Die Abenteuerin (Edgar Wallace Reihe 57)

by Edgar Wallace

Dieser Band ist eine Sammlung von vier Edgar Wallace-Kriminalgeschichten:
• Die Abenteuerin
• Der betrogene Betrüger
• Die Privatsekretärin
• Der Herr im dunkelblauen Anzug

Genres: Mystery, Crime

272 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 22, 2016

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

[K.J. Charles]

Pulp thriller by the exceedingly variable Wallace. This is one of the ones with a plot and characters (good) including a female lead who stays the lead and doesn't go all wifey (excellent) but sadly no murderous chimpanzees, lost Anglo Saxon legions, secret underground guillotines, vengeful archers, armies of villainous blind beggars, or exploding death contraptions (shame).

It's a fun collection of stories about super-thief Four Square Jane who runs rings round the law in order to rob the rich and give to the poor. Entertaining.

[Buchjunkies · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inhalt:
Sie treibt ihr Unwesen auf festlichen Gesellschaften, raubt wertvollen Schmuck und edle Steine und hinterlässt jedes Mal einen kleinen Zettel - die 'Quadrat-Jane'. Die Reichen der Londoner City bangen um ihren Schmuck, wollen sich trotzdem nicht einschränken lassen. Und so kommt es, dass Joe Grandman sich extra für eine Festlichkeit eine Privatdetektivin ins Haus holt. Ms. Caroline Smith soll sich unter die Gäste mischen, denn es wird davon ausgegangen, dass die berüchtigte Diebin eine Dame der feinen Gesellschaft ist.

Als das Dinner beginnt, ergeht es der Detektivin plötzlich schlecht. Sie muss mit Schüttelfrost das Bett hüten. Sie wurde wohl vergiftet.
Nun musste Grandman selbst auf seine Freunde aufpassen, was ihm auch gelingt, zumindest bis zum späteren Abend. Als alle Gäste in ihren Zimmern sind, schleicht sich eine dunkle Gestalt durch die Gänge und bestiehlt die Schlafenden.
Grandman ist bestürzt, kann jedoch nichts machen.

Zu seinen Gästen zählte die Frau des Lord Claythorpe, deren teures Armband ebenfalls der 'Quadrat-Jane' zum Opfer gefallen ist. Er lässt eine Belohnung ausrufen, für die Wiederbringung des Schmuckes seiner Frau, die er schon bald auszahlen soll.
In einem Krankenhaus der Stadt stehen die Zeiten schlecht, sie benötigen dringend Geld um weiterhin geöffnet zu bleiben. Über ungewöhnliche Wege erhält der Leiter Dr. Parsons den Schmuck der reichen Gattin und soll sich so die Belohnung holen um das Krankhaus weiter betreiben zu können.
Lord Claythorpe jedoch ist ein Pfennigfuchser und sieht es überhaupt nicht ein die Belohnung zu zahlen. Er lässt lediglich 4.000 Pfund springen und das rächt sich, denn nachdem er das Armband nun wieder hat, bleibt es nicht lange in seinem Besitz. Die 'Quadrat-Jane' holt es sich wieder und lässt ihn wissen, dass er es nun nicht wieder erhalten würde.

Mr. Grandman, der ein guter Bekannter des Lords ist, macht sich derweil so seine Gedanken und bleibt damit nicht allein. Peter Dawes von Scotland Yard hat die Jagd nach der Diebin eröffnet, doch sie ist gerissen und hat Helfer. Wird es Peter Dawes gelingen sie zu fassen?

Meinung:
Durch Zufall bin ich auf dieses Buch gestoßen. Klar, jeder kennt Edgar Wallace und seine Geschichten, aber wie viele haben sie wirklich gelesen? Viele seiner Romane wurden verfilmt oder als Theaterstücke auf die Bühne gebracht. Besonders bekannt ist in diesem Zusammenhang Klaus Kinski, der in mehreren Filmen auftaucht.
Die Parodie 'Der Wixxer' basiert auf den Romanen des Autors Edgar Wallace und wurde von Oliver Kalkhofe geschrieben.

Als ich nun ein Buch in einer kleinen Buchhandlung um die Ecke bestellen wollte, fielen mit die dünnen roten Bücher ins Auge. Ich hatte lange keinen Krimi mehr gelesen und schon gar keinen solch klassischen. Also kaufte ich mir den ersten, den Goldmann in einer Jubiläumsausgabe in 82 Bänden drucken lies.
Die Geschichte ist relativ einfach gestrickt, es ist eine Art Robin Hood-Story, die aber viel Freude bereitet. So gewitzt wie Edgar Wallace die 'Quadrat-Jane' die Reichen ausrauben lässt, hat mich mehr als einmal breit grinsen lassen. Bei diesem Buch handelt es sich nicht um einen blutrünstigen Thriller, sondern eher um einen guten Krimi, der die Londoner Polizei nicht ganz so albern aussehen lässt wie es neuere Krimis oft tun.

Der Sprachstil ist natürlich altmodisch, hat aber gerade dadurch einen gewissen Charme.
Die 'Rote Krimi'-Ausgabe von Goldmann enthält nicht nur den Roman 'Four Square Jane / Die Abenteuerin' sondern noch drei weitere Kurzgeschichten: Der betrogene Betrüger, Die Privatsekretärin und Der Mann im blauen Anzug. Alle drei Kurzgeschichten haben mir sehr zugesagt. Sie waren kurzweilig und auch durch ihre Knappheit in sich stimmig und abgeschlossen.

Ich habe mir nun weitere Bücher der Reihe gekauft und werde mich nach und nach durch Edgar Wallaces Werke arbeiten.

[Julie Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A novella about a female criminal who seems to be targeting one particular wealthy man. She's anonymous until the end and seems more of a rogue than a villain so we wind up rooting for her. Very entertaining.

[Chandini · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like this collection of short stories. Though they were originally published in The Weekly News they fit together as a novella better than most collections of this sort. Four Square Jane is a different take on Wallace anti-hero; she's his best anti-heroine hands down. It's not even a typical love story though there is a marriage in it. Often the women in this era detective novel start out strong but end up falling in love with someone and being controlled by some man. Jane takes life on her own terms and doesn't let anyone push her around. If you enjoyed this novel I'd highly recommend moving on to Wallace's "The Brigand", another collection of stories revolving around an unusual man.

Characters
Four Square Jane - a feminine Robin Hood with her own band of helpers who rob from the rich and donate to poor hospitals. Always leaves a sticker which has four squares and a 'J' in the center so that the servants won't be suspected of the crime

Joe Lewinstein - a man from humble Hebraic origins who has risen to a great place in the financial world, if not society, by honest hard work. Gives a party to better his position in society and is robbed by Jane

Miriam Lewinstein - wife of above, very concerned about their house party attracting the attention of Jane

Caroline Smith - a young lady detective who is assigned to keep an eye on things during the Lewinstein's party

Lady Ovingham - a guest at the Lewinstein's party, "a thin woman with the prettiness that consists chiefly of huge appealing eyes and an almost alarming pallor of skin... an unusually able business woman" who invests her profits in diamonds

Setheridge - stranded motorist who asks for help at the Lewinstein's and a doctor who is asked to look at a sick person in the house

Jim/Jimmy - one of Jane's associates

Sir John Denham - eminent surgeon

Dr. Parsons - chairman of the Bloxley Road Hospital for Women which is in imminent danger of closing due to lack of funds

Lord Claythorpe - an overly shrewd, grasping businessman, owner of an armlet that Jane steals from his wife during the Lewinstein's party and a £50,000 necklace intended as a wedding present for his 'niece' who is engaged to his son, trustee to Joyce's fortune, "clever and unscrupulous man with a good address" who had come up to this position by his wits

Sergeant Felton - Scotland Yard detective watching Lord Claythorpe's house during a dinner party

Robinson - second detective watching Lord Claythorpe's house

Johnson - private detective hired by Lord Claythorpe to sit against the door to the room where Claythorpe's safes are

Chief Superintendent Peter Dawes - Scotland Yard detective put in charge of the Four Square Jane case, a determined,
"clean-shaven, youngish looking man, with grey hair at his temples, Peter took a philosophical view of crime and criminals, holding neither horror towards the former, nor malice towards the latter" with "a passion...for the crime which contained within itself a problem. Anything out of the ordinary"

John Tresser - owner of a famous valuable painting by Romney that he shows off in a public gallery, a "multi-millionaire a stout, red-haired man with a long clean-shaven upper lip, and a cold blue eye" who "made a great fortune, not by the straightest means" and advertises that he never gives away something for nothing

Thomas Smith - old gentleman who talks on and on about "his experience, his artistic training, and the excellence of his quality as an art critic" when he goes to see the Romney painting

Ellen Cole - little girl who goes to the gallery to see the painting and discovers it's not there

Mrs. Gordon Wilberforce - widowed mother of Joyce Wilberforce, "a large, yielding lady of handsome and aristocratic features and snow-white hair" who doesn't get along with our even understand her daughter

Joyce Wilberforce - stubborn daughter of above, unwillingly engaged to Francis Claythorpe but fond of Jamieson Steele, has "a certain sympathy" for Four Square Jane because of who she targets, was left a large inheritance by her uncle "a good-natured innocent kind of man, who had amassed a considerable fortune in South Africa" but Lord Claythorpe is the sole trustee

Jane Briglow - ex-maid of the Wilberforce's with a liking for sensational literature, suspected of being Four Square Jane

Francis Claythorpe - son and heir to Lord Claythorpe, engaged to Joyce, "tall and lank. A small weak face on an absurdly small head, round shoulders, long and awkward arms" but thinks he's a real ladies' man

Jamieson Steele - civil engineer who worked for one of the Claythorpe's companies, accused of forging Claythorpe's name to a check but ran away before he could be formally charged

Father Maggerley - priest who is to marry Francis and Joyce, a "tall aesthetic man, reputed to be very 'high church,' and suspected of leanings towards the papacy."

Sister Agatha - unknown nun who visits Father Maggerley

Jenkins - Father Maggerley's solemn and respectful butler

Chief Inspector Passmore - Scotland Yard detective, "a living encyclopaedia, not only upon the aristocratic underworld, but upon crooks who moved in the odour of respectability." with his own theories about Jane

Remington - Lord Claythorpe's servant who knows more than he's letting on

Carter - middle-aged driver of a mail van carrying the foreign mails to the General Post Office who is held up and robbed

Lola Lane - a dancer with whom Lord Claythorpe is so infatuated that he buys her a very expensive emerald necklace

[Gregory Moses · Rating 3 out of 5]

Edgar Wallace wrote “18 stage plays, 957 short stories and over 170 novels, 12 in 1929 alone,” per Wikipedia. This is in theory one of the 1929 novels, although it's really a string of previously published short stories (published 1919 and 1920) edited together into a novel—and with nine very short chapters, “novel” is pushing it, but I'm not here to pretend that his output wasn't remarkable.

To start with the obvious question, these stories were clearly published as a serial, with the intent that they'd be read in order—while the first three or so could be read as stand-alone stories (Chapter 3 appears in the Penguin Book of Gaslight Crime), later chapters would be incoherent without context.

Edgar Wallace is workmanlike in his prose and plots; you can sneer down your nose at popular fiction (although I certainly hope I don't!) but anyone who can find readers for over 170 novels is clearly doing something right. There are touches of humor and levels of character that are unnecessary from a plotting point of view, but make these stories stand out from some similar works I've read from this era (the awful Mrs. Wilburforce, who has to bleach her hair after a beauty treatment goes wrong, “explained that her hair had gone white in a night with the worry she had from [her daughter].”; or the female criminal, who "hate the idea of she-detectives, anyway — it’s so unwomanly.”), and although Edgar Wallace was not exactly writing fair-play mysteries, the detective in charge of investigating Four Square Jane is observant and competent in a way that's fun to read. The reader will come to understand who Jane is and what she's up to fairly quickly, but it's nice that Wallace lets them do that on their own—the average American pulp writer, if treating the same character, would end his story with the criminal resuming her real identity, to leave no doubt in the reader's mind, but Wallace trusts his reader more.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Edgar Wallace was known in his day for pumping out dozens of sensational stories, a bit like some of the Kindle authors today. This one, at least, is clever, if relatively short; the introduction suggests more mystery than is actually the case around who the Jane of the title is (if he didn't want us to guess, Wallace should probably have supplied more candidates), but that doesn't take away from the brilliance and daring of her heists.

Notable for its time in that the Jewish character is not stereotyped (apart from his occupation as a financier) or subtly or unsubtly put down; he is presented as an honest, good-natured man. Instead, it's the aristocrat who is no good, and who, therefore, bears the brunt of Four Square Jane's criminal activities. She's a Robin Hood kind of figure, who often donates proceeds from her crimes to hospitals and similar institutions.

A solid bit of fun.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Contrary to the description, which claims that "her true identity remains hidden until the end of the story," one figures out pretty quickly who Four-Square Jane really is. Nevertheless, this is a fun read, and the characters are great.

[Roberto Rho · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un giallo....semplice. Con una storia alla Robin Hood e tanto English style.