7 h 24 minAudiobook3 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
A letter marked with a red circle gives its victim a choice: pay or die.
In Edgar Wallace’s The Crimson Circle, a secret criminal body holds London victims in fear. Its letters demand money, and its leader remains unknown. Inspector Parr leads Scotland Yard’s effort to stop it, but frightened victims offer no help. Derrick Yale, a student of criminals, searches the Circle’s methods for a human weakness.
Secrets make the hunt harder. Thalia Drummond has a hidden side to her life, and her choices leave her loyalties uncertain. Felix Marl knows about a concealed criminal past and uses that knowledge for blackmail. With people hiding who they are and what they know, the puzzle turns on what each person chooses to conceal.
What you’ll discover
- A threat in red Follow the Circle’s letters, where a simple mark carries a deadly demand.
- An enemy without a name Join Inspector Parr’s search for a criminal leader whose identity remains hidden.
- The mind behind crime Watch Derrick Yale study criminal methods for the weakness that might expose them.
- Loyalties under suspicion Meet Thalia Drummond, whose concealed life makes her choices difficult to read.
- A pace that pulls Short chapters, changing scenes, and plot-driving dialogue keep the blackmail puzzle moving.
Who will love it
For readers who love quick-paced puzzles, old London settings and a villain nobody can name, with blackmail, hidden identities and police detection.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A red circle means pay or die
- Scotland Yard faces an unseen enemy
- Nobody in this story is quite who they seem
- How Wallace builds speed and suspense
Who’s who
- Inspector ParrA Scotland Yard officer who leads the police effort against the Circle and has to work without help from its frightened victims.
- Derrick YaleA student of crime and of criminals who studies the Circle's methods and looks for the human weakness behind them.
- Thalia DrummondA young woman with a hidden side to her life, whose choices make it hard to know where her loyalties lie.
- Felix MarlA man who knows about a hidden criminal past and tries to use that knowledge to blackmail others.
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- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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El círculo carmesí
by Edgar Wallace · 1922
A red circle on a letter means pay or die, and Scotland Yard must find the hidden leader behind the threats.
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From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 4
A red circle means pay or die
The Circle announces itself by letter. A victim receives a message marked with a red circle, with a demand for money and a warning of what follows if the demand is ignored. The targets are people with wealth and with reasons to fear exposure.
What makes the method strong is its simplicity. The Circle does not need to hide in the dark corners of the city, because it hides behind the silence of the people it frightens. A man who pays quietly is a man who tells no one.
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What is The Crimson Circle about?
It is a crime thriller about a secret group that blackmails wealthy people in London, marking its threatening letters with a red circle, while the police and a student of crime try to find its hidden leader.
Who wrote The Crimson Circle and when?
Edgar Wallace wrote it. It appeared in 1922, when he was one of the busiest and most widely read thriller writers in Britain.
What does the Crimson Circle mean in the book?
It is the name of the criminal organisation and its warning sign. A red circle on a letter tells the victim that a demand for money is serious and that refusing it brings danger.
The author
Edgar Wallace
1875–1932 · British crime writer
Edgar Wallace was a hugely prolific British writer of thrillers and crime fiction who later co-created the story for King Kong. The Adventures of Heine follows Heine, a German secret agent, through a series of comic misadventures in Britain during the First World War.
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