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Mr. J.G. Reeder #1-3
The Casefiles of Mr. J.G. Reeder
Despite his insignificant appearance, Reeder is a cold and ruthless detective who credits his success to his 'criminal mind' which allows him to solve a series of complex and audacious crimes and outwit the most cunning of villainous masterminds.
Contains:
- Room 13
- Terror Keep
- a collection of short stories: The Mind of J. G. Reeder
Contains:
- Room 13
- Terror Keep
- a collection of short stories: The Mind of J. G. Reeder
448 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1927
About the author
Edgar Wallace
2,511 books268 followersRichard 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 13, 2015
'How the devil do you know that?' he blurted.
Mr. Reeder's smile was one of self-depreciation.
'One picks up odd scraps of information,' he said apologetically. 'I--I see wrong in everything. That is my curious perversion--I have a criminal mind!'
Mr. J.G. Reeder as a character is the epitome of the phrase “looks can be deceiving”. Created by Edgar Wallace - one of the most prolific thriller writers of the 20th century and the author who created the legendary character “King Kong” - John G. Reeder is an unpretentious, mild-mannered, rather old-fashioned investigator working for the Director of Public Prosecutions and who is attributed with an amazing insight into ways the in which criminal thought process happen. His specialty is financial crimes and forgeries and his ability to literally “think like a criminal”, allows him to be one-step ahead of his criminal adversaries and crack crimes with ease.
‘The Casefiles of Mr. J.G. Reeder’ compiles two novels featuring J.G. Reeder – ‘Room 13’ and ‘Terror Keep’ – and a collection of short stories, which was previously published as ‘The Mind of Mr. J. G. Reeder’.
The fictional investigator, Mr. J.G. Reeder was introduced in the novel ‘Room 13’, a tautly written crime novel with a decent dosage of mystery and romance. In this novel Wallace presents Reeder as a master of financial investigation who with his computer like brain and mysterious nature send shivers through the criminal underworld in which he is simply known as ‘the man who knows everything’. In ‘Room 13’ the plot revolves around an investigation into a major counterfeiting operation – in this novel Reeder is working as an investigative consultant to a major bank. There is intrigue, romance, revenge, and grim descriptions of the criminal underbelly and prisons in this novel as Reeder try to bust the ring of counterfeiters controlled by someone known only as ‘Big Printer’. This novel was adapted into a movie ‘Mr. Reeder in Room 13’ in 1941. In the subsequent Reeder stories Wallace presents the investigator as an employee of the Director of Public Prosecutions, which allows the author for making the character dealing with a range of crimes.
In ‘Terror Keep’ we see a more evolved character of Reeder and the storyline is also more exciting and engaging like a thriller than the previous novel. ‘Terror Keep’ pits Reeder against the most dangerous of his adversaries, John Flack, an inmate of ‘Broadmoor Criminal Asylum’ for a string of murders. He was put behind the bars by Reeder and in the opening of the novel we see Crazy John Flack escaping from the prison to seek revenge upon Reeder. When Reeder knows about Flack’s escape he was concerned for the safety of his friend Miss Margaret Belman, as she was the closest Reeder had as an immediate connection, he sends her to ‘Larmes Keep’, a very private boarding house for safety. Reeders attempts at tracking down Flack finally leads back to ‘Larmes Keep’ and has moments of exhilarating thrills and pursuits which all boil down to a pretty decent climax. This novel was the last work featuring J.G. Reeder and the ending of the story fits this decision by Wallace very well.
‘The Mind of J. G. Reeder’, is a collection of eight short stories featuring this fictional investigator and was the second work in the Reeder series. Within these stories Wallace elevates the character, who made his initial appearance in the ‘Room 13’ as an investigator of financial crimes, into a full fledged criminal investigator by broadening the scope of crimes that he encounter. Readers will find these short stories pretty intriguing and fast paced as they witness Reeder bringing murderers, tricksters and fraudsters to justice, while unsettling their plots of bizarre crimes.
When J.G. Reeder is on the watch, criminal entities are guaranteed to fail, as even the most bizarre crime can’t stand against his powers of deduction. And this guaranteed success could also be seen as a negative factor as for a certain extent they make the plots, which are engaging and complex, a bit predictable. These tales, which share some similarities with the detective crime fiction from Doyle or Chesterton, can intrigue readers who love vintage crime mysteries, but many of the fans of modern detective fiction may find these tales a bit old fashioned.
Actual Rating: 3.5/ 5. Review added: 12-Oct-2015
Mr. Reeder's smile was one of self-depreciation.
'One picks up odd scraps of information,' he said apologetically. 'I--I see wrong in everything. That is my curious perversion--I have a criminal mind!'
Mr. J.G. Reeder as a character is the epitome of the phrase “looks can be deceiving”. Created by Edgar Wallace - one of the most prolific thriller writers of the 20th century and the author who created the legendary character “King Kong” - John G. Reeder is an unpretentious, mild-mannered, rather old-fashioned investigator working for the Director of Public Prosecutions and who is attributed with an amazing insight into ways the in which criminal thought process happen. His specialty is financial crimes and forgeries and his ability to literally “think like a criminal”, allows him to be one-step ahead of his criminal adversaries and crack crimes with ease.
‘The Casefiles of Mr. J.G. Reeder’ compiles two novels featuring J.G. Reeder – ‘Room 13’ and ‘Terror Keep’ – and a collection of short stories, which was previously published as ‘The Mind of Mr. J. G. Reeder’.
The fictional investigator, Mr. J.G. Reeder was introduced in the novel ‘Room 13’, a tautly written crime novel with a decent dosage of mystery and romance. In this novel Wallace presents Reeder as a master of financial investigation who with his computer like brain and mysterious nature send shivers through the criminal underworld in which he is simply known as ‘the man who knows everything’. In ‘Room 13’ the plot revolves around an investigation into a major counterfeiting operation – in this novel Reeder is working as an investigative consultant to a major bank. There is intrigue, romance, revenge, and grim descriptions of the criminal underbelly and prisons in this novel as Reeder try to bust the ring of counterfeiters controlled by someone known only as ‘Big Printer’. This novel was adapted into a movie ‘Mr. Reeder in Room 13’ in 1941. In the subsequent Reeder stories Wallace presents the investigator as an employee of the Director of Public Prosecutions, which allows the author for making the character dealing with a range of crimes.
In ‘Terror Keep’ we see a more evolved character of Reeder and the storyline is also more exciting and engaging like a thriller than the previous novel. ‘Terror Keep’ pits Reeder against the most dangerous of his adversaries, John Flack, an inmate of ‘Broadmoor Criminal Asylum’ for a string of murders. He was put behind the bars by Reeder and in the opening of the novel we see Crazy John Flack escaping from the prison to seek revenge upon Reeder. When Reeder knows about Flack’s escape he was concerned for the safety of his friend Miss Margaret Belman, as she was the closest Reeder had as an immediate connection, he sends her to ‘Larmes Keep’, a very private boarding house for safety. Reeders attempts at tracking down Flack finally leads back to ‘Larmes Keep’ and has moments of exhilarating thrills and pursuits which all boil down to a pretty decent climax. This novel was the last work featuring J.G. Reeder and the ending of the story fits this decision by Wallace very well.
‘The Mind of J. G. Reeder’, is a collection of eight short stories featuring this fictional investigator and was the second work in the Reeder series. Within these stories Wallace elevates the character, who made his initial appearance in the ‘Room 13’ as an investigator of financial crimes, into a full fledged criminal investigator by broadening the scope of crimes that he encounter. Readers will find these short stories pretty intriguing and fast paced as they witness Reeder bringing murderers, tricksters and fraudsters to justice, while unsettling their plots of bizarre crimes.
When J.G. Reeder is on the watch, criminal entities are guaranteed to fail, as even the most bizarre crime can’t stand against his powers of deduction. And this guaranteed success could also be seen as a negative factor as for a certain extent they make the plots, which are engaging and complex, a bit predictable. These tales, which share some similarities with the detective crime fiction from Doyle or Chesterton, can intrigue readers who love vintage crime mysteries, but many of the fans of modern detective fiction may find these tales a bit old fashioned.
Actual Rating: 3.5/ 5. Review added: 12-Oct-2015
September 23, 2015
Odd
In the first book of the series, Mr Reeder is very much in the background. Then the book ends with the revelation that the strange quiet detective in the background isn't actually the famous Mr Reeder, our action hero is instead. Edgar Wallace obviously decided that there was mileage in a non-detective looking detective who was shadowy and brilliant and so our background figure comes to the fore in the second book and IS Mr Reeder. This second book is a collection of stories. The only problem is that Mr Reeder makes Sherlock Holmes seem a bit slow on the uptake. He makes stunning deductions but they are never explained, except "I have a criminal mind". There is no tension as he will always suddenly pop up at exactly the right moment. The final book is one complete story and is the best of the three but again there is that infallible air around Mr Reeder. There appears to be a lot of luck and coincidence and there is again no explanation of how Mr Reeder knows the intimate movements of every criminal in the country over the past 48 hours.
Sort of fun and if I come across book 2 I will give it a go, but I won't search it out particularly.
In the first book of the series, Mr Reeder is very much in the background. Then the book ends with the revelation that the strange quiet detective in the background isn't actually the famous Mr Reeder, our action hero is instead. Edgar Wallace obviously decided that there was mileage in a non-detective looking detective who was shadowy and brilliant and so our background figure comes to the fore in the second book and IS Mr Reeder. This second book is a collection of stories. The only problem is that Mr Reeder makes Sherlock Holmes seem a bit slow on the uptake. He makes stunning deductions but they are never explained, except "I have a criminal mind". There is no tension as he will always suddenly pop up at exactly the right moment. The final book is one complete story and is the best of the three but again there is that infallible air around Mr Reeder. There appears to be a lot of luck and coincidence and there is again no explanation of how Mr Reeder knows the intimate movements of every criminal in the country over the past 48 hours.
Sort of fun and if I come across book 2 I will give it a go, but I won't search it out particularly.
May 1, 2026
fun romp!
September 1, 2016
The first three volumes of the Reeder series, this is a fabulous mixture of short stories and novels that are a wonderful introduction to Mr. J. G. Reeder. Self-described as having a "criminal mind," Reeder works, in some unknown capacity, for the district attorney. Also described as an older man, we find out Reeder is actually in his late forties. Yes, this is considerably older than his eventual love interest, it's not all that old any more.
The solutions to some of the stories are sometimes out of left field but it's a great collection and definitely worth reading.
The solutions to some of the stories are sometimes out of left field but it's a great collection and definitely worth reading.
February 20, 2021
Masterly storytelling.
It's very apparent when you read this collection that, like Holmes, the Mr J.G. Reeder of the short stories is a different and more interesting character than the one in the novels and novellas. Which is not to say that all the stories are anything but well-paced and well-told with Edgar Wallace's dry wit.
Anyone needing a thumbnail sketch of Edgar Wallace's writing style could do worse than read the prologue to "Terror Keep."
It's very apparent when you read this collection that, like Holmes, the Mr J.G. Reeder of the short stories is a different and more interesting character than the one in the novels and novellas. Which is not to say that all the stories are anything but well-paced and well-told with Edgar Wallace's dry wit.
Anyone needing a thumbnail sketch of Edgar Wallace's writing style could do worse than read the prologue to "Terror Keep."
December 27, 2013
A curiosity more than anything. A pre-war rather Edwardian take on sleuthing.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews