Wallace, Edgar - The Gaunt Stranger (1925) aka The Ringer

Wallace's adaptation of his popular stage play retains all the excitement and most of the melodrama of the original. The Ringer -- Arthur Milton -- is a lone vigilante who kills off the deserving; a sort of One Just Man. Unlike the Just Men, however, his funds are limited. On returning to London from Australia to bump off Maurice Meister, the caddish barrister who drove his sister to suicide, the Ringer is obliged to adopt a disguise and skulk behind the scenes for most of the book until his moment comes. Meanwhile Meister is working his wicked wiles on virtuous Mary Lenley, a scion of the aristocracy who has come down in the world and been forced to work for a living -- a fate her impetuous brother Johnny rightly regards as worse than death. Luckily Mary's friend and admirer Alan Wembury from Scotland Yard is able to come to her aid.

The mixture as before: but expertly done. A few static set-pieces expose the story's dramatic origins, but there is enough interest and action to keep the reader intrigued to the very end. Which of the several mysterious strangers is the Ringer, and how will he escape the police trap? Read on to find out...

The Ringer is available for download (under that name) from Gutenberg Australia.

Jon.