Wed 16 Jul 2014
Reviewed by Marvin Lachman: EDGAR WALLACE – Angel Esquire.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[5] Comments
by Marv Lachman
EDGAR WALLACE – Angel Esquire. Arrowsmith, UK, hardcover, 1908. Holt, US, hardcover, 1908. Reprinted many times in both hardcover and soft, including A. L. Burt, US, hardcover, 1927 [shown]. Available online here.
More than eighty years after it was first published, Angel Esquire, Edgar Wallace’s second novel, remains surprisingly readable. Christopher Angel, an eccentric Scotland Yard detective, will remind you of Albert Campion in his early, silly-ass days, but he is often genuinely amusing, as well as resourceful: “Great fellow for putting things right … if you’re in a mess of any kind, Angel’s the chap to pull you out.”
When he’s not working on a case, he sits at his desk working on a racing form, and he is not perturbed at all when the police commissioner comes into his office and finds him so occupied. Angel is the perfect sleuth for a far-fetched mystery involving master criminals, English gangsters, and an intricate puzzle that must be solved before the rightful heirs can receive several million pounds.
Wallace seems to have had fun writing this book. He has a cyanide pellet carried by the villain as a jacket button, and in an inside joke he has Angel play poker with George Manfred, one of the Four Just Men from his first book. He even gives us the type of Tom Swiftie which was so popular in the early 1960’s when he writes of one character’s drink order, “‘Lemonade,’ he said soberly.”
Bibliographic Note: This appears to be the only appearance of Christopher Angel in book form. I have located a story “The Yellow Box” from The Story-Teller, March, 1908, available online here, so there may be more.
July 16th, 2014 at 3:08 pm
I quite enjoyed this, The Brigand, and Sgt. Sir Peter, all in a lighter vein. Angel is a great sleuth for these sort of romps and sort of an ur figure for the gentleman detectives and rogues to come.
Wallace hadn’t quite become a writing machine at this point and this one doesn’t feel as if he penned it after lunch and before tea as some (still entertaining) later Wallace books do.
It’s a pity Angel and the Brigand didn’t catch on more because I would have liked to see more of them.
The Manfred appearance shows Wallace was always as canny a promoter as writer.
The race track connection is no surprise since Wallace was pretty much a tout before becoming a successful journalist and writer. Most of his many fortunes went to the tracks, and he probably wrote more about the subject in the genre than anyone until Dick Francis.
As the old cartoon about Wallace goes, I wonder if this was the morning or afternoon Wallace book.
July 17th, 2014 at 4:32 pm
Thanks for the Swiftie — I had forgotten those. And for the review. I will download this one and add it to my TBRs.
July 17th, 2014 at 5:16 pm
I’ve been so-so in my opinion of Edgar Wallace in the past, but this looks like a good one to me, too.
August 30th, 2014 at 6:39 pm
I have been trying to trace a book of short stories about horse racing scams and racing touts including Educated Evans. I had read this collection in a copy borrowed from a Bomaby library in the 1970s or 1980s. All I remember is that it was a red hard bound book. I cannot recall the title. In the lists of Edgar Wallace books published at the official website or their associated publishers, there does not seem to be any title remotely connected with the subject. I was wondering it you could suggest any authority on Wallace who might know about it. Thanks in advance.
August 30th, 2014 at 7:51 pm
Edgar Wallace wrote three collections of stories about Educated Evans:
Educated Evans (co) Webster 1924 [England]
More Educated Evans (co) Webster 1926 [England]
Good Evans! (co) Webster 1927 [England]
with lots of reprint editions of each. Try searching for copies at http://www.abebooks.com or http://www.bookfinder.com
Good luck on the hunt!