebration of the Short Story, features Walter R. Brooks's "Ed Has His Mind Improved" (1939), in which our equine hero Mr. Ed widens his literary horizons through reading adventure and murder tales, displaying a particular fondness for Edgar Wallace.

Listen to the story (performed by Tony Roberts) here. Those looking for a print version of the story can find it in In the Stacks: Short Stories about Libraries and Librarians.

Spy novelists continue to attract interest at auction.

At Bloomsbury's December 10th auction, spy novelists continued to garner buyer interest. Below are pertinent mystery-related results.

• Agatha Christie, first editions of A Murder Is Announced (1950); Destination Unknown (1954); Hickory, Dickory Dock (1955); and four other unspecified novels, £480 (approx. US$781).

• Arthur Conan Doyle, 2nd ed. of The Sign of Four (1892), £120 (approx. US$195); 1st ed., The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1894), £110 (approx. US$179); 1st ed., The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902), £320 (approx. US$520); 1st ed., The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1905), £460 (approx. US$748); 2nd issue, The Lost World (1914, which includes photos of Conan Doyle disguised as Professor Challenger), £260 (approx. US$423).
  

• Ian Fleming, first editions of You Only Live Twice (1964), The Man with the Golden Gun (1965), and Octopussy (1966), £380 (approx. US$618).
  

• Graham Greene, 2nd issue of Stamboul Train (1932), with two other works, £240 (approx. US$390); 1st ed., The Third Man and The Fallen Idol (1950), £190 (approx. US$309); 1st ed., The Spy's Bedside Book: An Anthology (1957, ed. Graham Greene and Hugh Greene), £10 (approx. US$16).
  

• John le Carre, 1st ed., The Looking Glass War (1965), with 13 other books, £140 (approx. US$228).
  

Sadly, Edgar Wallace's Captain Tatham of Tatham Island (1909), est. between £200–250, went unsold.

(Hat tip to PhiloBiblos.)

Nicolas Freeling, Edgar Wallace this week on BBC Radio 7.

This week on BBC Radio 7, Nicolas Freeling's Inspector Van der Valk appears in Love in Amsterdam; also featured are short stories by thriller master Edgar Wallace, including "The Mind of Mr. J. G. Reeder." Go here for the schedule.

Happy birthday, Edgar Wallace.

Publishing phenomenon Edgar Wallace, who did much to foster the popularity of the thriller, was born today in 1875. He died in 1932, when he had gone to Hollywood for the filming of King Kong (on which he has a writing credit).

Some of his better known works include The Four Just Men (1906; made into a 1959 TV series with Jack Hawkins and Richard Conte, about an international cadre of vigilantes), The Ringer (a highly popular play starring Gerald du Maurier, also known as The Gaunt Stranger), The Crimson Circle (1922), and The Mind of Mr. J. G. Reeder (1925). Wallace was famous for his staggering output (he could finish a novel in one weekend, but sometimes character and plot details would alter from the early part of the book to the end) and equally impressive sales figures. One of his secretaries was the future mystery writer Nigel Morland.

On the April 9th broadcast of "It's a Mystery," I plan to air "Criminal at Large," an episode of the Molle Mystery Theater, based on Wallace's The Case of the Frightened Lady that features a strangler. For more on Wallace, read his People: A Short Autobiography (1926), or Margaret Lane's Edgar Wallace: The Biography of a Phenomenon (1939; Lane was once married to Bryan Edgar Wallace, the author's son).