13 h 42 minAudiobook15 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 13 h 42 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if a respectable face hides the very secret you are trying to uncover?
The Yellow Face by Fred M. White offers the pleasures of a short Edwardian mystery: a puzzle, a hint of danger, and a secret behind a closed door. Its subtitle, A Chilling Tale of Secrets, Scandal, and Disguise, sets the mood. The title suggests a mask, a hidden identity, and a question someone would rather leave unanswered.
White writes popular fiction for the magazine readers of his age. His tale belongs to a mystery tradition that finds unease among respectable houses, families, and neighbours, where rules of good behaviour can make secrets harder to face. Read each scene closely: a small fact may matter later, and appearances invite suspicion.
What you’ll discover
- A puzzle to follow Enjoy the quiet challenge of looking for clues and guessing ahead of the page.
- The pull of disguise Explore the uncertainty a mask or hidden identity brings to a mystery.
- Secrets beneath appearances Let the contrast between respectability and secrecy sharpen your curiosity about what lies hidden.
- Small details worth watching Read closely for the little facts that make a short mystery worth your attention.
- A hint of danger Settle into a tale whose appeal rests on suspense, concealment, and unanswered questions.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy Victorian and Edwardian detective fiction, amateur sleuths in disguise, secret societies, masked balls and clever alibis, and who like a plot that keeps opening new doors on every page.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A poster that looks like the guardian
- Music from a room with nobody in it
- The dead man is Nostalgo
- A journalist takes the case
- A printing room and a locked door
- Lady Barmouth and her hidden husband
- The violinist who plays in two places
- A scarf, a burglary and a banker in trouble
- Faces, doubles and the power of fear
- How the story is told
Who’s who
- Jack MasefieldA young barrister and magazine writer, engaged in secret to Claire, who distrusts her guardian and follows every strange clue he finds.
- Claire HelmsleyA rich, brave young woman who lives with her guardian and learns to hide her fear in order to help the man she loves.
- Spencer AnstrutherA handsome criminologist, gifted talker and violinist, trusted by the police and by society, who keeps a hold over many people.
- Richard RigbyJack's old friend, a barrister turned newspaper man and amateur detective, who loves disguise and wants a scoop for the Planet.
- Inspector BatesA careful, humane officer at Shannon Street police station, who is baffled by the vanishing body and learns to trust amateurs.
- SerenaAnstruther's silent, watchful housekeeper, who looks tamed but has fire in her, and who is bound to him by fear.
- Lady BarmouthA gracious society hostess who secretly helps Jack and Rigby because she must protect a husband nobody is allowed to see.
- SeymourA scarred, courteous and daring man with the face of the poster, who wants revenge on Anstruther and has his own plans.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet, computer or Kindle, with the type as large as you like.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 13 h 42 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 15 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Read and hear El rostro amarillo in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
El rostro amarillo
A yellow face stares from every London hoarding, and Jack Masefield finds its living double dead on a pavement.
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In short
The Yellow Face is a London mystery by Fred M. White, a writer of popular crime and adventure serials who died in 1935.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A poster that looks like the guardian
The story opens in the drawing room of Spencer Anstruther in Panton Square. Claire Helmsley, young, rich and kind, stands by the fire with Jack Masefield, a barrister with more daring than briefs. They have been secretly engaged for months, because Jack insists on it. He cannot say why, but he distrusts her guardian.
From the window they can see a poster on a scaffolded house across the road. It shows a yellow face with bulging eyes and a malicious half smile, and the single word Nostalgo. London has talked of nothing else for two months. Nobody knows the artist, the meaning, or the product.
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What is The Yellow Face about?
It follows a young barrister, Jack Masefield, as a mysterious poster of a yellow face leads him from a murder on a London pavement to empty rooms with music, a hidden printing room, a ruined banker, and the guardian of the woman he loves.
Who is Nostalgo in The Yellow Face?
Nostalgo is the name on a poster that appears all over London. It shows a yellow face with bulging eyes, and soon Jack meets living men who share that very face. The book gradually explains where the face comes from and who is behind the posters.
Is The Yellow Face a true story?
No, it is a work of fiction by Fred M. White, written in the early twentieth century as a mystery and adventure story. Its London places, such as Piccadilly, Belgrave Square and Scotland Yard, are real, but the events are invented.
The author
Fred M. White
1859–1935 · British novelist
Fred M. White was a British writer born in West Bromwich, England, in 1859. He died in 1935. He wrote novels and short stories in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, including crime and mystery fiction. His novels include The Yellow Face and The Mystery of the Ravenspurs.
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