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The seventh book of the complete, fully authorized series written by the creator of Fu-Manchu, the acclaimed Sax Rohmer. Following the events of The Bride of Fu-Manchu, it is considered one of Rohmer's finest. Fu-Manchu is trapped, cornered in London and cut-off from his resources, including the elixir vitae that grants him eternal life. But under the Thames, the devil doctor practices the dark art of sorcery, and it will be up to Nayland Smith and Scotland Yard to stop him. But Fu-Manchu show more may possess the key to victory, when he kidnaps Dr. Petrie's wife, Fleurette! ALSO IN THIS BOOK: The first of three lost novels by Sax Rohmer, starring Fu-Manchu's eternal nemesis, Sir Denis Nayland Smith. show lessTags
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Author Information
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Sax Rohmer was born in Birmingham, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he adopted the name Sarsfield, the name of a famous Irish general admired by Rohmer's mother. He married Rose Elizabeth Knox in 1909 and, at his wife's insistence, began using the name Sax Rohmer for his fiction, eventually employing the pseudonym as his actual name. Rohmer was show more basically a self-taught scholar. He started writing as a journalist; his beat was the Limehouse underworld in London. Rohmer had a difficult time breaking into the professional fiction markets, but once he did, he became a household name for exotic adventure both in England and in America. Although his writing brought Rohmer success and money, he was never much of a businessman, and most of his wealth was squandered because of his extravagance and through financial mismanagement. Rohmer eventually moved to New York City. One of Rohmer's great intellectual interests was the occult and supernatural, and these elements frequently appeared as motifs in his fiction. His most famous creation was the evil oriental mastermind, Dr. Fu Manchu, first presented in the novel The Mystery of Fu Manchu in 1913 (later retitled The Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu for its American publication, also in 1913). Most espionage or adventure fiction exploits the social paranoias of its time, and Rohmer himself effectively tapped the Westerner's fear of the stereotyped "yellow peril" threat---the negatively perceived belief that Orientals will conquer the world. The Fu Manchu adventures were patterned, in part, after Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories. Rohmer's protagonists in these adventures, Sir Denis Nayland Smith and his companion Dr. Petrie, look very much like Doyle's Holmes and Watson, but, whereas Doyle centered his narratives on the heroes and specifically on the elaborate process of detection, Rohmer focused his attention on the villain and on slam-bang action. Fu Manchu was a master of both Western science and Eastern mysticism, and his efforts at world domination caused no end of problems for Smith and Petrie. In Fu Manchu, Rohmer had created the most famous villain in popular fiction (although Rohmer maintained that Fu Manchu was based on an actual Limehouse criminal). Despite Rohmer's use of outrageous racial stereotyping, many of his novels hold up well today and provide superior examples of how to create narrative pacing and suspense. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Awards and Honors
Notable Lists
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
Doubleday Crime Club (1934.27)
Work Relationships
Is contained in
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Trail Of Fu Manchu
- Original title
- The Trail Of Fu Manchu
- Original publication date
- 1934
- People/Characters
- Fu Manchu; Sir Denis Nayland Smith; Alan Sterling; Fleurette; Fah Lo Suee; Karamaneh (show all 7); Dr. Petrie
- Important places
- Limehouse, London, England, UK
- First words
- "Who's there?" P.C. Ireland raised his red lantern, staring with smarting eyes through moving wreaths of yellow mist.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)"Companion Crossland," he said, "you have earned merit---"
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)"Dr. Petrie, I salute you -- and bid you farewell..." - Disambiguation notice
- Originally serialized in Collier's Magazine, April 28-July 14, 1934.
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 198
- Popularity
- 164,831
- Rating
- (3.56)
- Languages
- English, German, Portuguese
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 9
- ASINs
- 24
