William Tufnell Le Queux (1864-1927) (pronounced to rhyme with "cue" or "Kew") was born on 2 July 1864 in London and died on 13 October 1927 in Knocke, Belgium.

He was educated in Italy and France before taking up a career as a journalist, initially working as a police court reporter on the Eastbourne Gazette before joining the Globe in London where he rose to become the foreign editor. He reported or wrote about some of the leading criminal cases of his age including the trials of Horatio Bottomley and Madame Thérèse Humbert and the serial murderers George Joseph Smith and Henri Landru. He was one of many writers who claimed to have solved the mystery of Jack the Ripper, who he claimed was a Dr Alexander Pedachenko, a claim which did not end speculation as to his identity.

In 1893 he gave up journalism to become a full time writer, producing over 200 novels and short stories of espionage, crime and detection, many set in France or Italy or other exotic locations to which he travelled to pick up local colour. His prolific output earned him the nickname "the master of mystery".

His best known detective and crime novels are probably This House to Let, The Scandal Monger, The Lady in the Car, The Death Doctor, The Peril of Helen Marklove and Mademoiselle of Monte Carlo. However, he is now better known for his invasion fiction, warning that Britain was in danger of being invaded by Germany.

Very little of his work has stood the test of time. The importance of his crime writing lies in his use of foerign locations and his appreciation of the importance of technology for crime, especially the car which features in his writing as both an object of and tool for use in criminal activity.

He was a great self-publicist. In his autobiographical Things I Know about Kings, Celebrities and Crooks (1923) he claimed intimate knowldge of criminals and the police forces of Britain and Europe, claims that are almost certainly as exagerated as his claim to have worked for the secret service. Norman Sladen's "official" biography, The Real Le Queux (1938) is largely a reworking of Le Queux's own autobiography. For a modern biography see Chris Patrick and Stephen Baister's William Le Queux: Master of Mystery (2007).

Bibliography

A Secret Sin, or, A Madonna of the Music Halls (1897)

Guilty Bonds (1891)

A Secret Service: Being Strange Tales of a Nihilist (1892)

The Great War in England in 1897 (1894)

Guilty (1895)

Stolen Souls (1895) stories

The Temptress (1895)

Zoraida: A Romance of the Harem and the Great Sahara (1895)

The Great White Queen: A Tale Of Treasure And Treason (1896)

Devil's Dice (1897)

Whoso Findeth a Wife (1897)

The Eye of Istar: a Romance of the Land of No Return (1897) aka The Eye of Ishtar

Scribes and Pharisees: A Story of Literary London (1898)

If Sinners Entice Thee (1898)

The Bond of Black (1899)

The Day of Temptation (1899)

The Veiled Man (1899) stories

England’s Peril (1899)

Secrets of Monte Carlo (1899) stories

The Wiles of the Wicked (1900)

An Eye for an Eye (1900)

In White Raiment (1900)

Of Royal Blood (1900)

Her Majesty's Minister (1901)

The Sign of the Seven Sins (1901)

The Gamblers (1901)

The Court of Honour (1901)

The Under Secretary (1902)

The Unnamed: A Romance of Modern Italy (1902)

On the “Polar Star” in the Arctic Sea (1903)

The Tickencote Treasure: Being the Story of A Silent Man, A Sealed Script and A Singular Secret (1903)

The Seven Secrets (1903)

Secrets of the Foreign Office: Describing the Doings of Duckworth Drew of the Secret Service (1903) stories

Three Glass Eyes (1903)

The Closed Book, Concerning the Secret of the Borgias (1904)

As We Forgive Them (1904)

The Sign of the Stranger (1904)

The Man from Downing Street (1904)

The Hunchback of Westminster (1904)

The Idol of the Town (1904)

The Red Hat (1904)

Sins of the City (1905)

The Valley of the Shadow (1905)

The Czar's Spy: The Mystery of a Silent Love (1905)

Behind the Throne (1905)

Who Giveth This Woman? (1905)

The Spider’s Eye (1905)

The Mask (1905)

Confessions of a Ladies’ Man: Being the Adventures of Cuthbert Croom, of His Majesty's Diplomatic Service (1905) stories

The Mystery of a Motor Car (1906)

The Count's Chauffeur (1906) stories

The Pauper of Park Lane (1906)

The Woman at Kensington (1906)

The Invasion of 1910 (1906) with H W Wilson

The Mysterious Mr Miller (1906)

The House of the Wicked (1906)

Whatsoever a Man Soweth (1906)

Whosoever Loveth: Being the Secret of a Lady's Maid (1907)

The Great Plot (1907)

The Woman in the Way (1907)

The Secret of the Square (1907)

The Great Court Scandal (1907)

The Lady in the Car (1908) stories

The Crooked Way (1908)

The Looker On (1908)

Stolen Sweets (1908)

Spies of the Kaiser (1909) stories

The House of Whispers (1909)

The Red Room (1909)

Fatal Thirteen (1909)

Treasure of Israel (1910) aka The Great God Gold (US)

Lying Lips (1910)

The Unknown Tomorrow (1910)

Hushed Up!: A Mystery of London (1911)

The Money Spider (1911)

An Eye for an Eye (1911)

Revelations of the Secret Service (1911) stories

The Indiscretions of a Lady's Maid, A Mystery Novel (1911)

The Mystery of Nine (1912)

Without Trace (1912)

The Death Doctor (1912) stories

Fatal Fingers (1912)

The Lost Million (1913)

The Price of Power, Being Chapters from the Secret History of the Imperial Court of Russia (1913)

The Room of Secrets (1913)

Mysteries (1913) stories

The Hand of Allah (1914) aka The Riddle of the Ring

Her Royal Highness; A Romance of the Chancelleries of Europe (1914)

Sons of Satan (1914)

The White Lie (1914)

The German Spy, a Present day story (1914)

The War of the Nations (1914) with Edgar Wallace and others

The Maker of Secrets (1914)

The Four Faces (1914)

The Sign of Silence (1915)

Britain's Deadly Peril (1915)

German Atrocities: A Record of Shameless Deeds (1915)

German Spies in England: An Exposure (1915)

The Devil's Spawn (1915)

The Mysterious Three (1915)

At the Sign of the Sword (1915)

The Mysterious Three (1915)

The German Spy System from Within (1915)

The Mystery of the Green Ray (1915)

The Double Shadow (1915)

The White Glove (1915)

The Man about Town (1916)

Number 70, Berlin (1916)

The Spy Hunter (1916) stories

The Way to Win (1916)

The Zeppelin Destroyer: Being Some Chapters of Secret History (1916)

Cinders of Harley Street (1916)

The Broken Thread (1916)

The Place of Dragons: A Mystery (1916)

Annette of The Argonne: A Story Of The French Front (1916)

Behind the German Lines: Amazing Confessions of Col Lieut Otto Von Heynitz (1917)

The Secrets Of Potsdam By Count Ernst Von Heltzendorff (1918) stories

Further Secrets of Potsdam (1917)

Hushed Up at German Headquarters (1917)

The Minister of Evil: The Secret History of Rasputin's Betrayal of Russia (1917)

The Scandal Monger (1917) stories

Beryl of the Biplane (1917)

The Breath of Suspicion (1917)

The Devil's Carnival (1917)

No Greater Love (1917)

Two in a Tangle (1917)

The Bomb Makers: Being Some Curios Records Concerning The Craft And Cunning Of Theodore Drost, An Enemy Alien In London (1917) stories

Donovan of Whitehall (1917) stories

The Rainbow Mystery, Chronicles of a Colour Criminologist Recorded by his Secretary (1917) stories

Bolo, The Super Spy, by Armand Mehjan (1918)

Love Intrigues of the Kaiser's Sons (1918)

Sant of the Secret Service: Some Revelations of Spies and Spying (1918)

The Secret Life of the Ex Tsaritza (1918)

The Little Blue Goddess (1918)

The Lure of Love (1918)

The Yellow Ribbon (1918)

The Catspaw (1918)

The Sister Disciple (1918)

The Stolen Statesman: Being the Story of a Hushed Up Mystery (1918)

Secrets of the White Tsar; the Truth Revealed by His Majesty's Personal Attaché, Colonel Vassili Grigorieff (1919)

Rasputinism in London: Revelations of the secret Cult of Beauty and Happiness established by the Monk Grichtaka (1919)

The Doctor of Pimlico, Being the Disclosure of a Great Crime (1919)

Cipher Six, A Mystery (1919)

The Secret Shame of the Kaiser (1919) stories

The Forbidden Word (1919)

The Hotel X (1919) short stories

The King's Incognito (1919)

Mysteries of a Great City (1920) stories

In Secret (1920) stories

No 7 Saville Square (1920)

Secrets of the Foreign Office (1920)

Society Intrigues I Have Known; Astounding Facts Concerning Prominent People, Disclosed by Lady Betty G (1920) stories

Whither Thou Goest (1920)

The Heart of a Princess: A Romance of To Day (1920)

The Intriguers (1920)

The Secret Telephone (1920)

The Terror of the Air (1920)

The Red Widow, Or The Death Dealers of London (1920)

Mademoiselle of Monte Carlo: A Mystery of Today (1921)

The Fifth Finger: A Mystery (1921)

The Luck of the Secret Service; being the Startling Adventures of Claud Heathwaite, C B, of His Britannic Majesty's Foreign Office (1921) stories

The Open Verdict, A Mystery (1921)

This House to Let (1921)

The Lady in Waiting: A Royal Romance (1921)

The Marked Man (1921)

The Elusive Four, Which Discloses the Exciting Exploits of Four Thieves (1921) stories

The Power of the Borgias (1921)

The Gay Triangle (1922) stories

Landru: His Secret Love Affairs (1922)

The Golden Face: A Great Crook Romance (1922)

The Stretton Street Affair (1922)

Three Knots (1922)

The Voice from the Void: The Great Wireless Mystery (1922)

The Young Archduchess (1922)

The Bronze Face (1923) aka Behind the Bronze Door (US)

Things I Know About Kings, Celebrities, and Crooks (1923) memoirs

Where the Desert Ends (1923)

Bleke, The Butler: Being the Exciting Adventures of Robert Bleke during Certain Years of His Service in Various Families (1923) stories

A Woman's Debt (1924)

Fine Feathers (1924)

The Crystal Claw (1924)

The Blue Bungalow: A Mystery (1925)

The Broadcast Mystery (1925)

The Valrose Mystery (1925)

Hidden Hands (1926) aka The Dangerous Game (US)

[The Letter "E"] (1926) aka The Tattoo Mystery

Blackmailed (1926)

The Fatal Face (1926)

The Mystery of Mademoiselle (1926)

The Black Owl (1926)

The Scarlet Sign (1926)

The Lawless Hand (1927)

The Chameleon (1927) aka Poison Shadows]

Double Nought (1927) aka The Crime Code]

The Office Secret (1927)

The House of Evil (1927)

The Crimes Club (1927) stories

Twice Tried (1928)

The Sting (1928)

The Rat Trap (1928)

Concerning This Woman (1928)

The Peril of Helen Marklove (1928) stories

The Secret Formula (1928)

The Amazing Count (1929)

The Crinkled Crown (1929)

The Golden Three (1931)

The Factotum and Other Stories (1931)