Sexton Blake Bibliography: 1917

Notes: None at present.

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Notes: This was Norman Goddard's final story before he was killed in France. The story features George Marsden Plummer.

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Notes: Story features Count Ivor Carlac and Professor Kew. This was later adapted, with Sexton Blake being replaced by Ferrers Locke, and was published as THE SECRET OF THE TOWER in THE BOYS' FRIEND LIBRARY second series issue 279 (1931).

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Notes: While Sexton Blake is visiting the Duke of Saxendale at his stately home, the duke's son, Lord Ronald Crest — who works at the British Embassy in the United States — arrives unexpectedly having narrowly avoided an assassin's bullet. Blake tussles with the shooter and is amazed to recognise him as Basil Wicketshaw, who was supposedly drowned at the end of their first encounter (THEIR GREAT ADVENTURE, The Sexton Blake Library 17, 1916). Indeed, the detective is so astounded that he hesitates and the crook is able to get away. Back at the house, Ronald explains that Wicketshaw is acting as an agent for the German Ambassador, Count Von Bernstein, who is plotting to injure British interests in America. Ronald had been caught investigating the matter and, as he travelled back to England to report, multiple attempts to kill him were made. Blake is consequently summoned to the Foreign Office and commissioned to investigate the affair. The detective makes himself up as Lord Ronald in order to masquerade as him, and then he and Tinker travel separately to America. En route, Wicketshaw, who is aboard the same ship as Blake, attempts to poison him. He fails, but has better luck when the voyage ends and he manages to capture Tinker. The youngster is subjected to the Third Degree but refuses to divulge Blake’s whereabouts. Fortunately, prior to his capture, he had managed to communicate to his guv'nor the address of Wicketshaw's hideaway. The criminologist comes to his rescue but fails to apprehend the villain. Tinker has overheard Wicketshaw discussing plans to have a couple of strike agitators address a large union meeting. Blake has the duo arrested and addresses the crowd himself, revealing to them that they had nearly been duped by German-sponsored criminals. A fight breaks out. Blake and Tinker escape from the meeting, are pursued by a mob, but are saved by the timely arrival of Fenlock Fawn. Next, Wicketshaw tries to destroy a munitions factory by steering a train filled with explosives into it. Tinker saves the day by opening a bridge, causing the train to plummet into a river. Blake, however, is captured and tied to the front of a runaway locomotive. His assistant commandeers another train, gives chase, and the detective is saved. Shortly after recovering from the ordeal, Blake learns that a German U-boat is lurking just beyond the three-mile limit. Identifying the boat that is intended by Wicketshaw to refuel the submarine, the detective boards it and finds Fenlock Fawn, who is being held prisoner. After liberating his friend, they capture the vessel's captain, force a confession from him, then set the ship ablaze. Blake contacts a British destroyer and sends it to hunt the U-boat. After his repeated failures, Wicketshaw tries to drop out of sight but Tinker once again gets on his trail, leading to a confrontation between the crook and Blake. The detective comes out on top, Wicketshaw is arrested and evidence is found on him that implicates Count Von Bernstein. The German ambassador is ejected from the country. A few weeks later, Basil Wicketshaw escapes from prison.

Rating: ★★★☆☆ Much is made of the "Third Degree," an interrogation method that I guess might have been much in the news at the time.

Notes: Story features Captain Horatio Peak.

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Notes: When John Langton, the assistant manager of a merchant company, is critically wounded in an accident, his younger brother admits to stealing £100 from the firm and asks Langton to confess to this crime to save him from imprisonment. Langton, believing that he has but hours to live, reluctantly agrees and writes a bogus confession. When Septimus Dempster, the general manager of the company, receives this note, he alters the amount to £10,000 and steals the money for himself, adding it to the huge amount he has already embezzled. When Langton unexpectedly recovers from his injury, he finds that his brother has been killed on the Front and he, John, has been accused of Dempster's crimes. He is committed to a seven year term at Bleakmoor Prison. A year later, he joins forces with Aubrey Dexter, who has been imprisoned for just over nineteen months of a fifteen-year sentence, and they escape. After Langton tells the cracksman his story, the two men part company in London and Langton gives himself up to Sexton Blake. The detective agrees to investigate the case and Langton leaves, escaping from beneath the nose of Detective-Inspector Coutts. Blake tells Tinker to shadow Septimus Dempster. Meanwhile, believing that Dempster is hoarding the stolen money, Dexter pays him a visit at his house. A struggle ensues during which a shot is fired from outside, killing Dempster. This attracts Tinker, who enters the house only to be knocked unconscious by Dexter. Thinking that Sexton Blake is hot on his heels, the crook flees, leaving the money behind. Tinker recovers long enough to summon Blake. He investigates the scene and discovers the hidden loot. Believing that Dexter will return for this, Blake joins the Special Constables who patrol a reservoir behind the house. He is thus able to keep watch and, a few days later, apprehends the ace cracksman as he enters the house. With Dexter captured, Blake investigates further and discovers that the shot that killed Dempster was fired by his disgruntled father-in-law. While he is examining this evidence, Dexter overpowers him and escapes. Dempster's killer is caught, John Langton is declared innocent of all crimes, but Dexter remains at liberty.

Trivia: The governor of Bleakmoor Prison is named Colonel Newlands and he is not on good terms with Sexton Blake. Blake has a private dressing room in Dasset Street off the Strand. This was reprinted under the same title in SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY 2nd series issue 711 (1940).

Rating: ★★★★★

Notes: While returning from the Russian front with a bullet wound in his side, the Hon. John Lawless rescues the governor of Leyford prison from two escaped convicts as they attack him and his daughter on a train. Lawless makes off before he can be thanked and visits Sexton Blake, who, seeing the condition of his friend, insists that Lawless should rest up. The detective lends him his country cottage in Dorset, which by coincidence is close to Leyford. In that town, Professor Kew and Count Ivor Carlac are plotting to break a prisoner named Melvale out of the prison. He is an ex-bank manager who stole a hoard of jewels from one of his clients. The stash was never found, but Melvale has made a deal with the two master-crooks — if they get him free, he'll take them to where the money is hidden. Kew and Carlac fool Lawless (who has never met them before) into believing that Melvale is an innocent man, and he rashly agrees to help with their scheme. Impersonating a guard, he liberates the banker only to then find himself knocked unconscious. When he recovers, he's wearing prison garb. Mistaken for the convict, he tries to get away but falls into thorn bushes that scratch his face. He is taken to the prison hospital where, in Melvale's cap, he finds a map of the Norfolk Broads, with a particular island marked. Kew, Carlac and Melvale have escaped to Norfolk where they are keeping an eye on the escapee's wife, who they believe to be in possession of a copy of the map, which shows where Melvale buried the money — he can't remember the location without the map. They find it difficult to approach her, though, because Tinker is also watching. The prison governor and his daughter encounter Sam, who is looking for his employer, Lawless. When Lawless passes by in a chain gang, Sam exposes his true identity. Lawless tells his story to the governor and is told to team up with Sexton Blake and catch Melvale within three days. Upon learning that Blake and Lawless are on their way to Norfolk via train, Kew and Carlac switch the points on the track to cause a head on collision. Tinker, on a bridge, sees the two locomotives heading for each other and jumps into the coal tender of one, giving a warning blast on its whistle, bringing it to a halt, and saving the day. Blake and Lawless pursue the criminals into the Norfolk Broads but, after a pitched fight, Kew, Carlac and Melvale get away. They make it to the island and retrieve the jewels. Blake follows but the crooks set the reeds on fire and he only just escapes. The villainous trio start to make their escape in a powered canoe but Melvale betrays Carlac and Kew by pitching them overboard. Lawless and Blake give chase in a motorboat but are stopped by the river police who inform them that the channel ahead is mined. Melvale is blown up and the jewels are recovered. The fate of Carlac and Kew remains a mystery.

Trivia: This was reprinted as THE SECRET OF THE MISSING CONVICT in THE BOYS' FRIEND LIBRARY 2nd series issue 698 (1939).

Rating: ★★★★★

Notes: None at present.

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Notes: None at present.

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Notes: None at present.

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Notes: None at present.

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Notes: None at present.

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Notes: Story features Hon. John Lawless.

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Notes: In Petrograd, revolutionary sympathiser Vassili Ostroff, whose English wife died some months ago, instructs his daughter, Olga, to burn his papers before joining him in exile in England, though this will mean separation from her sweetheart, Richard Wardlaw. She has almost completed this task when she is interrupted by Wardlaw’s love rival, Captain Serge Alexoff, who finds among the remaining evidence proof of her father’s sympathies. When she spurns his amorous advances, Alexoff has her sent to the Siberian mines. Weeks later, a remorseful Ostroff begs for Sexton Blake’s help. The detective, however, can do nothing. Nearly three years pass, then the detective is asked by Wardlaw’s father to find his son, who upon finally learning where in Siberia Olga is held, has set out to rescue her. Blake and Tinker travel to Siberia and locate him. Blake advises against the rescue attempt, but Wardlaw goes ahead with it anyway, with disastrous consequences. Blake and Tinker are forced to flee with him, with Alexoff hot on their trail. After many perilous adventures in the Siberian wilderness, they make it to Petrograd, but so too does Alexoff. The February Revolution grips the city, after which Olga is released and sends word that she is en route to be reunited with Wardlaw. Alexoff abducts her before she arrives, and holds her prisoner. Tinker discovers where but is also captured. Blake comes to the rescue. The police are with him but cannot arrest Alexoff, who denies all knowledge of Olga. Tinker, however, has witnessed him receiving incriminating papers, and knows where they are. He uses this knowledge to bribe the Captain into handing over the girl, who is reunited with her love. Though Tinker holds to his word and does not give Alexoff away, the captain's activities are nevertheless discovered by the police, and he is arrested, probably to be executed.

Trivia: This story has in the past been attributed to Andrew Murray but the style of W. M. Graydon is unmistakable.

Rating: ★★★☆☆ Sexton Blake is too passive throughout this over-long adventure.

Notes: The story features Mlle. Yvonne Cartier and Jim Potter. This tale has sequels: The Three Millionaires (THE UNION JACK 714) and The Case of the Lorimer Twins (THE UNION JACK 718) both from this year, 1917.

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Notes: Story features Hon. John Lawless.

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Notes: Detective-Inspector Martin discovers that his son, Tom, is in debt to a moneylender, a man who's a part of a gang led by Gabriel Lawton. The gang uses a gambling den, the X.Y.Z. Club, as a means of "hooking their bait." Martin, vowing to smash their enterprise, goes to the club in disguise ... and there encounters another disguised investigator—Sexton Blake! The two men corner Lawton and threaten to arrest him unless he ends all his criminal operations within twenty-four hours. Lawton, however, is unwilling to allow his true character to become known to his children, so the next day he captures Blake and Martin and leaves them bound in a room with an infernal device that will soon blow them to bits. Tinker comes to the rescue and, when they then pursue the crook, Lawton falls down a staircase and is killed. His wicked business interests are inherited by his daughter, Rosa, and son, Philip. Blake tries to convince Rosa to discontinue them. She is inclined to do so but is persuaded otherwise by her good-for-nothing brother. To show the consequences of their father's activities, Blake takes them to visit a women's prison. While there, they encounter "Broadway Kate" Maitland, who escapes when the gaol catches fire. The blaze also blinds Rosa who is then confined to a darkened room as a part of her medical treatment. Broadway Kate teams up with Philip, impersonates Rosa, forges cheques, and resumes the late Gabriel Lawton's criminal enterprises. Blake, however, gets wind of the scheme—though he doesn't yet know Kate is behind it—and the crooks flee. Rosa, imprisoned, attacks her captor and apparently kills him. For a while, things look bad for her, but Blake gets to the truth and the real culprit is identified. He commits suicide. Philip joins the Army and is reformed. Rosa regains her sight and marries Tom Martin. Broadway Kate escapes.

Trivia: Detective-Inspector Martin lives in Streatham. He was married but his wife died around 1912. By the time of this story, he is past middle age and putting on weight. He lives in Streatham and enjoys the music halls. His only son, Tom, was born around 1893.

Rating: ★★★★☆ Lots of obvious padding!

Notes: None at present.

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Notes: Dirk “the Bat” Dolland is caught stealing jewels in a Brighton hotel by a beautiful young woman. She holds him at gunpoint, demands that he empties his pockets of his loot, then gives him ten minutes to clear out of the place. Later, it becomes clear that the stolen items have not been returned to their owners, and Dolland realises he has been duped by a fellow thief. When he catches up with her, she introduces herself as Mademoiselle Miguet, also known as the Butterfly. They go into partnership. Their first target is a lawyer named Harley Dene. Miquet fools him into handing over a sum of money, and gains access to the combination of his safe. In that strongbox are priceless jewels plus documents relating to a big embezzlement case. Sexton Blake is a witness in this proceeding, and both he and Dene have received letters threatening death unless they drop the case. These are signed by “Mr. Reece.” Dolland, given the combination by his partner, breaks into the safe and steals the jewels. While doing so, he is interrupted by another burglar, whom he knocks out, finding on the man a card bearing Reece’s name. This fellow thief is later caught by a police constable while rifling through the safe. He refuses to talk. One of the witnesses in Dene’s case receives a letter from Reece threatening death by 6pm unless he withdraws. He ignores it and is found dead. Dene receives a similar missive, and dies at the appointed hour, right in front of Blake and Detective-Inspector Coutts. Blake is able to discover the method. Dolland receives a visit from one of Reece’s men, and is taken blindfolded to meet that mysterious individual. From behind a screen, Reece orders him to retrieve the papers left in Dene’s safe. Dolland refuses. Reece abducts the Butterfly and threatens her welfare unless the Bat complies. Dolland requests a truce from Blake and tells him the full story. Blake agrees to help if Dolland returns the jewels. This is agreed. The detective masquerades as the Bat and is taken, with eyes covered, to Reece, who again issues instructions from behind a screen. After agreeing to recover the papers, the detective is driven away… but he has purposely dropped his signet ring outside the meeting place, and the next day offers via the newspapers a reward for its return. In this manner, he discovers the location of Reece’s hideout, and has the place raided by the police when he again visits, ostensibly to deliver the papers. Reece’s accomplices escape through a trapdoor to the river. The discovery of a waxwork dummy, microphone and speakers suggests that Reece never existed, but was a clever invention by the crooks to inspire awe and fear. Mademoiselle Miguet is rescued, and Blake gives Dirk Dolland twenty-four hours to get out of the country.

Trivia: Detective-Inspector Coutts mentions Detective-Inspector Martin… a rare example of one author referencing another’s creation.

Rating: ★★★★★ An excellent tale published two years prior to the advent of the Criminals’ Confederation, which is when Reece reappears and proves to be real. Either the author was thinking far ahead or, more likely, he simply resurrected the character when he started the CC tales.

Notes: None at present.

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Notes: Sexton Blake receives a visit from a young newspaper reporter, Glory Gale, who offers to assist him whenever a “lady detective” might be useful. The detective humours her by suggesting that she first prove herself. Gale attempts to interview the Princess Olga Sebilinski, only to discover that the monarch is in fact, Broadway Kate, whom she witnesses falling in with the expert cracksman, Aubrey Dexter. These two plan an audacious bank robbery. Gale, pretending to be a petty thief, joins them, then attempts to alert the police. The two crooks get away, taking boxes of gold, and holding Gale captive. Detective-Inspector Martin consults Sexton Blake, who quickly gets on the villains’ trail. Gale’s handsome young boss, Markham Dean, who is in love with her, also visits Blake and asks him to rescue her. The detective traces the hired car used by the crooks to a warehouse, where he discovers Gale bound and gagged. For her part in the robbery, despite that she betrayed the thieves, Martin intends to arrest the young woman. Markham Dean, shocked by this, holds the police at gunpoint and escapes with her. She later sets off independently, leaving him a letter, knowing he will be arrested for abetting her escape. Sexton Blake tells Chief Commissioner Sir Henry Fairfax that Maitland has teamed up with Dexter, and that Gale and Dean are both working to help capture them. The letter from Gale reveals that the crooks are due to leave the country on a tramp steamer. They do—after first shanghaiing the young reporter. Blake, Tinker and Pedro set off in pursuit. Aboard the crooks’ steamer, as it nears South America, the villainous crew succumb to typhoid. Maitland confesses that she has fallen in love with Dexter. Realising her jealous nature, he pretends to return the emotion, but at the first opportunity contrives to leave her stranded on a deserted island. As the ship steams away, a violent storm ceases it and, with insufficient crew, it sinks just offshore. Dexter saves Glory Gale and they both make it back to the island, but Maitland is there to greet them. She stabs Dexter and he is drawn back into the sea by a fierce wave. Gale overpowers the female crook and, when the storm is done, they are rescued. The gold is recovered from the sunken vessel. Maitland is returned to gaol, now with an increased sentence. Dexter is revealed to have survived but is left a castaway.

Rating ★★★★☆

Notes: Story features Fenlock Fawn.

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Notes: Story features Hon. John Lawless. It was later adapted as a non-Blake tale (he was replaced by Ferrers Locke) and appeared as THE SECRET OF THE REEF in THE BOYS' FRIEND LIBRARY second series issue 366 (1933).

The cover image was later used as a giveaway colour printed plate with the thousandth issue of UNION JACK (The Thousandth Chance, UNION JACK issue 1,000, 1922).

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Notes: None at present.

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Notes: None at present.

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Notes: Blake and Tinker are on holiday, touring the South Seas aboard the Fleur-de-Lys with Mademoiselle Yvonne Cartier, her Uncle Graves and brother, Bob Cartier. In an isolated lagoon on an uninhabited island, they discover a sunken schooner. It is the Cormorant, and it looks to have been scuttled. Graves recalls reading that it had been chartered by a bank president, John Baxter, after he disappeared with a million in gold bullion. That night, lights are seen in its vicinity and Blake and Bob Cartier row out to investigate. They hail four men on the beach and are promptly attacked. However, a shot fired high sends the assailants fleeing. The next morning, Blake leads a party of twelve crewmen to search the island. While they are doing so, the Fleur-de-Lys is boarded by the crew of a newly arrived vessel, the Flying Fish, and towed to where the Cormorant lies. Blake deduces that the stolen bullion is still in the sunken craft and that Baxter has come to recover it. The detective, Tinker, Bob Carter and Hendricks — who serves as mate aboard Yvonne's yacht — take cover on the beach and start to take pot-shots at the new arrivals whenever they see anyone preparing to dive. However, when a large party heads to shore armed with rifles, Blake and his friends beat a hasty retreat. While Baxter and his people retrieve the bullion, the detective gathers gunpowder from bullets and prepares a makeshift bomb. With this, he goes with Tinker to the mouth of the lagoon, intending to block its entrance by destroying a reef. Before this can be done, another yacht arrives bearing Doctor Huxton Rymer. Leaving Tinker to detonate the bomb, Blake makes his way back to his allies but is captured and imprisoned on the Fleur-de-Lys. Rymer's men engage in a gunfight with Baxter's people, a distraction that gives Yvonne and her crew the opportunity to recapture her yacht and liberate Blake. The Flying Fish makes a run for it but Tinker sets off the bomb, sealing the lagoon, and Baxter's vessel runs aground and catches fire. He and his crew abandon ship. Blake & Co. retrieve the remaining boxes of bullion from the Cormorant. They also capture Baxter. Rymer tries to cut a deal with Blake but it is turned down, so he recruits Baxter's men and launches an attack. After furious fighting, Yvonne's crew comes out victorious and, while Rymer's force retreats, the rest of the bullion is collected. With the master crook's men now fighting among themselves, Blake uses dynamite to clear a channel out to sea, and the Fleur-de-Lys sails for Tahiti. On that island, the American detective William J. Kennedy of the Green Shields Detective Agency is on the trail of Baxter. Blake gives into his custody the man and the bullion.

Trivia: Aside from Captain Vaughan and Hendricks, the mate, Yvonne's yacht has a crew of twenty, which means it's a pretty large vessel.

William J. Kennedy shouldn't be confused with American Secret Service agent Bryant Kennedy (also a G. H. Teed creation).

We are informed that, after the adventure of THE BLUE GOD (UNION JACK issue 685, 1916), Rymer and Hammerton Palmer parted company, with the latter heading to New York with a promotion scheme in mind. Palmer has just one more recorded case after this, it being THE GREAT IVORY SWINDLE (THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY 1st series, issue 325, 1924), but since the events of that story occurred early in Mademoiselle Yvonne's career, they must date from before THE SUNKEN SCHOONER. Therefore, Palmer's intention to go to New York is the last we ever hear of him.

Rating: ★★★★★

Notes: My issue is missing its cover.

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Notes: None at present.

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Notes: My issue is missing its cover.

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Notes: Story features Sir Richard Losely and Lobangu.

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Notes: Story features Jim Potter.

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Notes: While in an illicit gambling den, Dirk Dolland aka The Bat learns that an American railroad tycoon named Cyrus C. Crag wishes to buy a painting, the Corottzi Venus, from Colonel Eustace Roden. The Colonel refuses to sell despite being offered £100,000. It just so happens that Dolland is currently illegally occupying a property just four houses away from Roden which belongs to Bernard Mellish, a man currently in New York. Dolland shares the residence with three criminals: Nicholas Mark, a forger; Brandon Delmas, a crooked lawyer; and Dr. Stephen Stone, a drug-addicted medical man. The four crooks invade Roden's premises and keep him and his servant prisoner upstairs. Dolland, in the guise of Mellish, visits an insurance agent and uses forged documents to insure the Mellish house and the painting for a £110,000. He then makes himself up as the Colonel and sells the painting to Crag. A few weeks later the Mellish residence, supposedly with the painting inside, is burned to the ground and the insurance is paid. When the real Mellish is found to be abroad, Sexton Blake is called in. He goes to interview Colonel Roden, arriving at the same time as Detective-Inspector Coutts who has received an anonymous telegram instructing him to search the house. They find the Colonel and his servant tied up. When Roden discovers that his painting has gone, he explodes with anger. But then Cyrus Crag arrives and accuses the Colonel of selling him a fake. Blake begins to unravel the swindle; his investigation leads to Paris but there he falls into the hands of the gang. Unknown to The Bat, Delmas places the detective into a chamber which slowly fills with water. At the last moment before he drowns, Blake is rescued by Dolland. In return, he allows the gentleman thief to escape while the rest of the gang are rounded up.

Trivia: This was anthologised in THE CASEBOOK OF SEXTON BLAKE (2009).

Rating: ★★★★★

Notes: A man goes missing the day before he was due to bid for a factory located in the African town of Folloko. His fiancé asks Hon. John Lawless for help. Lawless begins his investigation by attending the auction on the man's behalf. There, he drives up the bidding, making a man named Jansen pay many thousands of pounds over the expected price. He then sees to it that the papers granting Jansen ownership are delayed, and while Jansen is cooling his heels, Lawless travels to Africa with Sam and impersonates him, taking possession of the factory. Meanwhile, Jansen hires Sexton Blake to look into the matter of the papers. The detective surmises that his client is being impersonated and travels to Folloko to find out who by. Joining forces with Lawless, he searches the factory but finds nothing suspicious, apart from the fact that an Arab trader is hanging around. This man, recognising that Lawless is not who he says he is, and captures Blake. Lawless is then ousted by the arrival of the real Jansen. The adventurer infiltrates the Arabic camp, frees Blake, and tricks its leader into acting too soon. Jansen delivers to the trader an illegal shipment of rubber—which had been cleverly hidden in the factory—bound for Germany. Blake leads an attack against the caravan, and the Arabs and Jansen are caught red handed.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Notes: None at present.

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Notes: Among the apaches of Paris, few are so powerful as the Black Rat. Now, having stolen printing plates used for fifty franc notes, he produces a million's worth before then framing a rival apache, the Snake — along with his own lieutenant, Flash Jean — for the crime. Some weeks after they are sent to Devil's Island, Mademoiselle Yvonne is in Paris, where her temporary maid, Jeanne, breaks down and reveals that her husband, whom she'd known only as a clerk and good family man, had turned out to be the Snake. Before being jailed, he'd confessed all to her but had sworn that he was innocent of the crime for which he'd been sentenced. Yvonne writes to Sexton Blake, who promptly arrives in Paris with Tinker. Disguised as apaches, the detective and his assistant visit the Black Rat's territory, the Montmartre district, and a café named Pierre's, which the crook is known to frequent. Sure enough, he arrives to rendezvous with a beautiful girl, Camille, but as he enters two of the Snake's men attempt to assassinate him. They are foiled by Blake, who then, in the guise of "the Hawk," ingratiates himself with the Black Rat. When he's offered a job, Blake arranges to meet with the crook the following evening to give his response. After the detective's departure, the Black Rat becomes intrigued by a woman who enters the premises. This causes fierce jealousy in Camille and she attacks him with a knife, wounding his wrist. The next morning, Blake interviews Inspector Napoleon Hazard of the Surete, who had been the arresting officer in the stolen plates affair. He notices that the police detective has a bandaged wrist. That night, Blake keeps his appointment with the Black Rat and is commissioned by the crook ... to murder Sexton Blake! This prompts him to wonder how the Black Rat knows he is investigating the case. The beautiful woman who had previously distracted the villain enters Pierre's and Blake is shocked to recognise her as a disguised Yvonne. He realises that she is conducting her own investigation. The following day, he warns her to stay away from Montmartre. That evening, with a force of six Surete men, Blake raids Pierre's. Camille, though, helps the Black Rat to escape. After the raid is over and the police have departed, Blake changes into his apache disguise, becoming again the Hawk, and returns to the café. He demands to see the Black Rat and Camille takes him to a house where the villain is hiding. The crook orders the Hawk to lure Sexton Blake to this premises to be assassinated. Blake reveals his identity, pulls out a gun, and tries to arrest the Black Rat, whose true identity he now exposes: the crook is Inspector Hazard! Camille turns out the lights and a gunfight erupts. Tinker and the police barge into the house but Camille throws a bomb at them. It misses but destroys the front of the house. Blake is knocked unconscious by falling debris. The Black Rat and the girl slip away. Blake knows the villain is well-funded and predicts that they'll meet again. In the meantime, he has at least secured a full pardon for the Snake.

Trivia: There's an interesting insight into Blake's feelings for Yvonne. This case occurs fairly early in their relationship, after she's completed her mission of vengeance against those who ruined her family and is starting to become a valued ally. By now, Blake "had grown to feel for her a something which he had felt for no other woman." The anger he'd experienced when Doctor Huxton Rymer wooed her is recalled, as is the jealousy he'd felt when she'd lavished attention on a man Blake hadn't known was her long lost brother. In this issue, he finds himself at one point "seething with strange emotion" and beginning "to feel vaguely that there was something within himself which he did not understand."

The Snake in this story is not Henri Garrock, also known as the Snake, who last appeared in The Case of the Pewter Candlesticks (THE UNION JACK issue 542, 1914).

Rating: ★★★★★

Notes: None at present.

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Notes: None at present.

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Notes: Celebrated Scotland Yard man Detective-Inspector John Venn is not all he seems. In fact, he has three identities, each supported by clever disguises. As Venn, he has won the respect and admiration of his fellow officers and of Sir Henry Fairfax. As diamond merchant James Venables, he has accrued a fortune and lives a life of luxury. And as 'The Master', he moves freely among the very worst criminals of society. His gang are unaware of his other identities nor do they realise that he is cheating them by acting as a fence for their stolen goods but paying them far less than he actually receives. Joe Devine — aka The Chemist — is suspicious, though, and at a gang meeting he declares that there's a traitor in their midst. Venn ridicules this idea and the meeting breaks up. He goes to one of his hideaways where he begins to change his disguise only to find himself confronted by Devine, who has followed him. Desperately, he overpowers the crook, drugs him, arrests him and takes him to a police station. It so happens that Sexton Blake is there with Detective-Inspector Coutts and they are instantly puzzled by the prisoner's confusion condition. Venn takes Devine to a cell and returns after locking him in. Some minutes later, a constable discovers that Devine has been stabbed in the chest. Everyone rushes to the cell, just in time to hear the crook say "The Master ... the Master ... ven ... ven!" before dying. Venn suggests that 'vengeance' may have been what the dying man had been trying to say. Back at Baker Street, Blake receives a tip-off and, acting upon it, he disguises himself and goes to The Crooked Compass — the inn where The Master's gang meet. There he is caught spying, knocked out and thrown into the River Thames. He is rescued by Larry Boss and taken to a barge where his disguise is removed. Boss admits that it was he who tipped him off about The Crooked Compass, motivated by his suspicion that The Master is betraying crooks to the police once they have outlived their usefulness. He also reveals that he shadowed the gang leader to John Venn's house and tells Blake that the next gang meeting is due the following night. In the morning, Blake breaks into Venn's flat and finds the Scotland Yard man's collection of disguises, including the one with which he transforms himself into The Master. Blake summons Coutts to arrange a raid on The Crooked Compass only to be informed that Venn has already planned one. The police action goes ahead, with The Master betraying his gang by locking them in a cellar after slipping from the room and quick-changing back into his Venn identity. He discards his criminal disguise but it is recovered by Larry Boss who arrives with Sexton Blake. Venn is confronted and accused but he runs for it and makes his getaway in the guise of John Venables.

Trivia: John Venn reappears in THE TWO IMPERSONATORS (UNION JACK issue 709, 1917), teaming up with Dirk Dolland. Larry Boss also appears in that story ... and takes vengeance on Venn.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Notes: None at present.

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Notes: Story features Mlle. Yvonne Cartier.

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Notes: In Shanghai, Blake and Tinker, disguised as coolies, are investigating the role of a ship — the Corsair — in the opium smuggling business. To their considerable surpprise, they spot Napoleon Hazard, the Black Rat, disembarking from her. Tinker shadows the French crook to an opium supplier named Ni Gan. He and Blake then incapacitate the ship's cook and his assistant and are later hired to replace them. The Corsair sails for Britain and, upon arrival at the mouth of the Thames, narrowly avoids a collision with a coal-carrying vessel. Leaving Tinker to keep watch on the docked ship, Blake heads to Scotland Yard to report to Detective-Inspector Thomas. The youngster notices that the coal ship has moored next to the Corsair, and when he spots the Black Rat transferring from one ship to the other, he becomes intrigued. The crook hitches a ride aboard a coal wagon that makes a delivery to a house — its number is 20 — in the city. Tinker follows, breaks into the cellar of the residence, but is there caught by Hazard, tied up, and left in the cellar for later attention. Blake, meanwhile, finds that the cook he replaced has arrived in London by passenger ship and is now following him. Blake enters his Baker Street home still in the guise of a coolie but it is in his own clothes that he trails after his follower when, later, the cook gives up his surveillance and departs. The Chinaman enters a house in a well-to-do district. The detective notes the number — 20 — then continues on to the Venetia Hotel, where he meets with Gentleman Jim, an international crook who once saved his life and with whom he maintains a curious friendship. When asked about the house, Jim reveals that it's owned by a man named Pablo Costerro, who poses as a priest and runs the place as a gambling club and opium den. That night, Blake and Jim visit No. 20 in the guise of masked gamblers. Among the clientele, Blake recognises Camille. Unfortunately, the apache girl also recognises him, and signals to Hazard, who is also masked. The two of them make a quiet getaway in the nick of time, for, minutes later, and as arranged by Blake, Detective-Inspector Thomas leads a raid on the house. Costerro tries to escape by way of the cellar but Tinker has by now freed himself and catches the crook. The opium is discovered hidden amid the coal.

Rating: ★★★☆☆ In his second appearance, there's little to distinguish the Black Rat from any ordinary criminal, which makes this otherwise serviceable tale a little disappointing.

Notes: My copy is missing the cover. Story features Humble Begge.

Unrated  

Notes: Aboard the transatlantic liner The Megantic, Dirk Dolland aka The Bat is travelling under an assumed name, as is crooked ex-Scotland Yard man John Venn. The ship hits an iceberg and sinks in a massive storm, and the two men are the lone survivors. However, when they are picked up by a passing vessel, they adopt the identities of two of the disaster's victims; Venn becomes Dexter C. Pooler, an American millionaire and steel magnate, and Dolland masquerades as his private secretary, William Brent. They are landed at Liverpool and immediately travel to London to put up at the Hotel Argent. Avoiding the over-eager newspaper reporters, they begin spending the millionaire's money before then meeting with an inventor named Cedric Fray who has invented a new explosive which the real Pooler had been hoping to buy. But they have a shock: when Fray arrives at the hotel, he is accompanied by Sexton Blake! Fray has hired Blake to protect him from German agents who are known to be after the formula to the explosive. The detective doesn't see through the crooks' disguises and the meeting proceeds, with Fray explaining the nature of his invention and showing the formula. However, shortly after a waiter delivers some wine, the paper on which the formula is written is found to have vanished. A search reveals nothing. On his way back to Baker Street, Blake is set upon by three men who are then driven off by a police constable. He takes his bowler hat, which was damaged during the struggle, to be repaired. He then goes home. During the night, he is awoken by an intruder who, unseen, makes a rapid getaway. Nothing has been stolen but Blake's hats are all laid out in a row. The next morning another attempt is made to get his hat and the detective realises that the hotel waiter had taken the formula and hidden it in the lining of his bowler. Blake rushes to his hatter, recovers the paper and arrests the waiter. He then drives out to Fray's country estate to return the formula. There, he finds that Pooler and Brent are visiting to see a demonstration of the explosive. Pooler, though, has gone missing. Blake traces the millionaire's footprints to the edge of a lake. Pooler's dead body is found beneath the water — he has been murdered! The Bat, upon learning this, decides to abandon his masquerade and makes a quick getaway in his car. Blake, still believing him to be Brent, speeds after him but crashes while trying to avoid a man in the road and plunges unconscious into a river. Dolland saves him and leaves a note which the detective reads when he recovers his senses. It reveals that Poole was John Venn and that Brent was Dirk Dolland. It also tells Blake that Dolland had nothing to do with Venn's death. The man Blake tried to avoid in the road had been clipped by his car and is at the roadside with a broken leg. The detective recognises him as Larry Boss, one of the gang members Venn had betrayed (in THE MYSTERY OF CELL SIX, UNION JACK issue 704, 1917). The crook confesses to the murder of Venn, having recognised him and followed him to Fray's estate.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Notes: Sexton Blake is in South Africa when he stumbles across a clue relating to an unsolved case; the disappearance of a wealthy young man named John Thorndyke. This puts him on the trail of a beautiful half-caste woman, Marie Galante, and leads to Haiti, where he introduces himself to her in the guise of a millionaire called John Carter. Tinker, after receiving a cable from his guv'nor, sails to the island and finds Blake seemingly under the spell of the strange woman. And, in fact, the detective is indeed struggling to resist Galante's hypnotic power. Tinker also learns that Galante rules over the mysterious interior of the island, where it is rumoured that secret voodoo rites take place at the full of the moon. When her suspicions are aroused by his snooping, Galante organises a riot to distract Blake and, under its cover, has Tinker taken captive. However, her sense of power is shaken when a local inn-keeper, Bob Kidd, reveals that he is her father. Riding into the interior, she meets with her mother, who had abandoned Kidd many years ago, and they make their plans for the forthcoming rites, which will occur with Tinker as the unwilling focus. Meanwhile, Blake, who has been searching for his assistant, is contacted by Kidd, who reveals to him the extent of Galante's hold over the island. Together, they plot her downfall. That afternoon, Galante leads Blake into the jungle. As they progress towards the interior, he leaves a trail for Kidd and a beachcomber named Murphy to follow. The two men track Galante to a natural amphitheatre at the centre of the island and arrive just in time to witness a terrible voodoo ceremony. Tinker has been suspended from a scaffold over a fire and is being swung back and forth through the flames while Blake, bound to a tree, looks on helplessly. Amid throbbing drums and wild dancing, Kidd leaps upon his daughter and threatens her with a poisonous snake. She orders the gathered throng away and both Tinker and Blake are released. Suddenly, a wild figure bursts from the jungle and attacks and kills Galante's mother. It is John Thorndyke, driven mad by months of torture. Released from her mother's hypnotic hold, Marie Galante seems to change. Kidd, it appears, has regained his lost daughter.

Trivia: Blake uses the pseudonym John Carter.

Rating: ★★★★★

Notes: A young woman, Saidie Wincliffe, asks Blake to look into threats being made against her father, Gordon Wincliffe, who has invented a lens that can enable one to see clearly through fog. His daughter wants the detective to investigate without her father’s knowledge, so Blake arranges a rendezvous with her the next evening so she can show him one of the letters sent by the threatening party. Their assignation is intruded upon by Wincliffe who — though Blake gets away before being identified — concludes that his daughter is conducting a secret romance. Blake, meanwhile, thinks that the letter, in which it is warned that Wincliffe’s schematics will be stolen from his London office next Thursday night, bears the hallmark audacity of Leon Kestrel, who might again be working for German interests. Blake arranges with Detective-Inspector Harker to have Wincliffe’s office watched and the inventor followed should he leave it ... which he does. He promptly manages to lose his tail. When it looks as if someone is burglarising the office, Blake rushes in only to be attacked ... by Wincliffe — he has come sneaking back to keep vigil! The detective pacifies the inventor and confesses that he is investigating the case. They agree to stand watch together, along with Harker and his men, but the night is uneventful. In the morning, which is a particularly foggy one, Wincliffe finds that he has lost his keys to the safe. Blake telephones the firm that provided the strongbox, a spare key is delivered, the safe is opened, and the papers are found to be missing. Wincliffe shows Blake an invention that has recorded the footprints of everyone who entered the room during the night. From it, the inventor is able to deduce that the burglar was a child. Blake pursues a number of clues and concludes that Kestrel has made his base in the building across the street. Using Wincliffe's fog-piercing lens, he's able to see the crook through a window. Kestrel is with the child-sized Fifito Madrano and they are in the process of selling the schematics to a German agent. A thrilling car chase follows, which leads to the death of the agent and the plans being recovered. Kestrel and Madrazo, however, manage to slip away. Blake explains to his fellows how the office was entered and the safe cracked.

Trivia: Detective-Inspector Harker suffers slight knee trouble as a result of a cartilage injury suffered on the football field twenty years ago.

After this case, Kestrel is absent, presumed dead, for more than two years. In fact, he has joined up to fight on the allied side in the Great War, adopting the name, Lionel King. He is captured and interned in a prisoner-of-war camp until the end of the conflict.

In fact, the break in Kestrel's career came when his creator, Jack Lewis, served in the Navy.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Notes: Over a period of three years, a financier named Louis Salmette rises to prominence in Paris. When, however, he’s exposed as an embezzler, he alters his appearance and flees to America with ten million francs. Two weeks later, the newspapers announce that Salmette has been arrested in New York. This comes to the attention of the Black Rat and his partner, Camille, who are both in London. When Inspector Depuid of the Surete stops off in the capital before voyaging to the States to fetch Salmette and the stolen money, the Black Rat follows him, sees him visit Sexton Blake, then kidnaps him. Camille holds the police official prisoner, keeping him drugged, while the Black Rat disguises himself as Depuid and sets off for New York. There, he successfully claims the prisoner and the loot, sailing back with them to London. He has the real Depuid, still drugged, dumped onto Sexton Blake’s doorstep. When the Surete man recovers in Blake's consulting room, he’s astonished to learn that three weeks have passed. It quickly becomes apparent that he’s been impersonated and, as Blake tells Detective-Inspector Thomas, there is only one man with sufficient knowledge of the Surete to have carried out the scheme: former Inspector Napoleon Hazard aka the Black Rat. While investigating the faux Depuid's movements, Blake catches sight of Camille in a car and gives chase. She stops at Hazard’s apartment, warns him that Blake is on her trail, then drives off hoping that Blake will follow her, thinking she has just visited someone before heading to the Black Rat’s hideout. The detective isn’t fooled. He lets her go and organises a raid on the apartment. Hazard and Salmette are captured and the loot is recovered. When the Black Rat is extradited, he's taken across the channel but manages to jump overboard. Camille comes to his rescue and they make off in a fast boat.

Trivia: The layout of Blake's Baker Street home is completely different to the usual description. Here, his bedroom is separated from the consulting room by a dressing room, all on the ground floor. Also, the house has servants, including more than one maid.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Notes: None at present.

Unrated  

Notes: Story features Mlle. Yvonne Cartier. This is a sequel to The Diamond Sunburst (THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY 1st series, issue 37). The story is continued in The Case of the Lorimer Twins (THE UNION JACK 718).

Unrated  

Notes: On a ship travelling to England from South Africa, Camille Despard falls in with Bruce Gregory, an agent of a diamond company, who is carrying a fortune in gemstones. Upon the vessel’s arrival, she alerts her husband, Napoleon Hazard aka the Black Rat, who concocts an elaborate scheme whereby to trick Gregory out of the gems. The plan goes without a hitch. Sexton Blake is brought in to investigate the robbery. Despard is shocked by an unexpected encounter with Tinker and Pedro, during which the youngster sees the diamonds in her possession. She warns Hazard that they need to make a rapid getaway. They prepare to flee to Scotland. To keep the stones safe, Despard entrusts "a small parcel" to Gregory, who is by now in love with her, and tells him to join her in Scotland. Unwittingly, he carries his own stolen diamonds with him. Blake has rumbled the scheme, though. He follows and pounces on them in their hotel. He claims the diamonds and reveals to Gregory how the young man has been duped. The detective is surprised to find that Hazard is still alive (after he had appeared to perish at the conclusion of their last meeting). The crook escapes, and Gregory persuades Blake to let Despard go free.

Trivia: Hazard and Despard’s faithful servants are named Jules and Marie. The two criminals also have a bulldog—Jacque—of which they are very fond.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Notes: On the run from the British police, Aubrey Dexter has ended up in Brazil, where he's taken a post as clerk in a small gold-mining concern. This is run by a couple of shady financiers named Julius Rathbone and James Kerney. Dexter's plans involve little more than robbery ... but when he finally gets the opportunity to crack the company safe, he is interrupted by a midnight meeting between the two owners and their mine manager, Carlos Gomez. Spying on the proceedings, Dexter learns that the men are planning to swindle their investors but are facing a potential problem in the shape of a mine inspector named Lance Willmott. This man, currently on his way to the mine, will discover that their recent — and productive — digs have actually been on a rival company's land. Rathbone and Kerney can think of only one solution: to kidnap Willmott and replace him with an impostor. At this point, Dexter reveals himself and offers his services in return for £20,000. It is agreed and the plan goes ahead: Willmott is captured and held by local tribesmen while Dexter replaces him. Some weeks later, the owner of the rival mine, Sir Royston Anstruther, visits Sexton Blake and asks him to investigate why Willmott is supporting Rathbone and Kerney's claim when it is so obviously illegal. Furthermore, he wants to know why Willmott, who has returned to England, is refusing to see his fiancé, Sir Royston's ward, Miss O'Connor. When Tinker encounters a dumb and illiterate man named Pete who had been Willmott's assistant, the detective gains further information and realises that someone is masquerading as the mining expert. He decides to go to Brazil and is accompanied by Tinker, Detective-Inspector Martin, Pedro and Pete. With Pedro's tracking ability, he is able to trace the real Willmott and release him from captivity. The freed man then examines the mines and finds evidence that Rathbone and Kerney have been mining their competitor's land. When the two crooked financiers, along with Gomez and Dexter, arrive back in Brazil aboard a liner, Blake and his allies swoop and make the arrests. Aubrey Dexter is finally caught!

Trivia: Detective-Inspector Martin lives in Sydenham. His doctors have ordered him to rest in order to prevent a nervous breakdown.

Rating: ★★★★★

Notes: None at present.

Unrated  

Notes: Napoleon Hazard (the Black Rat) and his wife, Camille Despard, are living quietly in New York. Hazard reads about the 12-year-old Lorimer twins, boys who are heirs to a vast fortune. He sets a scheme into motion to kidnap them and hold them for ransom. Camille gains employment as a maid to Mrs. Lorimer. Hazard, meanwhile, poses as a French business agent, ingratiates himself with Mr. Lorimer, and secures an invitation to the millionaire's country retreat. Before he is due as a guest, he rents a secluded cottage at the periphery of the estate. Into that, he installs his faithful servants, Jules and Marie. A few days later, Hazard arrives at the Lorimer mansion and is introduced to the twins. The youngsters are eager to go camping by themselves on the huge estate, and the next day they depart, bound for the woods. When Mr. Lorimer later sets out to visit them, Hazard accompanies him. The following night, he goes to the camp alone, and after chloroforming the sleeping boys, delivers them to Jules at the rented cottage. He then returns to the mansion unseen. The next morning, Mr. Lorimer receives a letter: his sons have been kidnapped and will be returned only after payment of one million dollars. Upon consulting his wife, Lorimer is persuaded to pay the ransom. After securing the money, he follows the instructions given in the letter, placing the million in a watertight box, lowering it by rope into a nearby lake, and affixing the end of the rope to a buoy. However, though he watches all night, no one comes to collect the money. In the morning, Sexton Blake and Tinker are canoeing on the lake — part of their route home from a case in Canada — when they find the two boys unconscious and adrift in a canoe. Lorimer, paddling out to the buoy, encounters them, and delighted to discover his children, explains the case. The box is recovered, opened, and found to be empty. Blake and Tinker accompany Lorimer back to the mansion. Their approach is seen by the Black Rat, who surreptitiously departs, leaving a note explaining that he has been called away on urgent business. Blake feels certain there is an accomplice among the staff, so has his assistant keep watch. Tinker spots a maid quietly leaving, meeting with Hazard in a canoe, and making off across the lake. The crooks reach the cottage, pick up their servants, and race away in a car. Blake, Tinker and Lorimer enter the cottage and discover a diving suit, solving the mystery of the missing million. They then give chase in one of the millionaire's vehicles. Hazard & co reach the Canadian border and cross it to safety … but not before Blake shoots the case containing the loot out of Hazard’s hand, depriving him of his ill-gotten gains.

Trivia: This is a sequel to The Diamond Sunburst (THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY 1st series, issue 37) and to The Three Millionaires (THE UNION JACK 714).

Rating: ★★★★☆

Notes: None at present.

Unrated  

Notes: None at present.

Unrated  

Notes: None at present.

Unrated  

Notes: Raised by The Order of Ra to believe that he is the reincarnation of the twin brother of a Pharoah who had banished the cult, Prince Menes is known as The Man From Everywhere. Ten thousand years ago, in the days of Ancient Egypt, his predecessor had been betrayed by ten men. For the first time since then, all ten are incarnate at the same time. Prince Menes intends to wreak revenge on each of them before then resurrecting the long-dead empire. His first intended victim is Lord Roncote, a shipping magnate who is currently speculating on the stock market. Menes plants a spy named Walford in Roncote's organisation. When company secrets are leaked, the millionaire hires Sexton Blake to investigate but the detective realises that information is being withheld from him and so approaches the case with great reluctance. Menes lays a financial trap which Roncote falls into. Attempting to avoid the total collapse of his company, Roncote commits a crime but then confesses all to Blake. The detective, knowing that many innocent people will suffer if Roncote is ruined, sets in motion a sequence of events which counteract the manipulations of Menes. Roncote is saved but Blake forces him to retire and compensate those who depend on him. He then sets out to track down Menes (though he doesn't yet know his opponent's true identity) but finds that he has left the country.

Rating: ★★★★★

Notes: Wayward politician Vickers Matheson is being influenced by his wife in matters relating to British interests in Egypt. Formerly known as Baroness Lamaine, his wife murdered her former husband and has an unquenchable thirst for power. She also harbours an irrational hatred for Egypt which, unknown to her, originates in a former lifetime when she was a priestess of Ra and a betrayer of Prince Menes. Menes, in his current incarnation as The Man From Everywhere, sets out to exact revenge. Visiting Mrs Matheson in the guise of Count Gardici, he hypnotises her and records her confession of her murderous past. He then forces her to steal papers from her husband's safe. With these in his possession, Menes can undermine political moves relating to Egypt and can even force a general election. Sexton Blake is asked by Vickers Matheson to investigate the theft. He uses an arteriometer (an early lie detector) while questioning Mrs Matheson and this reveals that she took the documents. He sets Tinker on her trail and the lad follows her to Menes' house where he is spotted and captured. Menes, meanwhile, informs Mrs Matheson that her past will be exposed. This breaks her spirit and she becomes hysterical and then incurably insane (she dies six months after this tale). Blake calls upon Menes and demands the return of the papers. Menes, upon learning that Blake will not allow Matheson to use the information they contain, hands them over. He also liberates Tinker but warns Blake to stay out of his affairs.

Rating: ★★★★★

Notes: None at present.

Unrated  

Notes: Story features Humble Begge.

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Notes: No.2 of Tinker's "Case-Diary" series.

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Notes: The story features Wu Fong.

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Notes: Blake is called to a chateau in France to investigate a bizarre phenomenon that's tormenting the Comte de Mirlemont, a famous Egyptologist. His client relates that, years ago, he discovered a small pyramid in the desert near Luxor. It predated any of the known pyramids and, at its top, had a circular stone inset with a never-before-seen form of hieroglyphics. However, his attempts to further examine the structure aroused the wrath of local tribes and De Mirlemont was taken prisoner and enslaved for a period of eight years. When he eventually escaped and made his way back to Paris, he vowed to abandon Egyptology. For five years, he abstained from his studies but a paper on which he'd copied the hieroglyphics eventually proved too much to resist. He began to study the early religion of Amen-Ra and to translate papyri relating to it. Strangely, as his studies progressed, he found that he was inexplicably familiar with the material, and soon he experienced fleeting impressions relating to the meaning of the hieroglyphics from the pyramid. With this, came fear, which has now increased due to red squares — top-view diagrams of the pyramid — that are frequently and inexplicably appearing out of nowhere in front of him before then rapidly fading away. When Blake and Tinker arrive, they see this "crimson terror" with their own eyes. The detective studies a plan of the chateau and notices that the manifestations have all occurred in rooms abutting a tremendously thick wall. Before he can investigate any further, though, Tinker goes missing. Meanwhile, at his home in London, Prince Menes, the Man From Everywhere is with Zanona, the priestess of the Order of Ra. It was she who, in a hypnotic trance, had identified De Mirlemont as the reincarnation of Parnes, one of the priests who had, ten thousand years ago, betrayed the original Menes. That De Mirlemont was the same man who'd discovered and nearly desecrated the Order's temple, the pyramid of Zagwa, suggests only how intimately his destiny is entwined with that of the Order. Now, Menes is seeking to drive the Frenchman insane through the machinations of three of his priests who are hidden in the walls of the chateau. When he learns of Blake's presence, he sets sail for France. While the Man From Everywhere is travelling, Blake constructs an intricate alarm system beneath the carpets of all the rooms adjacent to the thick wall. That night, it is triggered in the study. The detective barges in and confronts Menes and a cohort, who are both operating a small machine that "prints" the crimson squares with an invisible ink that slowly oxidises, becoming red, before then dissipating. The two villains leap through a secret door into a hidden passage. Blake follows but the quarry eludes him. He finds Tinker bound hand and foot and releases him. Having discovered who is responsible for the terror and the method used, Blake assures De Mirlemont that his ordeal is over. He also determines to investigate Menes further (at this point, Blake only knows him by his assumed identity of Count Gardici and knows nothing of his background).

Rating: ★★★★☆

Notes: No.3 of Tinker's "Case-Diary" series. When Roger Leverton's house is broken into by thieves, his papers are left scattered over the floor. Among them is a letter to Harvey Dorrington which isn't meant to be sent until after Leverton's death. But after tidying up, Leverton's secretary inadvertently posts it. Ordered to Dorrington's house to recover the missive, the secretary leaps through a window and snatches it out of the young man's hand just as he's about to read it. A struggle ensues and Dorrington is stabbed in the shoulder. Thinking he's killed him, the secretary panics and runs, dropping the letter. Dorrington manages to call Sexton Blake before passing out. The detective finds the letter and tends to Dorrington's wounds before reading it. It's a 'death bed confession' in which Leverton reveals that his stepdaughter, Joyce Maitland, who has been missing for a year, is being held prisoner in a remote valley hidden in the Rocky Mountains of Montana to prevent her from marrying Dorrington. Blake, Tinker and Dorrington set out on a rescue mission but Leverton has sent a message ahead and the trio is captured by Lean-Jaw Luke and his gang. They are left tied up in a hut in the shadows of the Rockies while the Luke gang heads off to move Joyce to another hiding place. Rescued by Pedro, Blake and co. set off in pursuit. Journeying by canoe through a narrow canyon into the Valley of Crags, they find Joyce in a small house and sneak her away. The Lean-Jaw Luke gang gives chase but their canoe is capsized by a trap set by Blake. Outside the canyon, Leverton is waiting. His attempt to attack the detective backfires and he accidentally shoots himself. As he dies, he confesses that he was trying to fake Joyce's death so that he'd inherit the fortune left to her by her mother.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Notes: None at present.

Unrated  

Notes: The distinguished surgeon, Sir James Smith Rogers, visits Sexton Blake to consult with him on the basis of the detective's monograph entitled THE PSYCHOLOGICAL RELATION OF THE HUMAN PHYSIQUE TO THE MENTALITY. Sir James, who specialises in trepanning — surgery that he performs in front of audiences of medical students — has three times suffered paralysis of his right hand at the most crucial juncture of the operations, resulting in the death of the patients. Blake witnesses this for himself when he joins an audience but, as he leans to one side for a closer look, the surgeon's frozen hand is suddenly released but Blake's own shoulder is immobilised. Looking behind him, he spots in the audience the Italian physician Count Gardici, who in reality is The Man From Everywhere, Prince Menes. After the surgery is completed, Menes slips away. Blake sends Tinker to watch the prince's house but, while doing so, the youngster finds himself rooted to the spot, his legs frozen. A car speeds from the house's garage and hits him, knocking him unconscious. Blake is called to the hospital where he's told that his assistant has a serious head injury. That evening, Blake gains access to the roof of the Menes's house, spies through a skylight, and witnesses a meeting between the prince and his mentor, Akbad. The two men are discussing Blake and the way in which he has persistently interfered in the prince's mission to ruin the reincarnations of the priests who, in another lifetime, betrayed him — Sir James being the latest of these targets. This is the first time Blake has heard of the Order of Ra and the motives behind the Egyptian's actions. Akbad tells Menes of another man of Destiny, Prince Wu Ling, and of how Blake throttled him to death (see PIRATED CARGO, UNION JACK issue 552, 1914). Akbad gives Menes a lock of Blake's hair, which he gained from the detective's barber. When the two Egyptians part company and a second skylight becomes illuminated, Blake discovers it to be the top of a shaft upon which the windows of interior rooms open. He lowers himself into it and is able to watch as Menes gives the hair to the clairvoyant priestess, Zanona, and she falls into a trance. Commanding her to see through Blake's eyes, Menes learns from her that he is, at that very moment, being observed by the detective. Racing back up to the roof, Blake is apprehended by the prince's henchmen but fights free and escapes. Upon returning to Baker Street, he learns that Tinker requires an operation to release pressure on his brain. The detective insists that Sir James should perform it and under exactly the same conditions as when he had previously had his bouts of paralysis. With the assistance of Detective-Inspector Thomas, Blake has Scotland Yard men scattered among the audience in the viewing theatre. When Sir James gets to work, Count Gardici employs an "N ray" device at the crucial moment. Blake blocks the paralysing beam with his own body while the police swoop on the Man From Everywhere. Ultimately, there are no criminal charges are made and Menes is released.

Trivia: It is asserted that Wu Ling's Brotherhood of the Yellow Beetle was responsible for the overthrow of the Manchu Dynasty and the establishment of a Chinese Republic. Reference is made to the apparent death of Wu Ling but not to the fact that he actually survived. Either Akbad has not heard that the Chinese warlord is still active or the Prince Menes tales were published two years after the events recounted in them took place.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Notes: None at present.

Unrated  

Notes: Another adventure from Tinker's Case Diary.

Unrated  

Notes: Subsequent to the events of The Case of the £20,000 Witness (UNION JACK issue 716, see above), Blake, Tinker and Detective-Inspector Martin are escorting Aubrey Dexter back to England where he will stand trial. Unfortunately, in the fogbound Straits of Dover, their ship is attacked and sunk by German marauders. Dexter and a fellow passenger fall from a lifeboat and the crook manages to swim away while holding the other man, who is unconscious. They are taken aboard one of the enemy vessels and imprisoned. Dexter searches his oblivious companion and finds a nice sum of money and a letter that identifies the man as Clive Munroe, who was on his way to meet Admiral George Challis — his father's best friend — with a view to possibly marrying the admiral's daughter, Eileen, despite that he's never met Challis or the girl before. Dexter escapes, leaving Munroe behind, and is rescued by a British destroyer. He then makes his way to Challis's home and masquerades as Munroe. Eileen is not welcoming. She is already romancing her father's secretary, a young man named Dick Ashburton. However, Ashburton has a problem. A little over a year ago, he had been employed by a firm of jewellers from which a pearl necklace was stolen in mysterious circumstances. Ashburton had been accused, charged, and placed on bail. At his uncle's suggestion, he'd broken that bail and joined the army under an assumed name, preferring to fight for his country than to be jailed for a crime he didn't commit. Eileen vows to marry him despite the cloud that hangs over him. They decide to elope that night, but their plan goes awry when, as Dexter passes beneath her bedroom window, Eileen mistakes him for her lover and lowers her luggage to him. The crook is feeling peeved by the girl's coldness toward him so decides to teach her a lesson by stealing her jewels from the luggage. When he opens one of the bags, he discovers £20,000 in bearer-bonds. The temptation is too much. He takes the fortune and flees. The next morning, Challis discovers that his bonds, his daughter, his secretary and his guest have all vanished. He calls Scotland Yard and Sexton Blake. The latter arrives with Tinker, Pedro and Detective-Inspector Martin. Eileen and Ashburton return and declare that they've been married. Martin immediately recognises Ashburton and arrests him for breaking his bail. Blake deduces that the elopers mixed up the girl's jewel case with that in which her father's bonds were stored. He realises that Dexter has been at work and uses Pedro to track him. At the crook's lodgings, the stolen material is recovered and they lie in wait to nab their man. Dexter, however, spots Martin through the window and takes flight. Later, he audaciously visits Baker Street, delivers the necklace that Ashburton had been accused of stealing, and signs a confession ... all this in return for Blake allowing him to go free that he might join the armed forces.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Notes: None at present.

Unrated  

Notes: None at present.

Unrated  

Notes: Christmas double issue. My copy is lacking a cover.

Unrated  

Notes: None at present.

Unrated  

Notes: In the town of Hartspool, Blanche Symonds pleads with her employer, shipping magnate Stephen Wade, to support the families of her brother and uncle, both men having died in Wade's service. He cruelly refuses. After leaving his office, she turns back with the intention of shooting him but Sexton Blake happens upon her and prevents the impulsive action. A month later, Symonds befriends an ex-convict named Swanker Davis and persuades him to help her to rob one of Wade's managers — Mr Beaver — of £10,000. Knowing that Beaver is away from home, Symonds and Davis break into his residence but are interrupted by Wade, who arrives to speak with his manager about the early morning transaction for which the cash is required. Davis savagely attacks Wade before speeding away with the money. Symonds, though, is caught and accused of robbery and attempted murder. She pleads guilty to the charge but refuses to reveal the whereabouts of the stolen money. Wade commissions Sexton Blake to find it, informing him that he can name his own fee. The detective gathers evidence, interviews the girl, and is then able to assert that Miss Symonds had no knowledge of the equipment used to break into Beaver's safe and that she was not responsible for the wounds suffered by Wade. Having been tipped off that a recently released convict has been in Hartspool over the past few weeks, Tinker hunts for Swanker Davis. He spots him hiding out in the hulk of an abandoned boat on the river, follows him, but is then pounced on by the crook and throttled into unconsciousness. When he regains his senses, he reports to Blake, who gathers a small company of policemen to capture the villain. In this, they are successful but, when the bag of stolen money is opened — and much to Davis's amazement — it is found to be empty. Davis confesses to his part in the burglary but insists that it was planned by Symonds. Blake informs Wade that he intends to defend the girl in court. At her trial, Symonds changes her plea to "not guilty." Blake defends her and, in a dramatic moment, produces her brother and uncle, having discovered that both survived the experience that had supposedly killed them. The jury finds her guilty but with extenuating circumstances and the judge's sentence is so slight that she is immediately set free. Blake returns Wade's lost £10,000, which he had taken from Davis's bag when no one was looking, then claims it as his fee. However, he gives his client an alternative: donate the money to support families that have lost their "bread winners" to the war. To this, Wade agrees.

Trivia: In addition to being a qualified doctor, Blake is also a King's Counsel, though he has never practised.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Notes: None at present.

Unrated  

Notes: None at present.

Unrated  

Notes: Mortimer Daynham and Michael Vengray are financiers who, beneath a veneer of philanthropy, are merciless profiteers taking full advantage of wartime shortages. One night, at Daynham's Mansion, a caller is admitted to the hall by the valet. While he is being announced, this man binds and gags the footman before disappearing into the house. It is searched but he isn't found. Later, a man is seen fleeing. There are signs that a second man may have also been present. The strong-room is found open but nothing has been stolen. Daynham asks Sexton Blake to investigate. Despite distrusting him at first sight, Blake accepts the case. The strong-room, he concludes, could only have been opened by an expert safe-cracker named Ballinder. This man has recently been unexpectedly freed from prison by the Home Secretary. The detective sets off back to London to find out why. Tinker, meanwhile, discovers a trail of footprints leading across the roof of the manor to a rope. He takes hold of it and is inching down a sloped section of the roof when a bearded man emerges from a skylight and, unaware of the lad, gives to rope a jerk. Tinker falls and lands in a water tank. He is rescued by the bearded man but loses consciousness. When he recovers, he finds himself in bed in a comfortable room; held prisoner by the kindly Prout (the bearded man) and O'Rooney. The next day, the man who had invaded the house the previous night calls on Daynham and Vengray. He is Ferrers Lord - a man widely known as the 'Mad Millionaire'. Lord reveals that he took photographs of documents in the strong-room which expose the two men as the scoundrels they are. He will expose them unless they donate their fortunes to the war effort. But as Lord turns to leave, Vengray knocks him out. By now, Sexton Blake has realised that Tinker is missing and returns to the manor with Pedro to search for him. Instead of finding his assistant, Blake discovers the unconscious body of Ferrers Lord. Nursed back to health, Lord telephones Prout and asks him to bring Tinker. He then tells of Daynham and Vengray's treachery. Days later, Daynham summons Blake and attempts to dismiss him from the case but the detective indicates that he intends to continue his investigation. That night, the two financiers begin to pack, ready to flee the country. Blake and Lord raid the mansion. While attempting to escape, Daynham falls from the roof and breaks his neck. Vengray is captured and imprisoned.

Trivia: Edgar J. Murray (better known by his pseudonym of Sydney Drew) introduced Ferrers Lord in WOLVES OF THE DEEP (Boys' Friend Library issue 32, 1907). Lord was the millionaire inventor of two vast submarines - the Victoria and the Britannia — which he used to right wrongs and to keep Britain ruling the waves. He starred in a number of subsequent adventures, some of which featured Prout and O'Rooney.

Rating: ★★★★☆