Bones in London

Wallace, Edgar, 1875-1932Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.0
Word count
359K words
Chapters
36

Tags

English Originals Mystery and Suspense Suspense ThrillerBritish MysteryAction and SuspenseBattle of WitsMystery SolvingUrban CrimeComplex HumanityCriminal PsychologyDetective FictionLondon Life

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Bones in London by Edgar WallaceAuthor: Wallace, Edgar, 1875-1932,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Dec 13, 2008

Editor's review

Edgar Wallace's Bones in London is a detective adventure novel set in London, part of the Project Gutenberg free eBook series. Wallace is known for tight plotting and mounting suspense; the book follows its protagonist through bizarre encounters in London, blending crime, pursuit, and reversals at a brisk, highly entertaining pace. As early twentieth-century popular fiction, it features vivid language and dialogue-driven narration, well suited to reading in installments on a commute or in spare moments. Readers can enjoy the genre pleasures of early British popular detective fiction and catch a glimpse of London's urban atmosphere and social texture at the time. Note that the work bears clear marks of its era, and some characterizations and modes of expression differ from contemporary reading habits; approach it as genre entertainment rather than demanding modern values of it. Overall, it is a light, easy English-language read for leisure.

Who it's for

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Reading tips

  1. Read chapter by chapter, pausing briefly after each to sort out characters and clue trajectories.
  2. For unfamiliar words, guess from context first and look them up after finishing the passage to keep the reading rhythm.
  3. Keep paper and pen handy to note characters and key events so plot turns don't cause confusion.
  4. If reading in English is hard, read the synopsis first to grasp the main thread, then work through the original chapter by chapter.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36

FAQ

How does this book's reading difficulty compare with the author's other works? Wallace's popular fiction is generally plain-spoken, dialogue-heavy, and fast-paced, and this book follows that style with uncomplicated sentences and few obscure words. For readers used to English-language novels, the difficulty is moderate, making it a good entry point to Wallace's work.
Is this a mystery or an adventure novel? It leans closer to the detective-adventure genre, driven by suspense, pursuit, and plot reversals rather than strict fair-play deduction. Readers shouldn't expect a fair contest with the detective; it works better as a brisk popular adventure story.
Are the London settings in the book real places? As popular fiction set in London, the book draws on the city's environment and everyday atmosphere of the time, but specific locations and plot details are largely literary treatments in service of the narrative. Treat it as an atmospheric portrait of the era, not a city guide.
How is the e-book reading experience, and are there formatting issues? This book comes from Project Gutenberg as a public-domain eBook, typically available in multiple formats; the body text is mainly plain text with no image dependency. Choose a format suited to your device, and adjust font size and page settings in your reader if you encounter line-break issues.

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About the author

Wallace, Edgar, 1875-1932 Author

Edgar Wallace (1875–1932) was a British writer known for tightly plotted, suspenseful popular fiction. The library holds 13 of his works, including The Angel of Terror, The Secret House, The Daffodil Mystery, Sanders of the River, Jack O' Judgment, The Clue of the Twisted Candle, The Keepers of the King's Peace, and Bones: Being Further Adventures in Mr. Commissioner Sanders' Country. His writing often blends crime, detective, and colonial-adventure elements, with brisk pacing and frequent twists that keep readers in suspense. Within the library's categories, some of his works are classed as inspirational and personal growth, though his narrative strength lies chiefly in mystery and adventure. He was widely influential in early twentieth-century English popular literature, and his works were widely circulated and adapted. Public information on the details of his life and nationality is limited, so no speculation is offered here.