Book Description

‘Vanity takes no more obnoxious form than the everlasting desire for approval.’ This collection of 12 short mystery stories includes titles such as 'Chick', 'For One Night Only', 'A Writ of Summons', 'Spotting the Lady', and 'A Lesson in Diplomacy among others'. The title story 'Chick' tells of an office boy who unexpectedly inherits the title of Marquis. As well as dealing with this unexpected elevation in his status, and learning how to behave as a member of the aristocracy he also has to protect his newly inherited estate from clever con men who try to convince him that there is oil on his land. Each of the other short stories stand out as intriguing and mysterious pieces of short-form literature as only Wallace could write it. If you love Wallace's amazing universe, this is a great collection of stories to help you dive deeper into the mind of the genius behind 'King Kong'. Edgar Wallace (1875-1932) was an English writer so prolific, that one of his publishers claimed that he was behind a quarter of all books sold in England. An author, journalist, and poet, he wrote countless novels, short stories, screenplays, stage plays, historical non-fiction, etc. Today, more than 160 films have been made from his works. He died suddenly in Hollywood in 1932, during the initial drafting of his most famous work, ‘King Kong’. The most popular movie of recent times based on Wallace's work is the blockbuster 'King Kong' (2005) starring Naomi Watts, Jack Black and Adrien Brody.