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The Wheel Spins
Oldtown is a historic place where rich people live. The sisterhood also lives there. The group, known as the ""Black Nuns"", had healing powers. But in Oldtown, the killer works, and a series of murders plunged the inhabitants into blind, reckless horror.
Kindle Edition
Published March 19, 2025
15 people are currently reading
9 people want to read
About the author
Ethel Lina White
127 books103 followersEthel Lina White was a British crime writer, best known for her novel The Wheel Spins (1936), on which the Alfred Hitchcock film, The Lady Vanishes (1938), was based, and Some Must Watch (1933), on which the film The Spiral Staircase (1946) was based.
Born in Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, Wales, in 1876, White started writing as a child, contributing essays and poems to children's papers. Later she began to write short stories, but it was some years before she wrote books.
She left employment in a government job working for the Ministry of Pensions in order to pursue writing. Her writing was to make her one of the best known crime writers in Britain and the USA during the 1930s and '40s.
Her first three works, published between 1927 and 1930, were mainstream novels. Her first crime novel, published in 1931, was Put Out the Light. Although she has now faded into obscurity, in her day she was as well known as such writers like Dorothy L. Sayers and Agatha Christie.
She died in London in 1944 aged 68. Her works have enjoyed a revival in recent years with a stage adaptation of The Lady Vanishes touring the UK in 2001 and the BBC broadcast of an abridged version on BBC Radio 4 as well as a TV adaptation by the BBC in 2013.
(from Wikipedia)
Born in Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, Wales, in 1876, White started writing as a child, contributing essays and poems to children's papers. Later she began to write short stories, but it was some years before she wrote books.
She left employment in a government job working for the Ministry of Pensions in order to pursue writing. Her writing was to make her one of the best known crime writers in Britain and the USA during the 1930s and '40s.
Her first three works, published between 1927 and 1930, were mainstream novels. Her first crime novel, published in 1931, was Put Out the Light. Although she has now faded into obscurity, in her day she was as well known as such writers like Dorothy L. Sayers and Agatha Christie.
She died in London in 1944 aged 68. Her works have enjoyed a revival in recent years with a stage adaptation of The Lady Vanishes touring the UK in 2001 and the BBC broadcast of an abridged version on BBC Radio 4 as well as a TV adaptation by the BBC in 2013.
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 16, 2025
The story follows the disappearance of a lovely older woman named Miss Froy.
The only person who seems concerned is Miss Iris Carr, whom she befriended after Ms Carr had a sunstroke waiting for the train at the station.
The story was written by Miss Ethel White in 1936, and the detail is fantastic. I felt at times as if I were looking through a window at the scenery going by.
Back to this story, Miss Carr finds herself surrounded by people who deny that Miss Froy even exists.
And Miss Carr has to fight the feeling that maybe she had imagined Miss Froy.
So the intrigue begins, and it is a race against time to find the dear older lady who had been so kind to her.
The only person who seems concerned is Miss Iris Carr, whom she befriended after Ms Carr had a sunstroke waiting for the train at the station.
The story was written by Miss Ethel White in 1936, and the detail is fantastic. I felt at times as if I were looking through a window at the scenery going by.
Back to this story, Miss Carr finds herself surrounded by people who deny that Miss Froy even exists.
And Miss Carr has to fight the feeling that maybe she had imagined Miss Froy.
So the intrigue begins, and it is a race against time to find the dear older lady who had been so kind to her.
April 27, 2025
A good old fashion mystery
A quick read and the precursor to the movie “The Lady Vanishes”. Thank goodness it’s on Kindle since the local libraries don’t carry this book at all!
A quick read and the precursor to the movie “The Lady Vanishes”. Thank goodness it’s on Kindle since the local libraries don’t carry this book at all!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews