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Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace (1 April 1875 - 10 February 1932) was an English writer. He joined the army at age 21 and was a war correspondent during the Second Boer War, for Reuters and the Daily Mail. Struggling with debt, he left South Africa, returned to London, and began writing thrillers to raise income, publishing books including The Four Just Men (1905). Drawing on his time as a reporter in the Congo, covering the Belgian atrocities, Wallace serialised short stories in magazines show more such as The Windsor Magazine and later published collections such as Sanders of the River (1911). In 1931 he moved to Hollywood, where he worked as a script writer for RKO. He died suddenly from undiagnosed diabetes, during the initial drafting of King Kong (1933). Wallace was such a prolific writer that one of his publishers claimed that a quarter of all books in England were written by him. show lessTags
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The audacious gang known as the 'India-Rubber Men' mount a series of bank robberies which continue to baffle the police. Between them Inspector Elk and Inspector John Wade of the river police follow a twisted trail of danger which leads them to the solution and the unmasking of the villain in charge.
There are scenes of hidden cellars in which victims are trapped and the rooms them flooded and there is poison gas pumped into a policeman's bedroom during the night. Also many other thrills along the way. By the way the India-Rubber men are so called because in the pursuit of their criminal activity they are clothed in rubber coats and they wear gas-masks. My only real criticism of this exciting tale is that the admittedly explosive ending show more was a little rushed. show less
There are scenes of hidden cellars in which victims are trapped and the rooms them flooded and there is poison gas pumped into a policeman's bedroom during the night. Also many other thrills along the way. By the way the India-Rubber men are so called because in the pursuit of their criminal activity they are clothed in rubber coats and they wear gas-masks. My only real criticism of this exciting tale is that the admittedly explosive ending show more was a little rushed. show less
There is a killer called The Shark terrorizing the Thames. He has a propensity to shoot folks with a spear gun.The Shark is also the criminal mastermind behind a gem smuggling ring that is driving Scotland Yard up the wall. Inspector Wade of the River Police is put in charge of the case. There's an emphasis on the fog-bound Soho environment, and of coçurse the creepy denizen-of-the-depths villain who uses harpoons as his weapons of choice. Most of the action centers around a waterfront dive called Mekka. The owners smuggle in contraband whiskey and are tied up with the Shark somehow. Red herrings and double indentities are as usual plentiful.There is also a plot to attain one of the greatest inheritances in England.
Jan 16, 2026English (UK)
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Among the most prolific of all authors of adventure fiction was the redoubtable Edgar Wallace. Born in London, Wallace received his early education at St. Peter's School and the Board School. Wallace served in the Royal West Kent Regiment in England and later as part of the Medical Staff Corps stationed in South Africa. During World War I, Wallace show more acted as a special interrogator for the War Office. As was the case with a number of successful popular authors, Wallace experienced a rich and diverse life before turning to professional writing. From 1886 to the 1930s, he worked in a printing shop, a shoe shop, and a rubber factory, and served as a merchant sailor and milk deliverer. Beginning in 1899, Wallace became a journalist and wrote variously for the London Daily Mail and the Rand Daily News, among others; he also worked with the racing periodicals, having founded two of them---Bibury's Weekly and R. E. Walton's Weekly. Like Sax Rohmer, Wallace earned a fortune from his writings, yet, because of a lack of business sense and a tendency to overspend, he died in debt. A prodigious writer of fiction, Wallace published, over the course of his professional life, some 173 books and wrote 17 plays. Many of his adventure narratives featured elements of crime or mystery, but they all thrived on action. Although Wallace's handling of plot was superb and he was respected for his ability to blend suspense with humor, he was less successful with his characters, who tended to be two-dimensional and stereotyped. One of his early crime adventures, The Four Just Men (1906), introduced what was to become a trademark for Wallace---lurid sensationalism coupled with dramatic violence. Wallace published in a wide range of genres, including poetry, short fiction, autobiography, and epic political history. Regrettably, much of what he wrote has lapsed into obscurity today. As sometimes is the problem with popular fiction, perhaps it was too hurriedly written---too intimately connected with its contemporary audience---to stand the ultimate test of time. But Wallace's work was highly influential, especially in the American pulp magazine markets of the Great Depression, and stands today, despite its many flaws, as some of the most effective literary adventures ever written. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The India-Rubber Men
- Original title
- The India-Rubber Men
- Alternate titles
- The India Rubber Men; The Wolves of the Waterfront; The Pool
- Original publication date
- 1928
- People/Characters
- Inspector Elk; Inspector John Wade; Lila Smith; 'Mum' Oaks; Captain Aikness; 'Golly' Oaks
- Important places*
- Inghilterra
- Dedication
- Dedicated to The Hon. Mrs. James de Rothschild
- First words
- In the murk of a foggy morning a row-boat moved steadily down stream.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)He sang on the morning of his execution in his reedy falsetto, and when the trap dropped with a clang, the warders were not as sorry for him as they had been for quite a number of men who had passed out of life by the same route.
- Original language*
- Englisch
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
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- ISBNs
- 18
- ASINs
- 15
