The Law of the Four Just Men

The Four Just Men #4

by Edgar Wallace

'Grace,' he said, 'I am going to apply the methods of the Four to this devil Stedland.'

But the judge finds Jeffrey Storr guilty, not Stedland. As Storr's wife Grace leaves the court a foreign-looking gentleman introduces himself. He and his companion are friends of her husband. Justice has failed and THE FOUR JUST MEN have stepped in. They will use their own laws to protect the innocent and will impose their own verdicts. There can be no appeal.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Ebooks, Classics

178 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1921

About the author

Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace (1875-1932) was a prolific British crime writer, journalist and playwright, who wrote 175 novels, 24 plays, and countless articles in newspapers and journals.

Over 160 films have been made of his novels, more than any other author. In the 1920s, one of Wallace's publishers claimed that a quarter of all books read in England were written by him.

He is most famous today as the co-creator of "King Kong", writing the early screenplay and story for the movie, as well as a short story "King Kong" (1933) credited to him and Draycott Dell. He was known for the J. G. Reeder detective stories, The Four Just Men, the Ringer, and for creating the Green Archer character during his lifetime.

Reviews

[Sandra Deaconu · Rating 1 out of 5]

Uitam fiecare povestire, îndată ce o terminam, și zău că nu a fost vina mea!

,,Religia, bineînțeles, nu dezvoltă instinctul criminal din om, dar s-a dovedit că anumiți criminali dezvoltă o formă ciudată de exaltare religioasă."

[Thor The Redbeard · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Man Who Lived at Clapham 5/10
The Man with the Canine Teeth 7/10
The Man Who Hated Earthworms 5/10
The Man Who Died Twice 5/10
The Man Who Hated Amelia Jones 6/10
The Man Who Was Happy 5/10
The Man Who Loved Music 6/10
The Man Who Was Plucked 6/10
The Man Who Would Not Speak 7/10
The Man Who Was Acquitted 5/20

Overall: 6/10

[James · Rating 1 out of 5]

Four just men is an example of a book that has aged very badly as unsympathetic murderous viligantes with a penchant for immoral pseudo science.

[Philip McLaughlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Things have changed with this fourth instalment of The Four Just Men (FJM). It is a collection of short stories, rather than one longer narrative. No fourth man is recruited to assist, and Poiccart is content to remain in Spain growing onions and breeding pigs. Solving cases is left to the remaining two, George Manfred and Leon Gonsalez. Indeed it is Gonsalez who "retains the youthful enthusiasm" for their cases, while Manfred is content to sit back and wryly observe his partner's schemes, helping out as Leon directs him. It's 1921 and we're at the dawn of the golden age of murder mysteries, so the stories do have this flavour, although the two Just Men are more like a pair of Sherlock Holmes as they apply reason, deduction and a little pseudo science to come up with the ingenious plots to trap all the miscreants who have thus far escaped justice.
None of the villains are threat to national security. Now Gonsalez and Manfred are mainly helping ordinary people, or at least well-heeled middle class people mainly, to get justice. But it's always enjoyable to see their ingenuity! :)

[isaacq · Rating 3 out of 5]

For this volume, Wallace switched up format from novel to short stories, and only two characters remain from the rest of the series (despite the title still referencing four just men). Nothing here was outstanding or really worth recommending. There are a couple clever surprises, and you get literally 10 times the Schadenfreude of other 4JM books, since there are ten antagonists to punish rather than just the one. But not one of the stories here has the impact of the first or second 4JM novel. It also feels somewhat sanitized, in that our protagonists have gone from essentially righteous terrorists to moralist wrist-slappers at this point (though the cat-o-nine-tails torture of the 9th story was a nasty exception).

[Zoeb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full review to come soon.

[J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

clever

[Suresh Ramaswamy]

Well that was a centenary read-maybe a re-read. Between 1968 and 1972 in my early teens I had read about fifty / sixty Edgar Wallace books -the titles I can’t fully recall. There were one or two books of THE FOUR JUST MEN.

THE LAW OF THE FOUR JUST MEN, the title I have just completed was first published in 1921 exactly a hundred years ago.

One hundred years is a long time -four generations or more. I can definitely state that when this book was first published my maternal grandfather was in his teens. I have not seen or known my paternal grandparents. My maternal grandfather I can definitely state read this book in my presence in his sixties. Both my parents have read it, as have my sisters and me. The readers across three generations -and my son who is a bibliophile too would have read it – the fourth generation. So long live Edgar Wallace books and its readers.

The book is as expected well written and the stories gripping. The stories of the two just men Manfred and Gonzales pursuing the criminals who have escaped the clutches of law, even though guilty is an awesome read.

From the first story “The Man Who Lived at Clapham” to the last story “The Man Who Was Acquitted” each tale is a story of painstaking research and follow up for bringing the perpetators to justice and in just two tales are the criminals killed and in the other stories they are handed over to the majesty of law to face trial.

I am a diehard Edgar Wallace fan and possibly my review would be favourable to the maximum and gushing with words of praise. This book too is no exception and the review is it is an excellent read and a must for Edward Wallace Afficandos.

[Phaney · Rating 3 out of 5]

2012 Review:

Ooh, definitely better.

Maybe I’ve read this one before too, because supposedly we had it and I’d swear I was unhappy with Leon’s discourse on head shapes back then. Although he probably does that in at least one of the remaining books as well. Now? I am just amused. <3

Either way, this turned out to be a collection of chapter-long stories, so it makes sense that I did not really recall reading it before. They also focus mostly on Leon.

It really is a Leon Gonsalez book. He’s the center of attention and he is the one who goes around killing people. And doesn’t that just sound funny? XD Okay, he does not kill all of them; some just receive other types of punishment. And I will allow that the fact that the just men (or what remains of them, anyway) insist on finding proof before taking action might explain the awful delays in the previous book. *shrug*

Another funny thing? Manfred and Leon are like an old couple. They apparently live together and share everything, tease one another, and love each other’s idiosyncrasies. <3 I guess in a convoluted way I was getting my bit of gay romance after all. XD They were really adorable.

[Deirdre · Rating 3 out of 5]

vigilantism justified It was entertaining to read Flash around this (I started Flash on Saturday and finished it this morning) where Flash has to deal with the ethics of power.  This is a series of stories showing what happens when some people take the law into their own hands.  In these two of the four just men show, with a third retired in Spain and the fourth dead.  There are smatterings of racism, the pseudo-science of physiognomy and a lot of two older men pursuing those who have escaped the legal system.
 
Also published as Again the Three Just Men (which makes a lot of sense) in 1921 it shows a feeling of how justice is paramount and that there was a possibility of a great new world.
 
The eugenics train is not a comfortable ride but overall for the period it's interesting, the stories are snappy and bite-sized but I enjoyed it.

[Carol Palmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super book! This is really a compilation of short stories -- each one is very interesting. The more I read Wallace, the more I realize that, as a whole, I enjoy his short stories more than his full-length novels. I recommend this one.

[Tim Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two of the Four Just Men continue their grisly work in this collection of short stories. I like Manfred but I wouldn't want to meet Leon. He is a psychopath and a man of action, and very vindictive indeed.

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

A (mostly) good collection of short stories. Although three of the four just men are still living only two actively take part in this volume: George Manfred and Leon Gonsalez.

[Rajat Narula · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bunch of short stories which didn't have anything to offer other than novel methods of killing people. Stories too thin and slow-witted to be engrossing.