The Four Just Men - Softcover

Wallace, Edgar

Softcover

ISBN 10: 184232683X ISBN 13: 9781842326831

Publisher: House of Stratus, 2008

Synopsis

When Foreign Secretary Sir Philip Ramon receives a threatening, greenish-grey letter signed “Four Just Men,” he remains determined to see his Aliens Extradition Bill made law. A device in the members' smoke room and a sudden magnesium flash that could easily have been nitroglycerin leave Scotland Yard baffled. Even Fleet Street cannot identify the illusive Manfred, Gonsalez, Pioccart, and Thery—four just men dedicated to punishing by death those whom conventional justice cannot touch.

About this title

About the Author:

Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace was born illegitimately in Greenwich, London, in 1875 to actors Mary Jane Richards and T.H. Edgar. As an infant he was adopted by George Freeman, a porter at Billingsgate fish market. Aged eleven, Wallace sold newspapers at Ludgate Circus and upon leaving school took a job with a printer. He later enlisted in the Royal West Kent Regiment, before transferring to the Medical Staff Corps, and was sent to South Africa.

In 1898, he published a collection of poems called 'The Mission that Failed', and subsequently left the army to become correspondent for Reuters. South African war correspondent for 'The Daily Mail' followed and his articles were later published as 'Unofficial Dispatches'. His outspokenness infuriated Lord Kitchener, who removed his credentials. He then edited the 'Rand Daily Mail', but gambled disastrously on the South African Stock Market.

Returning to England, Wallace at first reported on crimes and hanging trials, before becoming editor of 'The Evening News'. It was in 1905 that he founded the Tallis Press, publishing 'Smithy', a collection of soldier stories, and 'The Four Just Men'. The latter was published with the ending removed as an advertising stunt and he offered $500 to readers who could successfully guess the ending. Unfortunately, many did and he was almost bankrupted. At various times Wallace also worked as a journalist on 'The Standard', 'The Star', 'The Week-End Racing Supplement' and 'The Story Journal'.

In 1917, he became a Special Constable at Lincoln's Inn and also a special interrogator for the War Office. The Daily Mail sent Wallace to investigate atrocities in the Belgian Congo, a trip that provided material for his 'Sanders of the River' books. In 1923, he became Chairman of the Press Club and in 1931 stood as a Liberal Parliamentary candidate for Blackpool.

Wallace's first marriage in 1901 to Ivy Caldecott, daughter of a missionary, ended in divorce in 1918 and he later married his much younger secretary, Violet King.

Along with countless articles, some 23 screenplays and many short stories, Wallace wrote more than 170 books, which have been translated into 28 languages and sales of which have exceeded 50 million copies. Over 160 films have been made from his books - more than any other author. In the 1920's one of Wallace's many publishers claimed that a quarter of all books read in England were written by him. His sales were exceeded only by 'The Bible'.

He died in 1932 whilst working on the screenplay for 'King Kong', having moved to Hollywood after being offered a contract by RKO.

Review:

This fast-moving little story and its accomplished reader takes the theme of vigilante justice out of this current polished, slick, technology-dependent world and brings it back to a simpler, more black-and-white one. --Joanna Theiss, SoundCommentary

Edgar Wallace was one of the early thriller writers, known to us more from the movies than his books. In his Four Just Men series, the villains are four men who practise vigilante law. While their actions are outside the law, which one cannot approve of, there is a certain sympathy for their actions. Read with perfection by Bill Homewood, the first in the unabridged Naxos AudioBooks Classic Crime series of that title takes us to the London of 1905, where the police hunt four men determined to right wrong with violence. --Alide Kohlhaas, Seniors Review

About this edition

• Publisher: House of Stratus
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 184232683X
• ISBN 13: 9781842326831
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 134