The Terror

The Terror
Martin Edwards

Edgar Wallace

The sensational novel which launched Collins’ Detective Story Club in 1929 was by Edgar Wallace, who wrote more crime stories in the 1920s, and more films, than any other author. This new edition of The Terror, with its original jacket artwork, also includes another classic Wallace text, White Face.A dangerous gang of criminals is imprisoned after a daring robbery, although the ringleader who masterminded the crime disappears with the loot. Finally released after ten years behind bars, they are out for vengeance on the man who betrayed them, and the trail leads to a lonely house haunted by organ music and the spectre of a hooded figure who prowls its dark corridors.The Terror began life as a stage play, then a film, and finally the book that began Collins’ Detective Story Club in July 1929.This new edition also includes White Face, the other crime novel Wallace adapted from one of his own plays. A doctor finds a man murdered in a seedy part of London. The police suspect a notorious master of disguise known as ‘White Face’, and the doctor enlists a reporter to help him track down and unmask the elusive killer.This Detective Story Club classic is introduced by award-winning crime novelist and mystery genre expert Martin Edwards, author of the acclaimed The Golden Age of Murder.

Published by COLLINS CRIME CLUB

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

The Terror first published in Great Britain by The Detective Story Club Ltd for Wm Collins Sons & Co. Ltd 1929

White Face first published in Great Britain by Hodder & Stoughton 1930

Introduction © Martin Edwards 2016

Cover design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 1929, 2016

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780008137571

Ebook Edition © February 2016 ISBN: 9780008137588

Version: 2015-11-24

Contents

Cover (#u1ab1bde5-2890-504a-9af8-bd942045250b)

Title Page (#uf916cf2a-4088-5759-aca6-ff3a311ba1d9)

Copyright (#u87caf20b-99b6-580c-8967-6f73dbdcfb8e)

Introduction (#u6b085c4a-1256-567b-80a5-315d4b9331c2)

The Terror (#uf116165c-973e-5331-962a-e8a7e5f6a2f7)

Editor’s Preface (#u18178c46-ffc5-59bb-83f9-17c1282f967b)

Chapter I (#ub0f3948e-c315-59df-a9d8-78a9748527d7)

Chapter II (#u18465cfc-e9e9-51a0-b971-bfaa10b52f16)

Chapter III (#u6d4be480-572e-5626-8be5-0216bb453d81)

Chapter IV (#u752f6d08-7d13-5c13-bdbc-55898bddeb03)

Chapter V (#udc2afc17-4713-5983-9446-a0a5def253fd)

Chapter VI (#ud2f0fca1-1be0-5adf-b988-186df9526099)

Chapter VII (#u93137b79-e18f-543b-86d7-a2c4feb11a8c)

Chapter VIII (#ud5d6b8d6-79d6-5f79-8783-0b5e312ddb64)

Chapter IX (#ubfe5e3d1-85f1-560f-a853-c6eec8ec5bf4)

Chapter X (#u897f17c3-4958-5cf7-8ba5-1dfd7d9d8f87)

Chapter XI (#u67b2bcc4-341e-551a-b38e-0455412a142d)

Chapter XII (#ufcc7b061-e5ec-57c2-ae95-3c024b6d2e2b)

Chapter XIII (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter XIV (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter XV (#litres_trial_promo)

White Face (#litres_trial_promo)

Dedication (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter I (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter II (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter III (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter IV (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter V (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter VI (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter VII (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter VIII (#litres_trial_promo)