Ah, this was such a nice surprise...there are two stories in this book The Terror and White Face. 

I seriously should maybe think about reading book descriptions rather than just be seduced by the pretty covers of books.

Anyway, The Terror was your typical Edgar Wallace thriller focused on madness, crime, and darkest London. To me Wallace didn't write noir as much as a special kind of Gothic crime, including damsels in distress, castles, secret passages, ... oh, and a mad monk.

Yes, the plot is silly, the characters are two-dimensional, and many of the other aspect are utterly ridiculous, but this is just the sort of crime caper one sometimes needs. So, what if it made me laugh out loud that one of the characters suffers from insanity for only exactly 2 hours every day? (Or was it 2 hours of sanity? Does it matter?)

I really liked this one. It reminded me a lot of the German screen adaptations of Wallace's work - they are hilariously, charmingly.....dated but they are great guilty pleasures.

White Face took a different approach to the "typical" Wallace story. Yes, this story is also based on organised crime at it's heart, but this one here seemed to be a lot close some of the stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle. There is a great twist, but there are also elements that seems to portray some of the crimes as the characters only choice, so almost ask for sympathy from the reader. 

It was an interesting change from other works by Wallace that I am familiar with and I love that the story was included in this book (edited by Martin Edwards) but the story was also quite long and drawn out, which didn't work well for me.

(Scene from the German screen adaptation of The Terror. Unfortunately, there are not many similarities between the film and the book.)

Such is the plight of the mood reader that I've been wondering for the last hour or so which book to pick for tonight. 

I really want to start Timm's Halbschatten but I need something light and easy to switch off from work. I really also want to start A Scream in Soho, but I don't think I want to read that one as a "quick fix". 

So, I found The Terror in the vaults of my audible library, which should be an adequately entertaining story.

Oh, and incidentally, this like the disappointing Murder by Matchlight is also set in black-out London. Maybe the book gods wanted to make up for something?

Warn Ramon that the Four do not go outside their promise. If they have threatened to kill in a certain manner at a certain time they will be punctual. We have proof of this characteristic. After Anderson's death small memorandum book was discovered outside window of room evidently dropped. Book was empty save for three pages, which were filled with neatly written memoranda headed 'Six methods of execution'. It was initialled 'C.' (third letter in alphabet). Warn Ramon against following: drinking coffee in any form, opening letters or parcels, using soap that has not been manufactured under eye of trustworthy agent, sitting in any room other than that occupied day and night by police officer. Examine his bedroom; see if there is any method by which heavy gases can be introduced. We are sending two men by 'Lucania' to watch.

The detective finished reading. 'Watch' was not the last word in the original message, as he knew. There had been an ominous postscript, Afraid they will arrive too late.

Ha! That was fun. Granted the premise is ridiculous, the plot has massive holes in it, the writing is tainted with all of the hallmarks of its time, and the solution was drawn out of a hat at the end, but it was fun to read this. 

In a way, this was also an interesting book to show up differences in how our understanding of the term vigilante justice has changed since 1905, when this was written, and how our understanding of the particular "justice" exerted in this story may have changed, too. 

Or has it? I mean, I read an article the other day discussing an apparent rise in people believing that it is ok or even justified to send death threats to politicians. Nothing new there, of course, even if it is hitting home hard when this is a reality for friends in that career path. 

However, since the murder of Jo Cox over something as trivial (in the greater picture of things) as her stance on Brexit this issue has been a very public one. 

So, yes, there were angles to the story that were a lot more intriguing than the plot itself, which fell apart even on the basic premise that a bill could be stopped becoming law just by killing of a single minister. It's just not quite how it works. Thankfully.

This is an entirely silly and preposterous plot and the book is very much of its time (1905) but I like it. 

I'm more curious than ever tho how the ending will turn out. I believe the ending did somewhat spoil Tigus' opinion of the book. 

Never since the days of the Fenian outrages had the mind of the public been so filled with apprehension as it was during the two days following the appearance in the Commons of the 'blank bomb', as one journal felicitously described it.

Perhaps in exactly the same kind of apprehension, since there was a general belief, which grew out of the trend of the letters, that the Four menaced none other than one man.

Oooh, what a seasonally appropriate start to the plot. After all, Guy Fawkes Night is on Tuesday.

As for The Four Just Men, it is difficult for me to not be reminded of The Big Four. Was Dame Agatha inspired by Wallace? One wonders. I may consult the Agatha references later on.