9 h 43 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 9 h 43 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What lies behind a quiet London address when poison, hidden identities and political secrets reach across Europe?
In The Stretton Street Affair, William Le Queux builds a mystery around a single address. A puzzle begins in a quiet London street, where a respectable setting offers no promise of safety. Poison and concealed identities draw you beneath the polished surface, turning an ordinary place into the starting point of a wider intrigue.
The plot reaches across Europe, carrying the mystery beyond one house and into political scheming. Le Queux favours short scenes, sudden turns and chapters that leave a question hanging. The pull comes from secrets and uncertainty: what hides behind an identity, and how far does the conspiracy reach?
What you’ll discover
- One address, many questions Discover how a quiet London setting becomes the centre of an unsettling mystery.
- Poison beneath the surface Follow a puzzle in which poison brings danger into a world of respectable appearances.
- Identities kept in shadow Let concealed identities sharpen your curiosity about the people caught within the plot.
- Intrigue across Europe Trace secrets beyond a single house as political scheming widens the scope of the mystery.
- The next unanswered question Enjoy short scenes and sudden turns that keep inviting you into the next chapter.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy a plot driven mystery with secret meetings, shadowing in foreign cities, daring criminals, rich schemers and a hero who must prove an astonishing story that nobody would believe.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A friendly stranger and a lost fortune
- A footman's plea and a strange scent
- A death certificate for five thousand pounds
- A month lost and a hospital by the sea
- A flat denial in Florence and a face in the cathedral
- Secrets in the garden and a warning for Mrs. Cullerton
- A girl who fears him and a banker who is no banker
- Poisoned pins, a bandit and a chase to Nîmes
- What the story is really about
- How the story is told
Who’s who
- Hugh GarfieldA young electrical engineer and war pilot who signs a false death certificate and then sets out to learn what he really took part in.
- Oswald De GexA famous millionaire financier with a villa near Florence and a house in Stretton Street, admired everywhere and hiding a dangerous secret.
- Gabrielle TennisonA beautiful young singer whose memory is lost and who can only cry out three colors, and who becomes the center of Hugh's search.
- Harry HambledonHugh's flatmate and a quick-witted solicitor who follows suspects across Europe and helps him keep watch.
- Doctor MoroniA popular Florence physician with a hard stare, who treats the girl in black and has strong ties to De Gex.
- Gaston SuzorA smooth Frenchman who poses as a banker and seems to meet Hugh by chance, always one step ahead of him.
- Señor RiveroThe head of the Spanish detective service, shrewd and tireless, who is eager to arrest a famous bandit.
- Dorothy CullertonA young stockbroker's wife who is helped by De Gex and keeps a secret she will not share.
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
- 9 h 43 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 14 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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Il caso di Stretton Street
by William Le Queux · 1922
A young engineer takes five thousand pounds to sign a death certificate, then wakes in France with no memory.
Medium level5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
The Stretton Street Affair is a mystery novel by William Le Queux, told in the first person by a young electrical engineer named Hugh Garfield. It was written in the years just after the First World War, when London was full of talk about foreign money, drugs and fast living.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A friendly stranger and a lost fortune
Hugh Garfield is twenty-nine, a war pilot with a Military Cross, now working for the old firm of Francis and Goldsmith in Westminster. He shares a flat at Rivermead Mansions, beside Hammersmith Bridge, with his friend Harry Hambledon, a young solicitor. Harry is in love with a girl named Norah Peyton. Hugh is unattached and content, with a small fortune left by his Aunt Emily.
On the evening train from York to London, a polite Frenchman joins his compartment. He says he is an official of the Crédit Lyonnais in Paris, and the two men dine together and chat in French. The man is charming and asks many easy questions, and Hugh, who prefers to keep to himself, still tells him where he lives and what he does. At the station the Frenchman invites him to dinner the next night, but Hugh must see his uncle in Orchard Street.
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What is The Stretton Street Affair about?
It follows Hugh Garfield, a young engineer drawn into a rich man's house near Park Lane, who signs a false death certificate and then hunts across Europe for the truth about the girl, the poison and the people behind it.
Who is Oswald De Gex in the novel?
De Gex is a famous international financier with a villa near Florence and a London house in Stretton Street. He is generous in public and widely praised, and Hugh comes to see him as the mind behind the plot.
What does red, green and gold mean in the book?
They are the three words that Gabrielle Tennison repeats in her illness, shuddering as she does. They point to something she saw on the night of her disappearance, and the meaning becomes clear as the story unfolds.
The author
William Le Queux
1864–1927 · Anglo-French novelist
William Le Queux (1864–1927) was an Anglo-French writer born in London. He died in Knokke, Belgium. He wrote novels about espionage, crime and war. His books include The Great War in England in 1897, published in 1894, and The Czar’s Spy, published in 1905. He also worked with radio.
More by William Le Queux
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