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L'orma gigante
Oberinspektor Minter von Scotland Yard steht vor einem rätselhaften Fall. Die Haushälterin des Anwalts Gordon Cardew, Hanna Shaw, wird ermordet aufgefunden – in einem Raum, der von innen verschlossen war. Kurz zuvor hat Miss Leigh, die ihre Leiche fand, ein Telegramm von der Ermordeten erhalten: »Bitte helfen Sie mir. Kommen Sie sofort. Es geht um mein Leben.«
Spannende Unterhaltung vom Großmeister der Kriminalliteratur.
Spannende Unterhaltung vom Großmeister der Kriminalliteratur.
96 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1927
6 people are currently reading
86 people want to read
About the author
Edgar Wallace
2,161 books262 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 - 15 of 15 reviews
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February 27, 2021Apparently I am back on my 20s pulp bullshit. This one is terrible so I am going to read another one by the same author because of course I am.
July 13, 2017
Nisam ga ocenio sa jedinicom, samo stoga što sam čitao čak i gore romane od ovoga. Naivan zaplet, budalaština od raspleta, često veoma dosadan. Povremeni pokušaji nekakvog jeftinog humora. Gomila likova koji meni kao čitaocu ne znače baš ništa.
November 15, 2014
I'm always surprised that Wallace didn't really go much for series of books, a character as good as "The Sooper" could have easily carried a score of books, but other than this and a few short stories that's it for Superintendent Minter. A highly unlikely plot, Wallace had me fooled, I didn't even realise it was a whodunit...
June 18, 2020
Good despite it reading as though EW abandoned the plot midway and decided to go someplace else with it. The whole 'big foot' thing has little if any bearing on the tale. Still it speaks to EW's skill that he was able to make a respectable effort of it.
August 9, 2013
Wallace is at his best when he allows his sense of humor to peek through. Crazy silly plot. Wry humor on the part of "Sooper," the aged detective.
September 29, 2019
I Read this in the High Adventure #166 magazine reprint.
Most of the action takes place in rural London, near the Sussex border. It’s still within the purview of Scotland Yard, but quiet enough that Superintendent Patrick “Sooper” J. Minter can run things pretty much his own way. He can tend to his garden, tinker with his souped-up motorcycle, and poke his nose into the neighborhood’s business on his own schedule. Most of the time his caseload is dealing with tramps and burglars; but that isn’t to say that murder doesn’t happen.
Gordon Cardew, wealthy and mostly retired solicitor, takes younger lawyer Jim Ferraby into his confidence. He’s come into evidence that his surly housekeeper Hannah Shaw is being threatened by a mysterious figure that signs notes as “Big Foot.” Jim, who has a thing for Cardew’s lovely young secretary Elfa Leigh, agrees to do a little quiet investigating. Jim’s snooping intersects with Sooper’s, and they share information.
Alas, they are unable to prevent Hannah’s murder in a lonely seaside cabin, near which are mysterious footprints of someone with very large pedal appendages. The murder seems impossible, as there was no way into the cabin the witnesses could not see from the outside, only Hannah had gone inside, and only Hannah had come out!
Despite the suggestive name, and one of the suspects having come from America, no reference is made to cryptozoology. But there are reports of a singing tramp, who keeps popping up in odd places, always repeating a Spanish melody. Could he be Big Foot?
It’s a twisty case, with several red herrings, one of which completely took me in. The then-standard detective story format of older, eccentric detective who does all the thinking and the younger fellow who’s mostly there as the romantic interest but useful for things the detective can’t do works well.
On the other hand, it’s not quite a fair play mystery as Sooper does some evidence gathering offstage. Modern mystery fans may also find some of the coincidences a bit too neat and the story musty with the conventions of its time.
Overall, it’s a good, solid detective novel for its age, and well worth a look as it’s been reprinted multiple times under the title Big Foot. Or you can support Adventure House by buying the magazine.
Most of the action takes place in rural London, near the Sussex border. It’s still within the purview of Scotland Yard, but quiet enough that Superintendent Patrick “Sooper” J. Minter can run things pretty much his own way. He can tend to his garden, tinker with his souped-up motorcycle, and poke his nose into the neighborhood’s business on his own schedule. Most of the time his caseload is dealing with tramps and burglars; but that isn’t to say that murder doesn’t happen.
Gordon Cardew, wealthy and mostly retired solicitor, takes younger lawyer Jim Ferraby into his confidence. He’s come into evidence that his surly housekeeper Hannah Shaw is being threatened by a mysterious figure that signs notes as “Big Foot.” Jim, who has a thing for Cardew’s lovely young secretary Elfa Leigh, agrees to do a little quiet investigating. Jim’s snooping intersects with Sooper’s, and they share information.
Alas, they are unable to prevent Hannah’s murder in a lonely seaside cabin, near which are mysterious footprints of someone with very large pedal appendages. The murder seems impossible, as there was no way into the cabin the witnesses could not see from the outside, only Hannah had gone inside, and only Hannah had come out!
Despite the suggestive name, and one of the suspects having come from America, no reference is made to cryptozoology. But there are reports of a singing tramp, who keeps popping up in odd places, always repeating a Spanish melody. Could he be Big Foot?
It’s a twisty case, with several red herrings, one of which completely took me in. The then-standard detective story format of older, eccentric detective who does all the thinking and the younger fellow who’s mostly there as the romantic interest but useful for things the detective can’t do works well.
On the other hand, it’s not quite a fair play mystery as Sooper does some evidence gathering offstage. Modern mystery fans may also find some of the coincidences a bit too neat and the story musty with the conventions of its time.
Overall, it’s a good, solid detective novel for its age, and well worth a look as it’s been reprinted multiple times under the title Big Foot. Or you can support Adventure House by buying the magazine.
March 22, 2023
I could see the influence this novel had on the crime genre in the last hundred years. It has an almost post-modern detective, making fun of the "methods" of detection which were common to the genre by the 1920s (when the book was written). And asking questions in a Columbo-like manner 40 years before that series started.
Some of the comedy falls flat but the broad characters made this book seem much more modern than many of it's contemporaries. It certainly isn't the comfortable sitting room murders of Christie or Marsh, but a slightly grubbier and funnier crime story.
Some of the comedy falls flat but the broad characters made this book seem much more modern than many of it's contemporaries. It certainly isn't the comfortable sitting room murders of Christie or Marsh, but a slightly grubbier and funnier crime story.
November 7, 2016
Nulla. L'ho finito ma é troppo caotico. Qualche buono spunto c'é, ma é poca roba.
March 29, 2023
É uma romance policial de suspense, e dos bons.
Eu gostei, foi uma leitura bastante fluida e a agradável, não foi chata ou coisa do gênero.
Acredito que uma das marcas do autor é a descrição de fatos, emoções, pessoas e tudo mais, gostei bastante desta característica.
(A obra possibilitou-me enxergar uma cultura de dezenas de anos atrás-gosto quando uma obra trás este aspecto)
Eu gostei, foi uma leitura bastante fluida e a agradável, não foi chata ou coisa do gênero.
Acredito que uma das marcas do autor é a descrição de fatos, emoções, pessoas e tudo mais, gostei bastante desta característica.
(A obra possibilitou-me enxergar uma cultura de dezenas de anos atrás-gosto quando uma obra trás este aspecto)
February 6, 2025
2.5/5
Com humor irônico e referência zombeteira ao próprio gênero, o livro constrói uma trama policial confusa e vazia, liderada pelo excêntrico oficial Minter "Sooper". Criticado por um dos personagens por "falar de maneira tão estranha", entre outras esquisitices que eu atribuí à época.
Com humor irônico e referência zombeteira ao próprio gênero, o livro constrói uma trama policial confusa e vazia, liderada pelo excêntrico oficial Minter "Sooper". Criticado por um dos personagens por "falar de maneira tão estranha", entre outras esquisitices que eu atribuí à época.
October 28, 2020
Io amo molto Wallace, ma questa volta mi ha un pochino deluso; mentre lo svolgimento dei fatti è attraente e coinvolgete, francamente il finale è un po' troppo affrettato e quasi prevedibile
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 17, 2021
Muddled text
The plot is typical Edgar wallace, but the text is all jumbled and incorrect, making it difficult often difficult to understand. It needs resetting.
The plot is typical Edgar wallace, but the text is all jumbled and incorrect, making it difficult often difficult to understand. It needs resetting.
January 30, 2023
4.5
Hace rato que no me sorprendía tanto quién era el culpable. Hasta cuando dan una característica del asesino, pensé en dos personajes menos en el correcto. Me gusto mucho
Hace rato que no me sorprendía tanto quién era el culpable. Hasta cuando dan una característica del asesino, pensé en dos personajes menos en el correcto. Me gusto mucho
February 18, 2017
Tl;wr (Too Long Won't Read)
This is one of Edgar Wallace's best efforts. Superintendent Minter, 'Sooper' is a eccentric but intelligent officer who takes over the case of a woman shot to death in her employers lonely seaside cottage. There are many side mysteries and a little romance.
Full Review & Synopsis
Superintendent Patrick J. Minter, better known as 'Sooper', is a delight. His eccentricities are what really make this book though it is also a very good mystery. A woman, Hannah Shaw is shot to death in a lonely sea cottage owned by her employer Mr. Cardew. Sooper takes control of the case with Mr Ferraby and Sergeant Lattimer to assist him. This may sound like a simple "whodunnit", however, there were a number of crimes directed at various people which confused the issue nicely until you see the pattern of it. There is the typical amount of love and romance between Mr. Ferraby and Miss Leigh of course. No surprises there. What was quite the surprise to me was the identity of the murderer. Usually Wallace's books are fun but not challenging. While it takes a lot for me to call pulp detective fiction challenging (e.g. Dorothy Leigh Sayers' book Busman's Honeymoon) I can certainly say Big Foot had me guessing who the criminal was right until the end.
There are so many questions to answer in this novel! It's a truly impressive array and I don't think Wallace let's a single one just drop off unexplained. Why won't the singing tramp let Sullivan break in to Elson's house? Who is the singing tramp and why does he want justice? Who sent the threatening note to Hannah Shaw signed 'Big Foot'? Why did Miss Shaw put the initial 'B' on the lawn under Cardew's window? Who shot Miss Shaw and how did he get away unseen? What is Elson burning? How can Lattimer afford to entertain friends at the Ritz (expensive hotel)? Why is Elson so terrified that he's drinking himself into illness? Who has been leaving gifts of produce and flowers on the doorstep of the house Elfa Leigh used to live in but now rents out? Who tries to shoot Sooper? Who tries to chloroform Cardew? Who sends poisoned pies to a nursing home for a specific patient to eat? Who attacks Miss Leigh?
Character Descriptions
Superintendent Patrick J. 'Sooper' Minter is the star of this novel. He describes himself as "temp’ramental." He has no tact or respect for superior officers, or for well read citizens like Mr. Cardew (unless they agree with him!) He enjoys baiting Hannah Shaw, when he can't get to Mr. Cardew himself, with his lack of class because she hates him and doesn't try to conceal it. Sooper can't stand those who "sit around in a comfortable armchair an’ play a fiddle an’ th’rize," but he has a love for poetry, his chickens (Buff Orpingtons) and his motorcycle, Firefly, which produces "sounds suggestive of a trench raid" when he rides by and gets painted different startling colors every spring. Though he doesn't seem to have much education or class he is a highly intelligent officer who can solve most crimes.
Mr. Gordon Cardew is a retired lawyer and amateur detective with a passion for anthropology and psychology as it relates to crime, who lives on the peaceful outskirts of London with his tough, stern housekeeper, Hannah Shaw. She is a slightly short, rather plump, not unattractive forty something woman with dark hair and eyes that light up malignantly when Sooper comes into view. Cardew and Miss Shaw have had run ins with Sooper enough for one to feel resentment and the other to just feel undisguised contempt. Cardew also has a secretary, Miss Elfa Leigh, the orphaned daughter of an American liaison officer between the British and American Treasuries, Mr. John Kenneth Leigh, who was killed during the war (World War I.) Mr. Jim Ferraby, a friend of Sooper's is a young lawyer in the Public Prosecutor's Office who has chambers across from Mr. Cardew and his lovely secretary. Mr. Stephen Elson, a somewhat uncouth but rich American, is neighbor to both Sooper and Cardew. Sergeant John Lattimer is Sooper's right hand man, even if he does come from a good merchant class family with the good education to match. Lattimer is a bit of a mystery with his cool way of dealing with his commanding officer, his spending habits, and somehow always being in the vicinity of the action no matter where he's supposed to be. There's also a tramp named Sullivan who starts off the first mystery when he Trey's to get another tramp who sings to himself and is not all there to help him break into Mr. Elson's house but the other tramp won't do it and keeps Sullivan from going in because he says "'Your hands are not clean enough to be the... sump’n about ‘Justice’" to Sullivan. The singing tramp shows up in Mr. Cardew's garden during a dinner party and again on the cliffs near the crime scene where Hannah Shaw's been shot.
This is one of Edgar Wallace's best efforts. Superintendent Minter, 'Sooper' is a eccentric but intelligent officer who takes over the case of a woman shot to death in her employers lonely seaside cottage. There are many side mysteries and a little romance.
Full Review & Synopsis
Superintendent Patrick J. Minter, better known as 'Sooper', is a delight. His eccentricities are what really make this book though it is also a very good mystery. A woman, Hannah Shaw is shot to death in a lonely sea cottage owned by her employer Mr. Cardew. Sooper takes control of the case with Mr Ferraby and Sergeant Lattimer to assist him. This may sound like a simple "whodunnit", however, there were a number of crimes directed at various people which confused the issue nicely until you see the pattern of it. There is the typical amount of love and romance between Mr. Ferraby and Miss Leigh of course. No surprises there. What was quite the surprise to me was the identity of the murderer. Usually Wallace's books are fun but not challenging. While it takes a lot for me to call pulp detective fiction challenging (e.g. Dorothy Leigh Sayers' book Busman's Honeymoon) I can certainly say Big Foot had me guessing who the criminal was right until the end.
There are so many questions to answer in this novel! It's a truly impressive array and I don't think Wallace let's a single one just drop off unexplained. Why won't the singing tramp let Sullivan break in to Elson's house? Who is the singing tramp and why does he want justice? Who sent the threatening note to Hannah Shaw signed 'Big Foot'? Why did Miss Shaw put the initial 'B' on the lawn under Cardew's window? Who shot Miss Shaw and how did he get away unseen? What is Elson burning? How can Lattimer afford to entertain friends at the Ritz (expensive hotel)? Why is Elson so terrified that he's drinking himself into illness? Who has been leaving gifts of produce and flowers on the doorstep of the house Elfa Leigh used to live in but now rents out? Who tries to shoot Sooper? Who tries to chloroform Cardew? Who sends poisoned pies to a nursing home for a specific patient to eat? Who attacks Miss Leigh?
Character Descriptions
Superintendent Patrick J. 'Sooper' Minter is the star of this novel. He describes himself as "temp’ramental." He has no tact or respect for superior officers, or for well read citizens like Mr. Cardew (unless they agree with him!) He enjoys baiting Hannah Shaw, when he can't get to Mr. Cardew himself, with his lack of class because she hates him and doesn't try to conceal it. Sooper can't stand those who "sit around in a comfortable armchair an’ play a fiddle an’ th’rize," but he has a love for poetry, his chickens (Buff Orpingtons) and his motorcycle, Firefly, which produces "sounds suggestive of a trench raid" when he rides by and gets painted different startling colors every spring. Though he doesn't seem to have much education or class he is a highly intelligent officer who can solve most crimes.
Mr. Gordon Cardew is a retired lawyer and amateur detective with a passion for anthropology and psychology as it relates to crime, who lives on the peaceful outskirts of London with his tough, stern housekeeper, Hannah Shaw. She is a slightly short, rather plump, not unattractive forty something woman with dark hair and eyes that light up malignantly when Sooper comes into view. Cardew and Miss Shaw have had run ins with Sooper enough for one to feel resentment and the other to just feel undisguised contempt. Cardew also has a secretary, Miss Elfa Leigh, the orphaned daughter of an American liaison officer between the British and American Treasuries, Mr. John Kenneth Leigh, who was killed during the war (World War I.) Mr. Jim Ferraby, a friend of Sooper's is a young lawyer in the Public Prosecutor's Office who has chambers across from Mr. Cardew and his lovely secretary. Mr. Stephen Elson, a somewhat uncouth but rich American, is neighbor to both Sooper and Cardew. Sergeant John Lattimer is Sooper's right hand man, even if he does come from a good merchant class family with the good education to match. Lattimer is a bit of a mystery with his cool way of dealing with his commanding officer, his spending habits, and somehow always being in the vicinity of the action no matter where he's supposed to be. There's also a tramp named Sullivan who starts off the first mystery when he Trey's to get another tramp who sings to himself and is not all there to help him break into Mr. Elson's house but the other tramp won't do it and keeps Sullivan from going in because he says "'Your hands are not clean enough to be the... sump’n about ‘Justice’" to Sullivan. The singing tramp shows up in Mr. Cardew's garden during a dinner party and again on the cliffs near the crime scene where Hannah Shaw's been shot.
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