The Terrible People or The Gallows' Hand

A classic mystery novel and a cheeky sense of humour are often associated with the works of Conan Doyle, but Edgar Wallace's 'The Terrible People' is just as gripping and inventive as Sherlock Holmes. A gang of criminals return from the dead to haunt an heiress, as they seek to find redemption for crimes they didn't commit. It is a novel which never ages and has remnants of a Gothic horror, as the protagonist attempts to exert revenge on those who have wronged him - his executors. Edgar Wallace (1875-1932) was an English writer so prolific, that one of his publishers claimed that he was behind a quarter of all books sold in England. An author, journalist and poet, he wrote countless novels, short stories, screen plays, stage plays, historical non-fiction, etc. Today, more than 160 films have been made from his work. He died suddenly in Hollywood in 1932, during the initial drafting of his most famous work, "King Kong".