We first published the following article on April 1, 2016. Since then, we have added many more of Edgar Wallace’s works!

Edgar (Richard Horatio) Wallace, an English writer born into poverty in Greenwich, bought his way out of the army after joining at age 21 and, instead, became a war correspondent for Reuters and the Daily Mail during the Second Boer War. He left South Africa with a mountain of horse-racing debt and began writing thrillers to raise income. Over his lifetime he wrote 957 short stories, 18 plays, and over 170 novels and screenplays. He was hired on as a “script doctor” at RKO Studios in Hollywood, California and wrote the initial 110 page draft script for the producer’s ‘gorilla picture’ called “The Beast”. This movie script later became known as “King Kong”. He died of undiagnosed diabetes before the final movie script reached the screen.

His most popular writing genre, crime novels, include The Forger, published in 1927. In this story, forged notes have started to appear everywhere. Mr. Cheyne Wells of Harley Street has been given one. So has Porter. Peter Clifton is rich, but no one is quite certain how he acquired his money--not even his wife, the beautiful Jane Leith. One night someone puts a ladder to Jane’s window and enters her room. It is not her jewels they are after. Inspector Rouper and Superintendent Bourke are both involved in trying to solve this thrilling mystery.

Many of Wallace’s works can be found here. If you would like to help us add even more of his work to Faded Page, come join us and proofread a few pages. For more information, check out our companion site, Distributed Proofreaders Canada.