Sexton Blake Bibliography: 1925

Notes: While travelling back to London on his motorbike, Tinker stops off at Calcroft School to visit some old chums. When he leaves, he doesn't get far before three masked foreigners attempt to kidnap him. When they inspect their captive, they realise they've got the wrong boy and let him go before escaping in a car. Back at Baker Street, Tinker tells Sexton Blake about his adventure. Later, while the detective is out, a boy from the school comes visiting. He is accompanied by a servant called Blimp who introduces his master as 'The King'.

Serial Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Notes: Tinker's visitor is King Peter of Carlovia, a tiny Balkan country. Having been educated at Calcroft, Peter is now returning to rule his troubled kingdom and wants Tinker to accompany him in the role of protector, advisor and friend. Meanwhile, the Foreign Office has asked Sexton Blake to go to Carlovia to assess the situation there.

Serial Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Notes: My copy of this issue is lacking a cover. The detective and his assistant set off with Peter and Blimp; Blake disguised as the King's schoolmaster. In Carlovia, a wild, mountainous land, they journey to the town of Livnar where they meet Peter's sister, Celia, and Oscar Sarjo, the Prime Minister.

Serial Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Notes: The group makes the risky journey up to Shalvola, the King's mountain castle. En route, they narrowly escape an attack by Rivastoff, a brigand and smuggler. Once safe in the castle, the King makes Blimp a Captain and asks him to train the Royal Guard. Blake and Tinker are introduced to Prince Darro, Peter's cousin. Meanwhile, Blimp catches Rivastoff and brings him before the King who sentences him to death.

Serial Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Notes: Celia intervenes and stops the execution of Rivastoff, begging the King to imprison him instead. Peter agrees and grants a reprieve. Blake, meanwhile, visits the town of Kamfak where he finds that most of the upper classes habitually wear masks. Johann Veilburg of the police explains that this is because no-one is safe; assassinations are frequent, so people prefer to keep their identity hidden. The detective next visits the prime minister, who is suspicious of his presence in Carlovia.

Serial Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Notes: Blake finds Johann Veilburg searching through his luggage. Apparently, in Carlovia's atmosphere of paranoia, suspicions are rife. The detective starts to wonder whether his disguise has been pierced. The King's arrival in Carlovia is now celebrated with a royal procession. Tinker notes that portraits of Peter are none too accurate and that he, himself, bears quite a resemblance to the boy King.

Serial Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Notes: During the evening celebrations, Tinker slips out into the town without a pass and has a run in with the police. Thrown into a cell, he meets an American captive called Clodie. Clodie came to Carlovia intending to marry Celia, even though he's only ever seen her in a photograph. He and Tinker make an escape and hide out in a hotel. However, the police have followed and lay seige to their room. Helped by a cloaked stranger, they manage to get away.

Serial Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Notes: The stranger is also an escaped prisoner — none other than Rivastoff. The brigand reveals that he is not an enemy of the King but of those who plot against him. Tinker gets a message to Blimp who comes to escort him and his friends back to the royal palace. Johann Veilburg has Clodie ejected from the country but Rivastoff, who hasn't been recognised due to his mask, manages to escape. Sexton Blake is concerned that King Peter is signing the papers put before him by Sarjo without properly reading them first. He asks Tinker to keep an eye on the prime minister while he, Blake, disappears on a mission of his own.

Serial Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Notes: King Peter, Tinker, Darro and Sarjo attend the theatre. Celia avoids Darro, knowing that he wants to marry her. The audience, who have read of Peter's bravery the night before, greet the King with rapturous applause. Tinker receives a note supposedly from Blake but obviously forged. It asks him to meet 'Blake' on the cathedral steps. Tinker suspects that an attempt is to be made on his life, arranged by Sarjo and Darro. On the way out of the theatre, he bumps into Blake who determines to reconnoitre the area. He does so and finds Veilburg lurking about. By confronting the police official, Blake is worried that he has broken his cover and raised suspicions about his own identity. Later, the detective reveals to Celia that he believes that Sarjo and his ministers are in cahoots with Darro to overthrow the King.

Serial Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Notes: Sexton Blake sneaks into Sarjo's quarters and opens the safe. He takes some papers but is interrupted when the prime minister's secretary approaches the room. Hidden but trapped, the detective seems certain to be caught. Fortunately, though, Celia saw him enter the room and now provides a distraction. Escaping, Blake goes to the princess and thanks her. Next, he visits Rivastoff and reveals what he has learned: that Veilberg is carrying incriminating documents to a meeting with Darro, the Prince. Blake vows to lay his hands on those documents.

Serial Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Notes: Blake and Rivastoff ambush Veilburg's bodyguards and disarm them. They then take the documents from the police chief and leave him tied to a tree in the pouring rain. Back in the palace, Blake examines the papers. One appears to be a straightforward order for a tax on wine; a proposed new law which awaits the King's signature. But with simple chemical treatment, the surface ink disappears and new writing appears: an order to put to death all the people who stand in the way of Sarjo and his cohorts.

Serial Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Notes: Blake and Tinker warn King Peter to carefully scrutinize every document set before him prior to signing anything. They also ask Celia to help, reading the documents whenever she can. Meanwhile, the American, Arthur P. Clodie, returns to Carlovia having purchased a fortune's worth of state bonds.

Serial Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Notes: Celia intercepts a document which proves to be an exact copy of the one Blake took from Veilburg. Tinker shows it to the King, revealing the hidden orders beneath the vanishing ink. He then rides a horse through the town and fakes a fall. The next day the newspapers report that the King's friend is laid up with an injury but, in fact, from this point on Tinker is disguised as King Peter while the real King remains in hiding.

Serial Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Notes: In the guise of King Peter, Tinker attends a council meeting. His enemies wait for him to sign the order for a new wine tax, which is in reality a death warrant against all the King's supporters. Tinker refuses and, as his enemies lose patience, has them arrested by Blimp. The roundup includes Prince Darro, prime minister Sarjo and Veilburg. Blake disguises his voice, rings Veilburg's deputy, and gives him the signal to begin the revolution.

Serial Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Notes: Story features Granite Grant and Mlle. Julie. This was reprinted as THE HAVANA MYSTERY in THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY 2nd series issue 504 (1935).

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Notes: None at present.

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Notes: None at present.

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Notes: After a series of audacious robberies with violence in Paris, the Sûrete askes Sexton Blake to investigate. Each crime was committed by three men in a low-slung motor car. One of the Sûrete's own officers had traced this vehicle to Poissy, a small town on the banks of the Seine near the edge of the forest of St. Germain. There, on an island in the river, the policeman had found a disreputable inn overseen by a large Nubian. After being attacked, the Sûrete man had vowed to return to the island but had, instead, been found murdered the following day. Separately, Blake and Tinker arrive in Poissy, disguised as a fisherman and an Indian student respectively. Tinker watches the island and, one night, sees three men descend into the water at its shore and not come up again. He swims over for a closer look and, when the men suddenly surface, has to make a rapid getaway. They don't recognise him but he identifies them as the Three Musketeers. Blake sends his assistant away to get changed in the forest and return to Poissy in a new disguise. The following morning, the detective visits the bar on the island and recognises the Nubian as Abdul, who has previously been associated with the Musketeers. While Blake is there — and as he has arranged with the prefect of the Sûrete — a police agent of Senegalese extraction enters the premises. The agent angrily claims to have been the person who'd been chased away from the island the previous night. He then smashes up the bar before being hauled away by a couple of gendarmes, as Blake had also previously planned. In an underground chamber beneath the town's abbey, the Three Musketeers, in the garb of monks, plan to abandon Poissy to rendezvous with Mathew Cardolak's yacht at Havre. Abdul arrives and tells them what occurred at the bar, and thus is quelled any suspicion that the island is being investigated. Encouraged, the crooks decide to commit one more crime before they depart. They rob the local bank before driving deep into St. Germaine forest where they stop unknowingly very close to where Tinker is changing his disguise. They dump their car and walk back toward the town. Tinker races ahead and reports to Blake. When the villainous trio arrives, he is is waiting and watches them enter the abbey. Blake arranges for Abdul the Nubian to be arrested and for gendarmes to be placed in key positions around the town. The detective and his assistant then locate a secret passage leading to the hideout the Musketeers had previously accessed via the water. A shootout ensues. Archie Pherison and Reggie Fetherston are wounded and captured. Algy Somerton gets away. The proceeds of the Musketeers' crimes are recovered.

Rating: ★★★☆☆ This issue feels padded out, as if Teed struggled to achieve the required word count.

Notes: The initial part of this tale is recounted in first person by Sexton Blake. Upon returning from a case in Africa, he receives a visit from Mr. Hayes, a seller of musical instruments. Sigil Tosca, a world-famous virtuoso, has died in Italy while in possession of two priceless red cremona violins, one of which he owned and the other that had been loaned to him by Hayes. It appears that, just prior to his demise he sold both to a man named Gimbell. Blake agrees to search for this man but his investigation quickly uncovers the fact that Tosca had been seen at two separate places at exactly the same time. When he then sees a photograph of the violinist, he notes a remarkable resemblance to Gilbert Hale. Further enquiries disclose that Hale and his wife, Eileen, had been in a hotel room adjoining the one in which Tosca stayed. Eileen has now sailed to America. She takes up the story, recounting it from her point of view, and telling how she and her husband—him using the name Gimbell— swindled Tosca, gained the two red cremonas, and made use of a violin repairman named McMichty. The next part is narrated by Tinker. While Blake goes to Italy to investigate Tosca's death, he—Tinker—encounters Gilbert Hale, by chance, in the street and follows him. This leads to the discovery that Hale has been anticipating the apparent loss of a cargo ship. Tinker's investigations uncover McMichty's involvement. He then finds that "Gimbell" had insured against the loss of two violins being shipped to America on the cargo ship that had sunk. Motorcycling back from Southampton, to which he was decoyed, Tinker has a head-on collision with Hale, who, after a terrific fight, manages to get away. Among the wreckage of the crook's motorcycle, the young 'un finds clues that later lead Blake to realise that the two violins have not been lost at sea but, in fact, were smuggled to America. Eileen takes up the story and tells how she and Gilbert contacted a collector named Neville, to whom the violins might be sold, but then discovered that McMichty had double-crossed them. Chasing down the Scot, they recover the instruments and meet with Neville ... only to fall straight into a trap laid by Sexton Blake. The detective lays claim to the cremonas and, in return for the falsely-claimed insurance money, allows the Hales to go free—completely empty-handed.

Trivia: A very unusual tale in that it is recounted in first person by multiple characters.

Eileen Hale is eighteen years old.

It's a nice touch to have Blake and Tinker just returned from a long visit to Africa, as their many adventures on that continent are rarely mentioned outside of the African yarns themselves.

Rating: ★★★★★ A really excellent and unusually presented story marred only by one huge, utterly unbelievable and entirely too convenient coincidence.

Notes: None at present.

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Notes: Story features Zenith the Albino.

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Notes: My copy is missing its cover. Some years ago, after escaping from Devil's Island and making his fortune in diamonds, John Hasford — aka the Black Eagle — and a young companion tried to sign aboard a vessel captained by Barnfield Gore (aka Bully Blood). However, the brutal sailor took exception to a pink macaw owned by Hasford's friend and tried to kill it. The situation escalated and led to the young man being tortured to death. Hasford escaped with the bird and vowed revenge. Years later, Gore has become a wealthy shipping line owner. Unbeknown to him, his managing clerk, David Burr, is actually the Black Eagle. Gore is invited to an evening of gambling — all attendees are masked, so he doesn't realise that the host is Burr/Hasford. This also prevents Hasford from noticing that Sexton Blake is among the guests. The Black Eagle surreptitiously drops a slow-acting poison into Gore's wine. Then the macaw, which has been looked after by Hasford since the death of its original owner, appears and attacks the ex-sailor. Gore flees, leaving Blake feeling very curious about the evening's events. The next day, Detective-Inspector Thomas alerts Blake to a murder. A sailor has been killed — his throat torn out — and his dying words were "the pink macaw". Blake investigates and finds that the dead man used to sail with Bully Blood. He then realises that Blood and Gore are one and the same man. However, his interest in the matter is interrupted when he is called to Paris on another case. While he's away, the poison dropped into Gore's wine causes the ex-sailor to fall seriously ill. He hands over full control of his shipping business to Burr/Hasford, who proceeds to sell all its assets. After Gore is informed by Hasford that he has been ruined and poisoned, he calls Sexton Blake and confesses to his sinful past. Vowing to repent, he asks the detective to help him. Blake agrees and sets Tinker to guard the ailing man. The detective then starts shadowing the Black Eagle and intercepts him as the villain sends the macaw through the window of Gore's home. While Tinker fights desperately with the vicious bird — eventually killing it — Blake engages in a ferocious tussle with Hasford. After a sequence of battles, Hasford submits and hands Blake the antidote to the poison. Blake banishes him from England.

Rating: ★★★★★

Notes: None at present.

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Notes: Story features Dr. Ferraro.

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Notes: None at present.

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Notes: This case takes Blake to Abyssinia and features Basil Wicketshaw.

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Notes: None at present.

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Notes: 'A fascinating story of the Derby.' This is the final issue in the 1st series of the SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY.

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Notes: Story features Dr. Huxton Rymer and Mary Trent. This is the first issue of the 2nd series of the SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY.

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Notes: Sexton Blake in French Indo-China.

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Notes: None at present.

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Notes: None at present.

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Notes: Story features Granite Grant. This was reprinted as THE SOHO CAFE CRIME in THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY 2nd series issue 508 (1935).

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Notes: Story features Basil Wicketshaw.

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Notes: Story features Dr. Ferraro.

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Notes: Story features Dr. Huxton Rymer and Mary Trent.

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Notes: Notes: Millionaire Earle Latham is an insomniac. He quite simply never sleeps at all. According to a Harley Street doctor, he has a form of shell-shock after serving in the war and won't recover. He is given, at most, six months to live. Latham resigns himself to his fate and wonders how to spend his last days. When he gets home, inspiration strikes in the form of a rather inept first-time burglar. This is Kennedy King, a young man who's fallen on hard times after his invention — a sort of neon light — was stolen by an unscrupulous businessman. Latham catches King breaking into his apartment and recognises that he's a fundamentally decent sort. An idea quickly forms. He strikes a deal with King, paying him to exchange names on the understanding that King — now called Latham — will travel abroad for the next half year. From that moment on, the insomniac millionaire embarks on a life of crime. But he doesn't steal for profit; instead he becomes a sort of Robin Hood figure, performing daring heists against those who don't deserve their riches and giving the profits to good causes. Initially, Latham — in the guise of Kennedy King — is a fascinating character who's rather reminiscent of Zenith the Albino. His daring is equally as breathtaking and his character has the same quality of haunted sadness about it. And like Zenith, he manages to run rings around Blake on a number of occasions. Unfortunately, the story starts to get very unconvincing when all the protagonists resort to disguise as their main tool for crime or crime-busting. It's unbelievable that after just one meeting Latham could pass himself off as Blake with such skill that even Tinker is fooled! When the real Kennedy King is captured by bandits in Spain, Latham goes to his aid but ends up a prisoner as well. Blake eventually rescues them both. The trouble is, this leaves behind what had been the central theme at the start: a good man driven to reckless deeds by his bizarre ailment. All of that is virtually forgotten. In fact, Latham simply announces at one point that he has slept and his insomnia seems to have cured itself. Story features Splash Page.

Trivia: This was reprinted under the same title in THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY 2nd series issue 568 (1937). The review is based on a reading of that issue.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Notes: None at present.

Unrated

Notes: Story features Gunga Dass.

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Notes: Story features Basil Wicketshaw. This was anthologised in THE SEXTON BLAKE CASEBOOK (1987).

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Notes: Story features Zenith the Albino. This was reprinted with the same title as SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY 2nd series issue 582 (1937)

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Notes: Story features Gilbert and Eileen Hale.

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Notes: None at present.

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Notes: Story features Dr. Huxton Rymer.

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Notes: Story features Gilbert and Eileen Hale.

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Notes: Story features Granite Grant and Mlle. Julie. This was reprinted as THE MYSTERY OF THE ALBANIAN AVENGER in THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY 2nd series issue 512 (1936).

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Notes: In Cairo, Madam Goupolis reports to Prince Menes the events recounted in THE MONTE CARLO MYSTERY (UNION JACK issue 1,122, 1925). The Black Eagle is now in Cairo, as is Mathew Cardolak and The Three Musketeers, Prince Wu Ling and George Marsden Plummer. All these have been gathered by Madam Goupolis on behalf of the White Flag Society to plot a great coup against Britain. However, as Wu Ling says to his sidekick, San, they all have their own motives. When Goupolis dines with The Black Eagle that night, they see Tinker in the restaurant. He is ill; his arm in a sling, several bones healing, and his breathing affected after a rib punctured his lung. This, though, is a ruse; in fact he is in perfect health and working with Sexton Blake (disguised as a beggar) to counter the machinations of the White Flag Society. The duo also have Secret Service agents Mossop and Malone on their side. When Blake discovers that the society aims to assassinate an English official named Lushington, he passes the information to Malone, who is able to save the Englishman and capture the assassins. Blake and Tinker then leave for Alexandria, where the super-crooks are gathering on Cardolak's yacht, The Sultan. Blake watches as they board the vessel then, with Tinker and under the cover of a sea mist, he rows out and eavesdrops on their meeting. Narrowly escaping capture, the detectives return to Cairo and Malone later brings them word that the criminal gang is also heading back to that city. Blake reveals that Menes has gathered the master-crooks in order to carry out a plan to blow up the Suez Canal. Plummer, meanwhile, is acting as emissary between Menes and Abdel Krim, their aim being to establish a North African empire to push the European countries back across the Mediterranean. While The Sultan sails to Tangier to pick up a shipment of a new type of bomb, Blake heads to El Adid oasis in the desert, where Plummer has his camp. Tinker returns to his hotel where he and Mossop find themselves held at gunpoint by The Black Eagle. However, they manage to overpower the crook and hold him prisoner. They then trick Madam Goupolis and capture her too. Tinker summons Malone, who takes charge of the crooks and transfers them to a place of safekeeping. The young detective and the Secret Service agent then ride out to meet Blake and find him with a bound and gagged Plummer. With Blake's oldest enemy defeated, they now turn their attention to the rest. Blake sends for Alan Rayne who arrives in Alexandria with two planes fitted with bombs. With these, they intercept The Sultan and drop two warning bombs near her. A number of her crew and passengers take to the lifeboats. The planes then return and bomb the yacht. Her cargo explodes, tearing her to pieces. Cardolak and the Three Musketeers either die in the blast or escape in one of the lifeboats. Wu Ling, who wasn't aboard, is protected by diplomatic immunity. The Egyptian authorites dare not prosecute Prince Menes and he arranges for Goupolis, The Black Eagle and Plummer to break out of prison. Blake has foiled the plot ... but his enemies remain at liberty.

Trivia: Madam Goupolis reports to Menes that The Black Eagle successfully murdered the man he came to Cairo to kill — Jean Poiret. However, in THE MONTE CARLO MYSTERY this man is referred to as Jules Vabour. George Marsden Plummer has, by this point in his long career, been the right-hand man of Abdel Krim — The Lion of the Rif — for eight years. Wu Ling, Blake reveals, was the real power behind Sun-Yat-Sen. This tale was reprinted under the same title in THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY 2nd series issue 590 (1937). It was also published as a non-Blake book entitled BOTTOM OF SUEZ with the names of the characters changed.

Rating: ★★★★★

Notes: None at present.

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Notes: The Black Eagle, now back in London, is visited by a French embezzler named Andre Sartel, who's fallen victim to the charms of Madam Goupolis, losing to her ten million of the fifteen million francs he's stolen. After killing two French policemen, he is now on the run and begs the Eagle to help him to find sanctuary. The Eagle agrees to book him passage on a ship smuggling alcohol from Rotterdam to America but, while he's making the arrangements, a Surete officer catches up with Sartel and is shot dead by him. The Eagle disposes of the body by dropping it from a car near the front of Scotland Yard. Detective-Inspector Thomas discusses the case with Sexton Blake, who realises that someone must be helping the French fugitive. Blake crosses the channel en route to Paris little suspecting that a short distance away, the Black Eagle, his brother and Sartel are transferring from one ship to another. Consulting with the Surete, the detective learns that Goupolis was involved and is now in Egypt under the protection of Prince Menes. This arouses his suspicion that the Black Eagle — who he's already spotted in London — might be involved. He returns to England and, with Tinker, breaks into the Eagle's house. However, in doing so, he sets off a booby-trap and releases a deadly gas. As he's attempting to get his unconscious assistant out of harm's way, Blake spots two men approaching the house. He tackles them and knocks them out then returns to find a near senseless Tinker at grips with a third man, who Blake rapidly brings down. This crook confesses that he and the others were hired to get Blake out of the way by the same man who arranged the Black Eagle's voyage to America. When the detective visits this individual, he subjects him to a tough interrogation from which he learns the Eagle's plans. He and Tinker voyage to New York aboard a fast liner and, upon arrival, hook up with Bryant Kennedy who arranges for them to join with a gang of high-jackers who intend to attack the smuggler ship. In the dark of night, the assault is carried out and, while the vessel is looted, Blake and Tinker corner their quarry. Sartel is mortally wounded. He makes a full confession before he dies. The Blake Eagle and his brother jump overboard and evade capture.

Trivia: Another example here of Blake indulging in utterly unlawful housebreaking!

There's some nice business with Tinker in this one where it's made very evident how valuable an assistant he is to Sexton Blake.

Rating: ★★★★★

Notes: Story features Gilbert and Eileen Hale.

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Notes: None at present.

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Notes: None at present.

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Notes: A South Seas adventure rather than a detective story, this is well written and well paced as only Teed at his best could do. Under terrible torture two Europeans refuse to tell their Chinese pirate captors the location of a string of pearls created from oyster beds discovered by their partner, a well-respected Chinese merchant met in Australia and who was mysteriously killed almost as soon the two men put to sea. So mutilated is the survivor that he barely has time to tell his story before he dies. Blake by chance learns of this and realises the dead man is the brother of someone who commissioned him to find the man. Blake vows to bring the torturers to justice. Meanwhile Huxton Rymer accepts a job captaining an old bucket with a cargo of arms destined for the same pirate who apparently tortured the white men. This part of the story involves an attempted mutiny and a plot dovetailng with Blake's attempt to find and punish the pirates who tortured the whites. Various threads come together in Pandang, the pirate HQ, involving a series of further coincidences which are nonetheless well set up. The finale sees virtue triumphant and the Chinese and European relatives of the murdered men given fair shares in the pearls and pearl beds. Most of the Chinese characters are well defined and shown to be men of honour (including the pirate chief, who is compared to Drake or Morgan). Europeans are both courageous and vicious and although on one level they are stereotypes they are by no means shown as being 'all the same'—except for Eurasians who are invariably cunning and cowardly. Despite these attitudes common to the time, Teed clearly admires Chinese culture. It's an excellent tale and it would probably get five stars if it weren't for the intrusive stereotyping of Eurasians which isn't always apparent in Blake stories.
— REVIEW BY MICHAEL MOORCOCK

Rating: ★★★★☆

Notes: In Barton Manor, Sir Hector Santyre and his daughter, Coral, are entertaining guests: Harrington Hunt, a ruthless financier; Mr Carthew, Hunt's secretary; Lord John Aymer, an explorer; Mrs Carfrae, a chaperone; Daphne Vicary, Coral's friend; Larry Vandeleur, a novelist; and Professor Marcus Chisley, a scientist. The latter explains that he has created a poison of devastating virulency. Displaying a tiny vial of "Lupisite," he reveals that it alone is sufficient to wipe out a city. Meanwhile, Miss Vicary informs her fiancé, Vandeleur, that on her forthcoming birthday a letter from her late guardian will be opened by her lawyer. She has no idea what it contains. Elsewhere, Mrs Carfrae confronts her one-time lover, Harrington Hunt. He rejects her, stating that he is present only to win Coral's hand and to destroy Lord John, to whom Coral is betrothed. Carfrae is quick to alert Lord John to this. The next morning, Hunt is found in his room dead from poisoning. Inspector Kirkley of the police is summoned and Lord Hunt is arrested. Sexton Blake, Tinker and Detective-Inspector Coutts arrive on the scene. That night, Carfrae sees at her window the face of a homicidal maniac who has escaped from the local asylum. She loses her nerve and confesses that it was in fact she, motivated by jealousy, who killed Hunt with poison from Chisley's vial. The professor, however, reveals that the vial was actually filled with a harmless substance, so whatever her intention, Carfrae wasn't the killer. Then Carthew is found dead from prussic acid and, in a suicide note, confesses that he was the guilty party. The case seems concluded until, in her room, Miss Vicary is terrified by the knife-wielding lunatic. Tinker sets Pedro onto the intruder's trail, catches up with him, and is nearly killed before the bloodhound intercedes and rips out the man's throat. Sir Hector recounts the story of the Curse of the Santyres, which oddly mirrors many of the recent events at the manor. Blake begins to see that there are two distinct plots at work. He visits the lunatic asylum and speaks with Henri Markuse, one of its doctors, who then drugs him, puts him in a strait-jacket, locks him in a padded cell, and crashes the Grey Panther to give the appearance that Blake has been killed. Blake escapes his bonds and overpowers the doctor. Markuse, it turns out, is Daphne Vicary's cousin and has been using one of his patients to terrify her, knowing that the unopened envelope she's due to receive contains £200,000, which he will get if she is dead or found to be insane. Blake leaves him locked up to be arrested in the morning. Disguising himself as Harrington Hunt, Blake then secretly returns to Barton Manor, creeps into the bedroom of a sleeping guest, and "haunts" the room's occupant. The following day, an inquest into the murders is held. Much to the astonishment of all who thought him dead, Blake appears and presents new evidence. He proves that Carthew's suicide note was a fake. The detective's deductions, made from clues no one else had noticed, conclude with his identification of the murderer of Hunt and Carthew. That individual immediately commits suicide by means of cyanide.

Trivia: The Grey Panther is destroyed!

Blake once did a service for Houdini, they became close friends, and the escapologist taught him many of his tricks and techniques.

This was reprinted as THE CURSE OF THE SANTYRES in THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY 2nd series issue 576 (1937).

Rating: ★★★★★

Notes: This was rewritten in 1936 by Allen Maxwell (William J. Bayfield) and published under the same title in THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY 2nd series issue 555.

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Notes: None at present.

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Notes: None at present.

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Notes: Mademoiselle Yvonne Cartier learns from her brother Bob that he is being cheated out of ownership of a mine by a financier named Jacob Marston. She bribes Marston's secretary to take sick leave and is employed in her stead. Then, with help from her chauffeur, Alec, she breaks into Marston's safe and steals from it currency, bonds, share certificates, various papers, and a small tartan box. However, just as the job is complete, there comes from a neighbouring office the crack of a gun, a scream, and the thud of a falling body. The following morning, Marston asks Sexton Blake to investigate the theft. He tells the investigator that Detective-Inspector Thomas is also looking into a burglary on a ground floor office where the nightwatchman had been found shot through the heart. As the Baker Street detective examines the scene, he is watched by Yvonne, in her guise as Marston's secretary, and, noticing the scrutiny, Blake tasks Tinker with shadowing her. The young 'un does so, is led into a trap, and is captured. Meanwhile, Blake receives information through which he cracks half of the case: he now knows that the two burglaries were coincidental but unconnected, and he can identify the crooks who murdered the watchman. He passes this information to Thomas and a police raid is arranged, which he joins. The criminals are apprehended but, during the melee, Blake is shot and seriously wounded. Yvonne's uncle, Graves learns of this and tells his niece. He then receives a note by post from his nephew, Bob, who has been detained by the police. Yvonne is convinced that Blake is behind her brother's arrest. She visits Tinker, who is bound to an iron bed above a garage, tells him of Blake's condition, and promises to allow him to go to his governor providing that he'll return to captivity if she demands it. When he agrees, she accompanies him to Baker Street. They find that Blake is not as badly injured as reported. He asks to see Yvonne alone then reveals to her that he's found out about Marston's crooked dealings with regard to the Malee Deep mine. He demands that she hand back the tartan box but promises to make it clear to Marston that if he proceeds with his scheme he'll be prosecuted for conspiracy. She agrees. Bob is released and becomes managing director of the mine.

Trivia: This was reprinted in an abridged form as THE TARTAN BOX in the second SEXTON BLAKE ANNUAL (1940).

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Notes: Lady Richmond calls on Sexton Blake and tells him that her husband has been stricken with a rare tropical disease. Blake knows of only one man qualified to treat the condition: Huxton Rymer! After locating the crooked doctor, Blake arranges a truce, goes to meet him, and negotiates for him to treat Sir Herbert Richmond for a salary of £500 a month plus expenses, and — if he successfully cures his patient, a reward of £20,000. After establishing that the treatment will require at least a year, Rymer takes Sir Herbert to Jamaica and contacts Marie Galante. She communicates a time and place for them to meet but, when Rymer gets there, he finds her engaged in an argument with Captain Pearson, a sailor who has worked for her, and who is now declaring his love for her, despite that she scorns him. Rymer snaps the man's arm, beats him, and throws him into the street. Five months later, Lady Richmond returns to Baker Street accompanied by Pearson. The sailor informs Blake that Sir Herbert is recovering well but being held prisoner while Rymer swindles him out of his fortune. Also, the rare herbs employed in his cure grow only on a small coral island, which Rymer and Galante persuaded Sir Herbert to purchase and which they, with the sick man, are now living on. Unexpectedly, the island turned out to be a rich source of tortoiseshell. Rymer and Galante — who has taken the role of nurse — are now stripping it of that resource and gaining vast profits that rightfully belong to their patient. Blake, Tinker and Pearson sail for Jamaica where, just hours after their arrival, Pearson is murdered and the detectives are attacked by a voodoo-crazed mob. When Blake catches sight of Rymer, he shoots him, and threatens to kill him if Galante doesn't withdraw her forces. She does, and he then orders her to immediately fetch Sir Herbert, all of Rymer's treatment notes, and the money and papers pertaining to the tortoiseshell island else he will allow Rymer to bleed to death. When this is done, the detective allows the voodoo queen to take Rymer away. The story ends with Rymer's life in the balance.

Trivia: This was anthologised in SEXTON BLAKE WINS (1986).

Rating: ★★★★☆

Notes: None at present.

Unrated

Notes: Story features Mlle. Yvonne Cartier and Prince Menes.

Unrated

Notes: Story features Mlle. Yvonne Cartier and Prince Menes.

Unrated

Notes: None at present.

Unrated

Notes: A Frenchman calling himself Falcon asks Sexton Blake to locate a key — inscribed with the number 7 — that was picked from his pocket along with some other items in Hackney. Blake agrees but is suspicious and muses that Falcon is actually a Czech. In Hackney, he bumps into an old lag named Mick Kelly and tasks him with tracing the pickpocket. The old crook manages to retrieve the key and a wallet but is set upon by thugs who make away with the items. Blake realises that Falcon followed him to Hackney and saw him conversing with Kelly. Kelly tells him that the wallet contained an envelope from the Rutland Hotel on which was written the name Lipsky. There was also a newspaper cutting about a crown. Blake sends Tinker to the press offices to trace the article. At the hotel, he learns that Lipsky is a waiter who had collapsed the night before while holding a note on which was written "The Seventh Key." Blake goes to the man's apartment and finds him murdered. Lipsky's hand is near a seam in the wallpaper behind which the detective discovers a deposit receipt issued by a bank in Prague in 1916. However, as he is reading it, he is attacked, the paper is snatched from him, and his assailant gets away. He returns to Baker Street where Tinker reports no success. Believing that Lipsky's killer will now journey to Prague, Blake sets off in pursuit. The next morning, Tinker encounters Granite Grant who turns out to be in possession of the newspaper article. It concerns the Bohemian crown jewels, which have been locked away since 1625, secured by seven locks with seven keys. Grant reveals that Falcon belongs to a gang headed by a man named Blenkoff, and they are after the keys. He and Tinker try to rendezvous with Blake on the Orient Express but miss it. Meanwhile, having arrived at Vienna, Blake has a meal at a hotel while he waits to catch the connection to Prague. A man sits opposite him and poisons his wine, causing him to miss the train. Upon recovering, he catches another but is followed aboard and knocked senseless. Grant and Tinker trace his movements and realise that something has happened to him. They eventually find him unconscious, tied up, and left on a railway line. After they save him, the three of them commandeer horses from a local farm and race for Prague knowing that the two men who attacked Blake are on the same road. Indeed, the villains set an ambush but, encountering three instead of one, are easily overpowered. Leaving their enemies to fend for themselves, Blake, Tinker and Grant continue on to Prague and arrive at the bank just as Blenkoff and Falcon, carrying a deed box, are leaving the manager's office. The two gangsters are captured and the deed box is revealed to contain a part of the crown jewels.

Rating: ★★★★★ Some instances of clumsy writing mar an otherwise very entertaining tale.

Notes: Story features Zenith the Albino.

Unrated

Notes: On the tiny island of Barbaco, two men, Tennant and Carruthers, operate a wireless relay station. They receive persistent requests transmitted from Scotland Yard to contact Sexton Blake on a yacht, the Sea King, and warn him that Captain Cheed is an impostor, but the vessel never responds. Then, to their astonishment, Blake turns up in person, together with Tinker, Detective-Inspector Coutts and Dirk Dolland. The group has been marooned by Jeremy Winslow, the Cheed impersonator. Blake uses the wireless to request a British destroyer. The following night, they hear gunfire out at sea. Though they don't know it, Fan Too's gunship is attacking Professor Reece's yacht. Reece and a handful of men abandon their vessel and, under cover of darkness, flee in a rowing boat, taking their prisoners, John Fade and Ysabel de Ferre with them. They land on Barbaco. Blake and his friends see them coming and conceal themselves. Reece uses the wireless to summon the Sea King before then destroying the apparatus. When the yacht arrives, Blake's party turns the tables, capturing Reece and Winslow, liberating Fade and de Ferre, and commandeering the yacht. Tennant and Carruthers are recruited and Winslow and his cohorts are left stranded. A course is set for St. Madros. Upon arrival, the group goes ashore, leaving Reece handcuffed and guarded on the yacht. Surreptitiously, though, he signals to the shore and, before too long, Confederation forces reclaim the vessel and free him. Meanwhile, on the island, Fade recovers the hidden jewels only to have them immediately snatched by Fan Too. The Chinaman is on the point of executing Blake & Co. when his men are suddenly shot dead by Reece and his henchmen. Reece and Fan Too attack each other. As the latter raises a knife, Blake shoots it out of his hand. Reece takes possession of the jewels and has Fan Too bound hand and foot. Then, in an uncharacteristic display of generosity, he thanks Blake for saving his life by allowing the detective and his companions to escape to the Sea King. The British destroyer finally arrives but it is too late; Reece and his men have sailed away, now in possession of all the Confederation's riches. On the voyage home, John Fade and Ysabel de Ferre leave their friends and head for Jorsica.

Rating: ★★★★☆ Another exciting instalment but Professor Reece's show of mercy is rather hard to swallow!

Notes: Story features Waldo the Wonder-Man.

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Notes: A man named Juan Reis seizes power the South American country of Santa Costa. Some days later, Detective-Inspector Coutts alerts Sexton Blake and Dirk Dolland to the fact that the diamonds stolen by the Criminals' Confederation and hidden on the island of St. Madros have suddenly come onto the market, their point of origin: Santa Costa. A warrant is issued for a man named Romales, who is trying to sell the stones on Juan Reis's behalf. That evening, in a thick fog, two men are attacked on Blake's doorstep. The detective sees off the two assailants. The victims—neither seriously hurt—are Henry Chalford, a wealthy city merchant of Blake's acquaintance, and General Raoul Pororifico, the newly deposed president of Santa Costa. The latter reports that his daughter is being held prisoner by Reis. The girl is engaged to be married to Chalford's son, a mining engineer, who, along with many other Britishers, is also imprisoned in the little South American country. It was Reis's spies that had just tried to assassinate Blake's visitors. After proving that letters from the British consul in Santa Costa are fakes, Blake persuades the Foreign Office to recall their man and have him, Blake, sent as a replacement, with Tinker, Dolland, and Coutts accompanying him as staff. Pororifico gives the Blake a ring to wear that will attract the attention of his supporters should the detective run into any trouble. On the voyage, Romales is discovered to be aboard but is then murdered by an agent of Fan Too. The ship arrives at Santa Costa. Blake and his friends are met by the chief of police, Domingo, and escorted directly to the president. To their horror, they find that Juan Reis is, in fact, Professor Jason Reece. He condemns them to the mines.

Trivia: Two months have passed since Blake's previous encounter with the Confederation.

Blake's house has a front gate, with a nameplate on it, and a short path leading to the front door steps. There are railings on the left of the path, probably around the "area" (steps leading down to a space onto which the basement door opens).

John Fade and Ysabel de Ferre have left Jorsica to explore the Amazon.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Notes: Story features Dr. Huxton Rymer.

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Notes: Story features Dr. Huxton Rymer.

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Notes: In Monte Carlo, Madam Goupolis commissions The Black Eagle (aka John Hasford aka David Stone) to kill a Russian — Prince Boris Parvenov — in return for information about Jules Vabour; a man Hasford has been hunting for many years. Vabour was once a governor at Devil's Island and had treated Hasford extremely badly. He then became a banker but absconded with millions while under Goupolis' spell — which is how she knows his whereabouts. Hasford agrees but when he carries out the assassination, he breaks the neck of the wrong man, and this is witnessed by Parvenov, who then disfigures the victim's face to make it unrecognisable, plants his papers on the body, and thus fakes his own death. While taking a holiday — driving the Grey Panther along the Riviera — Sexton Blake reads the reported death of Parvenov but then receives a visit from a lowly tramp who claims to be the real prince. Blake has met Parvenov before and recognises him. The prince asks him to prove that the murdered man in Monte Carlo was an impostor — his ne'er-do-well half-brother. Blake agrees to do this. Upon examining the body of the murdered man, the detective realises that it is not Parvenov's half-brother but someone else. He also recognises the handywork of the Black Eagle. He sets Tinker to shadow the fake prince's butler and the lad, with help from Joe Morris (see THE LATIN QUARTER MYSTERIES, UNION JACK issue 1,100, 1924), discovers that the impostor is alive and living under a disguise. Meanwhile, Blake falls in with a crowd of gamblers that includes Hasford and Madam Goupolis and they all go to a private party. Here, Goupolis is startled by a face at the window. Blake and Hasford chase the intruder but the detective twists his ankle. Hasford races past and attacks the mystery man and they both topple into a ravine. When Blake gets to the bottom, he finds that the intruder, now dead, was the fake prince. Hasford, though, has escaped. Goupolis is arrested, confesses and is extradited. The man murdered by mistake is revealed to have been a messenger from a Turkish group to which the fake prince owed money. The Black Eagle and his brother head to Egypt for an appointment with Vabour.

Trivia: The Grey Panther is a seven-seater car.

Rating: ★★★★★

Notes: In an unusual experiment, the solution to this story was left for readers to provide. A ten pound prize was offered to the reader who, in the opinion of the Editor, best followed up the clues, described the methodology of the crime, and correctly identified the villain. The winner is announced in issue 1,131.

Unrated

Notes: None at present.

Unrated

Notes: Professor Jason Reece, president of Santa Costa, is purging that country of all Chinese, having heard that members of the rival branch of the Criminals' Confederation are on his trail, seeking the whereabouts of their leader, Fan Too. Having captured Sexton Blake, Tinker, Dirk Dolland and Detective-Inspector Coutts, he now sends them to the Del Moro mines. Escorted by Captain Domingo and his men, the prisoners make the arduous trek. Upon arrival, Blake learns, to his dismay, that the mines are overseen by an ex-convict known as Black Michael, who once swore vengeance against him. Escape appears impossible, with dogs, alligators, a wild river and sheer ravine facing any who might attempt it. However, when a fellow prisoner, Ladronas, recognises the ring given to Blake by the former president, Pororifco, he promises to help them escape. Under cover of night, he leads them along a perilous route to freedom, but they encounter signs that matters are not as they should be, and are then attacked by Captain Domingo, who comes thundering out of the shadows. Blake engages with him and the Santa Costan ends up plummeting into the ravine. As the detective and his friends cross a rope bridge, Black Michael catches up with them and cuts the ropes. The bridge swings down, they hold on desperately, survive the impact against the side of the ravine, then climb it like a ladder and are able to evade their pursuers. Blake finds evidence that Fan Too's supporters are closing in on the mine, evidently intent on rescuing their leader. Ladros tells Blake that Pororifco's daughter and the young Britisher, Tom Chalford, are being held captive in the palace. A long, terrible trek through the jungle commences as the escapees attempt to reach the bordering country. After many hours, Black Michael's dogs catch up with them, but unexpected succour arrives in the form of John Fade. After shooting the dogs, he leads them across the border to his camp, where they are greeted by Ysabel de Ferre.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Notes: None at present.

Unrated

Notes: Having escaped from Professor Jason Reece, whose Criminals' Confederation has overthrown the South American country of Santa Costa, Sexton Blake, Tinker, Dirk Dolland and Detective-Inspector Coutts cross the border into neighbouring Perovia. Here, the English consul is absent due to illness, and his German equivalent refuses to give them any assistance. Ladronas, the guard who aided their escape, introduces them to Captain Gomez, the exiled ex-chief of Santa Costa's military, and Captain Seth Irons, an American gun-runner. The group sets out to foment a new revolution. Shipping under cover of darkness, they deliver a cargo of guns to supporters of the former president. Tinker, however, becomes separated and is captured by Fan Too, whose followers have liberated him from the Del Moro mines. The revolution begins, and, while the fighting rages, the Chinese forces infiltrate the palace through a secret passage. Tinker is locked into a cell in the dungeon and finds himself with Black Michael, the chief of the mines, who has been severely flogged for allowing the recent escapes. Fan Too abducts Reece, shoots Black Michael dead, and is about to kill Tinker when the revolutionary forces storm the palace, forcing him to make a rapid getaway back the way he had come. General Pororifco is restored as the country's president, his daughter is found and freed from captivity, and so, too, is Tom Chalford. Fan Too sends Blake the steel fetter that Reece had kept on his ankle ever since his escape from prison so long ago: a momento for the detective who, the Chinaman writes, will never see the villain again. Blake vows to continue his pursuit of the crooks.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Notes: The cover of this issue is a beautiful iconic portrait of Sexton Blake in full Sherlock Holmes mode. The story features Zenith the Albino.

Unrated

Notes: Story features Dr. Huxton Rymer.

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Notes: In Jerusalem, currently a hotbed of discontent, Derek "Splash" Page — reporter and secret service agent — witnesses the arrival in the city of Mathias, the fabled Wandering Jew, whose appearance augurs the end of the world. When, a few days later, he encounters Sexton Blake and Tinker in Cairo, where they've stopped off en route home from India, he tells them about the mounting tensions in the region and of his conviction that someone is purposely inciting it. The trio travels back to Jerusalem where, on the evening of their arrival, Mathias appears again and almost sparks a riot before slipping away. A few hours later, a ragged minstrel serenades Blake from below his balcony and surreptitiously delivers the Secret Service sign of distress. An arrow, shot from the darkness, strikes him in the chest. Blake rushes down in time to hear his dying words: "Watch for Solomon's Quarries—Beware of Delilah and the Axe!" Back in the hotel, Blake is visited by Miss Della D. Ware, an American girl who claims that her aunt and cousin have been abducted in Jericho and are being held for ransom. After she departs, Blake informs his companions that her story was a lie designed to get the criminologist out of the city ... and that she might be the "Delilah" of the warning. On the following day, Tinker meets a clergyman from Iceland, Rev. Hamar, whose first name is Axel ... the Axe? Blake has found in the dead minstrel's wallet a card bearing the design of a serpent eating its tail and the message: "April 9, noon, the triumph of the serpent." The symbol, the detective observes, is often used to represent atheism. Tinker saw the same design tattooed on Axel Hamar's wrist. Blake observes that Russia is the only atheist power in the world. That night, Blake and Splash visit Solomon's Quarries beneath the city where they encounter an American who holds them at gunpoint until Blake turns the tables. With the thug secured, the two men are able to examine the caves ... and they discover a huge bomb. In the meantime, Tinker breaks into Della Ware's hotel room and discovers evidence that the girl is actually Sonia Della Petrova, a notorious agitator, spy, adventuress, and member of the Russian Secret Police. Blake and Splash exit the quarry, hand their prisoner over to British troops, and return to the hotel where Tinker tells them what he has discovered. The next day — the 9th — the trio sets off for Jericho ostensibly to investigate "Della Ware's" kidnapping case ... except Blake comes sneaking back to Jerusalem disguised as an ancient sheikh. Not long after he leaves them, Splash and Tinker are captured by Arabs and promised death by torture. Axel Hamar and Sonia Petrova go to the gate of the quarries where the button that will set off the bomb is located. They are confident that the explosion will incite a new world war from which Russia will emerge as the ruling power. However, when the button is pressed, there is no detonation. Instead, Blake and British troops pounce on the couple and arrest them. A posse of soldiers are dispatched to rescue Tinker and Splash, and the adventure ends with the British Empire in firm control.

Trivia: The central notion that justifies imperialism is that you, the imperialist, are superior. Everyone else is unwashed, unintelligent, and untrustworthy, and they should be grateful that you're gifting them with your civilised values. It's utter nonsense, of course, but in 1925, when this story was written, the notion was accepted by the vast majority of Britishers without the slightest question. Certainly, Gwyn Evans had no doubts about it when he wrote this yarn, so right from the outset there's a hefty dose of racism and liberal use of the "N-word." It's not in any way malicious but it still makes for uncomfortable reading in these (supposedly) more enlightened times.

This is Derek "Splash" Page's debut, though he has apparently encountered Blake during previous (unpublished) adventures.

An abridged version of this was reprinted in the SEXTON BLAKE ANNUAL 1941.

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ There's some beautifully descriptive writing here but the plot is full of holes; who was the Wandering Jew and what became of him; why were characters (not mentioned in the review) introduced only to vanish without having served any purpose? And, of course, this is — inevitably given the subject matter and year of publication — just too racist to be in any way enjoyable, no matter how much you're able to contextualise it.

Notes: First of a two-part story featuring Waldo the Wonder-Man. The winner of the WHO'S THE MAN? competition (in issue 1,123) is announced in this issue. The solution is described by Sexton Blake. No readers submitted a correct solution but two identified the villain correctly and the £10 prize money was split between them.

This was anthologised in CRIME AT CHRISTMAS (1974).

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Notes: Second of a two-part story featuring Waldo the Wonder-Man. This was anthologised in CRIME AT CHRISTMAS (1974).

Unrated

Notes: Sexton Blake, Tinker, Dirk Dolland, Detective-Inspector Coutts and John Fade, together with a team of porters led by Ladronas, head westward from Santa Costa in pursuit of Fan Too's party, and their prisoner, Professor Reece. The route, towards the Country of Dead Men, leads past Fade's camp, which is discovered to have been ransacked. Ysabel de Ferre is missing, doubtlessly kidnapped by Reece's Criminals' Confederation men, who, led by a crook named Snake Sadler, are intent on rescuing their leader. Blake and his friends traverse a mountain range by means of a man-made valley and enter a hidden land. Behind them, rocks fall and block the passage, cutting off their escape route. Ahead, they catch up with Sadler and his men who, with their captive, are crossing a pool of water on a raft when, suddenly, the rocky walls that surround it swing open and they are swept into a cavern. Determined to save de Ferre, Fade impulsively dives after them and vanishes into the dark opening. The walls close, the water grows calm again, and Blake and what remains of his group manage to cross without again springing the trap. They find and follow an ancient road. After Blake steps into a snare and narrowly escapes being killed by a gorilla, he and his friends come to a hidden, yellow-hued, and seemingly abandoned city. They set up camp, determined to rest before exploring the city on the morrow.

Trivia: A gorilla in South America?

Rating: ★★★★☆

Notes: None at present.

Unrated

Notes: Story features Waldo the Wonder-Man.

Unrated

Notes: None at present.

Unrated

Notes: On the track of Fan Too and his prisoner, Professor Reece, Sexton Blake, Tinker, Detective-Inspector Coutts, and Dirk Dolland are led by Ladronas into the hidden yellow city they have discovered in South America. Narrowly avoiding traps and dangerous wildlife, they arrive at a central temple, in the heart of which they discover Fan Too and Reece imprisoned in a cage surrounded by a pool of crocodiles. They watch, horrified, as Fan Too's men are slid, by the unseen inhabitants of the city, into the pool via a sunken passage and fed to the reptiles. Blake and his friends are trapped in the temple, and, during the night, Tinker disappears. Blake uncovers a sort of valve, empties the pool, and exposes a stairwell. Unwittingly, by doing so, he also allows Reece to escape. The master-crook grabs a rifle and starts to shoot at them, forcing them to flee into the stairwell. They descend and are soon lost in a labyrinth. Luck favours them when they encounter John Fade, who is equally lost, but leaves them with seemingly insurmountable problems: where are Tinker and Ysabel de Ferre, and how can they find their way back to the surface?

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Notes: None at present.

Unrated

Notes: Story features Zenith the Albino.

Unrated

Notes: Blake and Tinker are holidaying in Brighton's Thalassa Hotel when a young woman, Enid Blayre, finds that she and her husband, Herbert, are no longer registered though she clearly remembers signing the book and taking a room. Blake, attempting to assist her, examines the register and notes that his own signature has been replaced by a forgery. After sending Tinker to shadow a suspicious-looking bearded man, the detective learns that Enid and her husband, returning to England to take out a patent on a new invention, have been followed all the way from Paris. They booked into the Thalassa and Enid went to London to ask a cousin to visit the patent office on Herbert's behalf. The cousin, unfortunately, was not at home, and when Enid returned to Brighton, her husband was gone and the hotel proprieter, Broxeter, now denies ever having seen the couple. Tinker returns and reports that the bearded fellow went to a house and met with a gang of crooks. Blake is surprised to see Gilbert and Eileen Hale in Brighton but dismisses them and, with Tinker, goes to the house. He and his assistant are ambushed and captured. The bearded man removes his disguise and reveals himself to be the crooked lawyer Symond Levine with whom Blake has had a previous encounter (see THE AFFAIR OF THE GOLD FILLED TOOTH, UNION JACK issue 1,134). Levine informs the detectives that a crooked doctor named Lukeston will terminate their lives. However, just as the doctor is about to operate, the Hales appear on the scene in a blaze of gunfire and drive the gang into a corner, all but Levine who makes a successful getaway. Gilbert Hale shows Broxeter a blueprint, which causes the crook to recoil in abject terror. Hale confesses that he and his wife trailed the Blayres from Paris with crooked intentions, having mistaken them for a millionaire couple. So did another man, who was out to steal Herbert's blueprints, but when this person died while searching the Blayre's hotel room, Lukester was called in and diagnosed bubonic plague. In a panic, Broxeter, mistaking the dead man for Herbert, had called in Levine to help him remove the corpse and all indications that the Blayres were ever present. Blake now reveals that Herbert is, in fact, currently in London filing his patent. Broxeter — having first been terrified by a blueprint he thought was infected with plague and now having had his scheme exposed — loses his mind and is sent to an asylum. Lukester dies from a bullet wound. The Hales go free with Blake's gratitude.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Notes: Story features George Marsden Plummer and Dr. Huxton Rymer.

Unrated

Notes: None at present.

Unrated

Notes: None at present.

Unrated

Notes: None at present.

Unrated

Notes: None at present.

Unrated

Notes: None at present.

Unrated

Notes: A friend of Sexton Blake's, Hong-Lo-Soo, visits the detective and draws his attention to a newspaper article in which is described the discovery of five giant skeletons in Mexico. The Chinaman believes that they are the bones of legendary warriors from his country who are said to have sailed to the West in possession of five great jewels. He wants Blake to find these gems — which are probably buried near the skeletons — and bring them, and the bones, back to London. He has chosen the detective for this job because he knows that Mathew Cardolak has commissioned The Three Musketeers to do the same. Blake and Tinker travel to Mexico and begin their expedition. En route to the cave where the giants were found, they fight off attacks by a bandit named Sancho Monteja who, they discover, has been employed by the Musketeers to stop them. The criminals then send an envoy to bribe Blake's guard, Jose, into betrayal, but Blake overhears their conversation and challenges Jose to a duel. The two men fight with knives and, though Jose is reputed to be the best knifeman in Mexico, Blake beats and disarms him. His guide then reveals that he had never intended to accept the bribe and has, in fact, planned to fool the Musketeers into parting with a great deal of money for nothing. Blake apologises to him and the two men become firm friends. The detective, disguising himself as a Mexican and taking Jose's identity, travels back along the trail until he reaches the Three Musketeers' camp. He receives from them the money owed to Jose, even though no betrayal has taken place. When he leaves, he sends a note back to them revealing his true identity. Any further action is prevented by a massive earthquake. Not knowing whether the Musketeers have survived, Blake and co. continue to the caves where they find the skeletons and the jewels.

Trivia: The Musketeers make a blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearance.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Notes: Story features Mlle. Yvonne Cartier.

Unrated

Notes: During his boyhood, when he was a homeless waif who got by on his wits and by selling newspapers, Tinker witnessed a young girl being taught the art of pickpocketing by her elder sister. Now, years later, this girl reappears in the form of a dancer known as Nirvana — the latest sensation among the theatre set. After seeing her perform, Tinker and Sexton Blake attend a charity ball hosted by the Duchess of Rayland. Nirvana dances for the guests but, while she does so, the Duchess's diamond necklace goes missing. Later that night, Tinker discovers the pendant from the necklace in his pocket. He realises that Nirvana must have slipped the necklace into his jacket before she, along with the other guests, was searched. Afterwards she had retrieved it but the pendant had broken off. Without revealing any of this to Sexton Blake, Tinker visits the dancer at her hotel and pleads with her to return the stolen item. For a moment it seems that she might repent but, just then, her sister, Marie, enters the room in the company of a criminal named Flash Brady. Nirvana lets loose a mocking laugh and Tinker, realising that she is beyond his help, overpowers Brady and forces them to hand over the necklace. He returns this anonymously to the Duchess.

Rating: ★★★★★

Notes: With counterfeit currency flooding the country, Tinker is given the task to backtrack the movements of a five pound note. The trail leads him to a country manor where a French Countess lives. However, when he catches sight of her, the young detective recognises her as Marie, Nirvana's wicked sister. He races back to London where, hesitantly, he reveals to Sexton Blake his past history with Nirvana (see previous issue). Blake is sympathetic and they return to the manor to investigate. After a run-in with a thug who's guarding the entrance to a cave beneath the house, they establish that the two girls, with Flash Brady, a foreign forger and a crook named Phillipe the Fox, are running the counterfeit operation. With help from Detective-Inspector Thomas of Scotland Yard, they mount a police raid. Tinker helps Nirvana to escape and pleads with her to accept help from Sexton Blake. She is on the point of accepting when Marie and Phillipe appear and knock the lad unconscious. Nirvana holds them at gunpoint and threatens that she will only rejoin them if they first allow her to fetch Blake to help Tinker. The deal is struck, Blake comes to his assistant's aid, and Nirvana slips away to rejoin her sister.

Trivia: My copy of this issue is wrongly dated 1924 on the front cover.

Rating: ★★★★★

Notes: None at present.

Unrated

Notes: None at present.

Unrated

Notes: None at present.

Unrated

Notes: Trapped in the labyrinth beneath the yellow city, and trying to find a way out, Blake, Detective-Inspector Coutts, Dirk Dolland and John Fade hear a woman's echoing scream. Fade recognises the voice as belonging to Ysabel de Ferre. Following the sound, they come to a rocky wall beyond which lies a vast temple. The city's natives are there, watching as a high priest prepares to sacrifice the Black Duchess and Tinker. Blake and his friends mount a rescue, which succeeds, but their shooting causes a rockfall, which increases in intensity until the entire temple comes down. Having barely escaped into a side tunnel, they find their way out of the underground passages via a river, then follow Professor Reece and Fan Too to the coast. The rival Confederation men and their cohorts have formed a temporary alliance, and have hijacked a cargo steamer. Blake and Ladronas sneak aboard and, during a subsequent battle, Reece accidentally shoots his main henchman, Snake Sadler, dead. Tinker brings the rest of Blake's allies to the ship and the crooks are overpowered. With Reece and Fan Too as their prisoners, the heroes set course for England.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Notes: Blake, Tinker, Detective-Inspector Coutts, Dirk Dolland, John Fade and Ysabel de Ferre are voyaging home with their prisoners, Professor Jason Reece, Fan Too, and other members of the Criminals' Confederation. En route, however, their ship's engines are repeatedly sabotaged, and when they find one of Fan Too's men still at liberty, a gun battle erupts, during which the saboteur is killed—as is the faithful Ladronas. Then a submarine, crewed by Chinese Confederation men, surfaces. Blake, Tinker, Reece and de Ferre are taken aboard, and, with Fan Too commanding, the sub torpedoes the ship, on which Coutts, Dolland and Fade have been left. Days later, the sub arrives off the coast of Jamaica, where a fortune in "Confederation taxes" awaits collection. Reece is forced at gunpoint to write a letter authorising the handover, and Tinker is given the task to fetch the money. However, a severe setback comes when the submarine becomes trapped on the muddy seabed. Blake gains control of the stricken vessel and has his assistant is shot out of a torpedo tube. Tinker swims to the surface and is picked up by a liner. Aboard, he finds Coutts, Dolland and Fade, all of whom were rescued from the sea. While arrangements are made to raise the sub, Tinker goes ashore. The submarine is recovered and all the crooks aboard it, including Reece and Fan Too, are taken into custody. While this is happening, Fade helps de Ferre, who is still wanted by the police, to sneak away. Tinker returns having secured the Confederation funds. The band of adventurers appropriate a yacht and set course for home. On the way, they are betrayed by their wireless operator, and the Confederation arranges to rescue its President after the ship arrives. This attempt is made during a train journey from the docks to London. Blake, however, is one step ahead, and foils the plan. The Criminals' Confederation, it appears, has reached the end of the road.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Notes: At the behest of his American agent, Bryant Kennedy, Sexton Blake travels to Sicily to protect the elderly Signor Enrico Bellomo, who is caught up in a generations-old feud between rival branches of his family. The signor's relatives have all been murdered with the exception of his grandchild who has been kidnapped. His rivals have informed him that the child will be raised to hate him and trained to kill him. One night Tinker goes for a swim and rescues a young girl who has been stricken with cramps after swimming too far from the shore. She turns out to be Nirvana, which suggests to Blake that she, her sister Marie, and their criminal cohorts Philippe the Fox and Flash Brady are involved in the feud. In this he is correct, for Philippe the Fox is also Carlo Bellomo, the signor's sworn foe. When an attempt is made on the old man's life by a mysterious ape-like creature, the detective deduces that the enemy forces are gathered at a cottage to the north. Led by the attacker's tracks, he follows the deformed creature through an underground passage to a cave where a local witch is guarding the signor's grandson. The baby is not her only ward: she also stands watch over another child who has been made to look exactly like her captive. Blake overpowers the ape-like brute — which proves to be the witch's son — and achieves mastery over the old woman by giving a sign known only to practitioners of black magic. At a final confrontation with Philippe the Fox, the detective's counter attack, supported by the witch, completely undermines the criminal's plans. Philippe and his cohorts beat a hasty retreat but not before Tinker is able to share a tender moment with Nirvana.

Trivia: Sexton Blake had been initiated 'years ago' in the ways of black magic. This took place in the desert in Egypt.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Notes: Detective-Inspector Coutts and Splash Page have both been invited to Sexton Blake's Baker Street home for the festive season. They arrive on the evening of Christmas Eve in time to witness Mrs. Bardell informing the detective that the Christmas pudding she had made for her sister, Mary Ann Cluppins has been stolen. Mary runs a lodging house on Rice Street in Pimlico. One of her tenants is an old sailor named 'Roarin' Bill Barnes. This man, reports Blake's landlady, is furious that the pudding has gone missing and is insisting that it be returned. Later in the evening, Mrs. Bardell telephones from her sister's to tell Blake that Barnes has been found stabbed. The detective, with Coutts, Splash and Tinker, rushes to Mrs. Cluppins house where he finds the sailor seriously wounded with a knife in his back. He learns that the man has been acting as if afraid for the past two weeks since receiving a letter warning him that 'the Mexes' are after him. While Blake investigates the sailor's room, Tinker and Splash discover that the pudding was pinched by a young lad named Ginger Brown. They use Pedro to trace the boy who is playing with his gang, the 'Pimlico Pirates'. They retrieve the pudding and make the gang a Christmas gift of two pound notes. Returning to Mrs. Cluppins, Tinker and the rest tuck into the pudding but find nothing in it. By this time, Blake has discovered clues leading to a Mexican named Fernandez. He tracks him to a bar and, after a fight, hands him over to the police. The next day Christmas is celebrated at Baker Street and Blake reveals the motive for Fernandez's attempted murder of Roarin' Bill Barnes ... and the secret of Mrs. Bardell's Christmas pudding.

Trivia: Tinker's age is given as seventeen. It is revealed that he was a member of a criminal East End gang in his boyhood.

This was anthologised in CRIME AT CHRISTMAS (1974).

Rating: ★★★★★ An absolutely wonderful tale so packed with Christmas cheer that it gladdens the heart and raises a lump to the throat. The scenes involving Ginger Brown and the Pimlico Pirates are particlarly good.

Notes: Before he is able to take the witness stand at the trial of Professor Jason Reece, Dirk Dolland is abducted by the Criminals' Confederation. Blake and Tinker, meanwhile, survive repeated assassination attempts as they travel to the courthouse. When the trial begins, Blake and Detective-Inspector Coutts give evidence, but when Dolland is called, he fails to appear. Proceedings are adjourned so that he can be located. Blake, Coutts and Tinker discover their friend being held prisoner in his own apartment. They rescue him, capture his traitorous valet, and inform the authorities that the trial can continue. It does—and Reece is found guilty and sentenced to death. However, on the day that he is brought to the gallows, the condemned man reveals that he's not Reece at all, but a lookalike substitute. Blake is brought in to confirm this by means of fingerprints. He does so, and is dismayed to find that his battle against the Confederation is back at square one.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Notes: Accepting a dancing engagement, Nirvana returns to London where she is watched each night at the theatre by Tinker. While he frets over her failure to contact him, Nirvana hires a private detective named Graham to help her track down her mother. When the old woman is found in a terrible state of poverty and health, Nirvana is enraged at her sister Marie, whom she holds responsible. However, she cannot confront her due to the presence of Flash Brady and Philippe the Fox. Meanwhile, Sexton Blake attends the scene of a burglary just outside of Rugby where a country house was broken into and valuable jewellery taken. Fingerprints suggest that the culprit was a young crook named Sid 'The Tango Kid' Hooper, so Tinker disguises himself as a small-time thief and mixes with the criminal element of London's East End in the hope that he'll pick up Hooper's trail. He gains entry to an exclusive club which is frequented by a number of criminals and there recognises one of Sexton Blake's agents, known only as No. X231, who informs him that Hooper is present. It turns out that The Tango Kid is in the company of Flash Brady and Philippe the Fox. Tinker follows them to Marie's house and eavesdrops but has to make a fast getaway when he's spotted. When he reports their conversation to Blake, the detective begins to suspect that the evidence against Hooper is all wrong. The police, though, have no such doubts and Detective-Inspector Thomas arrests The Tango Kid only to have him slip through his fingers and race away. Blake visits Marie and tells her that he means to uncover her friends' game. Nirvana approaches Tinker, tells him that The Tango Kid is her long lost brother, and takes him to visit her mother. The woman's situation has been transformed; no longer living in poverty, she is comfortable and regaining health. While they are there, The Tango Kid arrives and attacks Tinker, thinking him an enemy. Tinker overpowers him and Nirvana reveals to Hooper that she is his sister. He agrees to allow Tinker to take him to Sexton Blake. The Baker Street detective diciphers the clues and concludes that The Tango Kid has been framed for the Rugby burglary by Marie, Philippe the Fox and Flash Brady. He offers the crook the opportunity to go straight, with a job, and Nirvana's brother eagerly accepts. The condition, though, is that Nirvana returns the stolen jewels. She does so ... but she pays a price, though the tale ends before we are told more.

Rating: ★★★★★