Edgar Wallace (1875–1932), 1905: The Four Just Men

Abstract

Commentators seem unable to avoid using the term ‘phenomenon’ to describe Edgar Richard Horatio Wallace, referring usually to his enormous popularity in Britain, America and Germany, and his extraordinary productivity. In crime fiction he produced at least 158 novels and story collections (though titles were often changed, and there may be overlaps), and he could be astonishingly prolific: his finest year was 1929 when he produced twenty-three titles, nearly matched by 1926 (eighteen) and 1927 (fourteen).