Fellowship of the Frog

A quiet English village harbors a deadly secret in this propulsive 1920s thriller from the master of British pulp fiction. When young public prosecutor Dick Gordon arrives, he finds himself drawn into a dangerous game against a mysterious criminal organization called the Fellowship of the Frog, led by a diabolical figure known only as The Frog. Teaming with the tenacious Detective Elk, Gordon must infiltrate the society while navigating a romantic entanglement with a local woman whose family holds dark secrets. Wallace crafts a marvelously twisting plot where no one is quite who they seem, where the law enforcement officers are outmatched at every turn, and where the final revelation arrives like a thunderclap. The novel crackles with the particular energy of interwar British crime fiction: earnest heroes, theatrical villains, damsels in distress, and the grim business of justice conducted against impossible odds. It remains utterly addictive precisely because Wallace understood that readers wanted excitement, surprise, and the satisfaction of seeing cunning defeated.