7 h 47 minAudiobook15 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 7 h 47 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
A murder breaks the surface of busy London, and the hunt begins behind its polite faces.
In The Daffodil Mystery, Edgar Wallace sets a killing near the start and lets the search for the killer drive the story. London provides a world of contrasts: comfortable houses and cramped lodgings, polite drawing rooms and dark streets. Beneath that busy surface lies a crime waiting to be understood.
Deception stands between the search and the truth. The face someone shows in public may conceal a different private life. Wallace keeps the questions moving through short chapters, clear scenes and plenty of dialogue. This is a London thriller built around murder, concealment and the steady urge to turn another page.
What you’ll discover
- A city of contrasts Move between London's comfortable rooms and dark streets as the murder hunt unfolds.
- A crime that propels An early killing gives the story its urgent question: who is behind it?
- The pull of deception Consider the distance between a public face and a private life.
- Swift, clear storytelling Short sentences and lively dialogue keep your attention on the unfolding search.
- The next page beckons Follow short chapters that keep the central mystery firmly in view.
Who will love it
Readers who love a fast murder puzzle with odd clues, a clever detective, a loyal helper from the East, a foggy London setting and a romance that grows between the lines.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A rejected offer starts a feud
- The detective refuses a frame-up
- A worshipping burglar is sent to work
- A body in the park wearing slippers
- Telegrams, a blood stain and a missing girl
- Daffodils, a stranger and a hospital bed
- A shot in the fog and a familiar pistol
- Ling Chu's secret and a store in flames
- What the story is really about
- How the story is told
Who’s who
- Jack TarlingA lean, calm detective from the Shanghai police, called the Hunter of Men, who wants the truth and finds himself caring about a suspect.
- Odette RiderA spirited cashier who rejects her employer's advances, then vanishes under a false name and refuses to defend herself.
- Thornton LyneThe vain millionaire owner of Lyne's Stores, a poor poet who wants revenge on the woman who scorned him.
- MilburghLyne's smiling, hand-rubbing store manager, who lives far beyond his salary and seems to turn up wherever Tarling goes.
- Ling ChuTarling's silent Chinese assistant, an expert tracker with a private grief and a gift for seeing what others miss.
- Inspector WhitesideA bright Scotland Yard officer and fingerprint expert who helps Tarling follow each clue and each suspect.
- Sam StayA small burglar fresh from prison who worships Lyne and is ready to harm anyone his hero names as an enemy.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
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- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 7 h 47 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 Il mistero del narciso 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.
Il mistero del narciso
by Edgar Wallace · 1920
A detective from Shanghai hunts a killer whose victim lies in Hyde Park with daffodils on his chest.
Medium level5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
The Daffodil Mystery is a detective novel by Edgar Wallace, the English writer who turned out crime stories at great speed until his death in 1932. It opens in a London department store and ends in a puzzle that stretches from Hyde Park to Shanghai.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A rejected offer starts a feud
The story begins in the mezzanine office of Thornton Lyne, owner of Lyne's Stores. Odette Rider, a cashier who earns three pounds a week, stands before him and says she does not understand his hints. Lyne explains them plainly. He sneers at marriage, he praises his own poems, and he offers her a life as his companion instead of a wife. Below the office window, the shop girls can watch the whole scene.
Odette answers with steady anger. She tells him she is one of those foolish, suburban people who believe the marriage words mean something. She adds that whatever kind of union he proposes, she would at least want a man. She says his life rests on his father's brains and on money earned by better men, and she announces that she is leaving that night.
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What is The Daffodil Mystery about?
It is a detective novel about the murder of a rich store owner, found in Hyde Park with daffodils on his chest. A Shanghai detective, Jack Tarling, traces clues that seem to point at a young cashier.
Who is Ling Chu in The Daffodil Mystery?
Ling Chu is Tarling's Chinese assistant, a skilled tracker and thief-catcher from the Shanghai days. He speaks in formal phrases, notices tiny details, and carries a private sorrow that ties him to the case.
What do the daffodils mean in the novel?
The daffodils are the strange signature of the crime. They lie on the dead man's chest, appear in a vase in a flat, and echo the name of a dancer in Shanghai. Tarling studies which kind they are.
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.
More by Edgar Wallace
All 21 booksMore like this
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