MBB-4

The Crimson Circle is a quick, competent crime novel by Edgar Wallace about a crime organization called The Crimson Circle terrorizing London.

Tasked with the job of finding the mastermind orchestrating the organization's criminal deeds are Inspector Parr and "psychic detective" Derrick Yale, who find themselves seemingly befuddled by the plague of unsolvable extortions and murders sweeping the city. Tangled up in the investigations are the young Jack Beardsman whose own father is targeted by the criminal organization, and the mysterious young Thalia Drummond for whom Jack carries a torch.

The mystery is plotted well, the pace keeps the reader's interest, and the ultimate resolution, while slightly far-fetched, is not wholly unbelievable. Some of Wallace's crime fiction can be overly convoluted and haphazard, but The Crimson Circle is definitely one of his more well-crafted works. ( )

One should never wait for more than a few hours before writing up a review/synopsis of an Edgar Wallace tale. They're so convoluted one can hardly remember what happened just a few days later on. At least that's the case for those us with "mature" minds. Whatever, Wallace is always supremely entertaining, and invariably results in a Good Read.

In this case, a mysterious entity (person?) known as the Crimson Circle is about the business of extorting money from rich folks. Unless the money shows up where and when dictated, said folks will be murdered. And...they are! It seems that the head of the Crimson Circle has a host of henchmen (henchpeople?) to assist him, but none of them really knows another, nor do they know who is giving out the orders. How to unravel it all?

So, the police work away on this, partly assisted by a private detective, who effects to be a proponent of psychometry. He can hold a spoon, or something, and tell you about the person associated with the spoon, or some such.

Anyway, we have Jack Beardmore, whose father was one of the murdered. He gets involved with the investigation, which is being spearheaded by Insp. Parr. The mysterious psychometric detective, Derrick Yale, hangs around to help. They keep running into Thalia Drummond, who is reputed to be "a crook and companion of crooks". Jack is smitten by Thallia and can't believe her alleged criminal behavior.

Well, anyway, we have interesting characters, shady goings on, unearthing skulduggery from the past and so on. Eventually, all is laid bare. A good read [should be given *** ].

( )

The Crimson Circle is signed to extortion letters, and a wealthy man who refuses to pay is shot just outside his own house despite being guarded. A policeman, an amateur detective, and the man's son investigate. ( )

Really this book deserves 2 1/2 stars... It was a servicable mystery but I figured out who The Crimson Circle was about 2/3 in & also deduced most of the other twist as well. Generally I am not good at solving mysteries before the detective, so I view my ability to solve this one as a sign that it wasn't that difficult. I enjoyed the characters & again I found Wallace's work to be surprisingly undated (well, undated in the sense it could have been written in the 1950's instead of the 1910's but not in 2010).

I found "The Clue of the Twisted Candle" to be overall a better mystery, so if this is your first taste of Wallace I would recommend trying that before giving up on him. ( )