The Avenger
1926
The Head-Hunter is slicing through London, and the police are helpless. When Francis Elmer vanishes, only his severed head arrives in a box with a chilling typed note. His niece Adele Leamington works as an extra at the Knebworth Film Corporation, an unlikely background for a murder mystery until Captain Mike Brixan, battle-hardened intelligence officer, is dragged from a crucial assignment in Berlin to investigate. The case grows stranger: a film set where Leading Lady Stella Mendoza holds everyone hostage, a surprised Adele suddenly elevated to stardom, and a crucial typed script with blurred letters that make Captain Brixan turn pale. Sir Gregory Penne lurks in the shadows. The decapitations continue. What begins as a murder investigation becomes a descent into a world where nothing is as it seems, where film reels hide darker secrets, and where the Head-Hunter may be closer than Brixan imagines. Edgar Wallace, the master who once outsold every other author in the world, delivers vintage pulp thrills with relentless pacing and gleeful reversals.
