6 h 52 minAudiobook13 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
In London's hidden world, false papers conceal the truth—and trust can be as uncertain as the law's next move.
Room 13 draws you into a London shaped by secrets, forgery and uneasy loyalties. In Edgar Wallace's crime thriller, the city offers room for people to hide and motives to stay buried. The law struggles to catch up, while the question of who can be believed gives the pursuit of justice its edge.
Wallace keeps the story moving with short chapters and a plain, direct style. The pull comes from crime, concealment and the effort to discover who is breaking the law. Beneath that brisk action lies a quieter uncertainty: when people hide their motives, how do you decide whom to trust?
What you’ll discover
- A city of shadows Enter the hidden side of London, where a vast city gives secrets space to grow.
- Forgery and false papers Follow a crime story in which false papers place truth and trust under pressure.
- Loyalties under strain Watch uneasy loyalties sharpen the question of who deserves belief and who conceals a motive.
- The hunt for justice Feel the tension of a pursuit in which the law has ground to make up.
- One more short chapter Enjoy direct prose and a brisk rhythm that keep pulling you toward the next page.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy quick crime plots, gentleman rogues, forgers and double dealing, and who like wit in their thrillers, in the spirit of early twentieth century London detective fiction with clubs, slang and one very odd investigator.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A prisoner learns to wait and watch
- Freedom arrives one day too late
- The bridegroom has a name Johnny knows
- Johnny plays his cards against the Legges
- A wedding night becomes a hunt
- An alibi, a double and a gentle stranger
- Reeder sets the board, and Emanuel sets a table
- What the story is really about
- How the story is told
Who’s who
- Johnny GrayA cool, witty gentleman just out of Dartmoor, he wants to win Marney and to keep Peter Kane out of the gallows.
- Marney KanePeter's daughter, quick and brave, she wants a life with Johnny and refuses to be crushed by the marriage forced on her.
- Peter KaneA retired master thief with white hair and a short temper, he lives only for his daughter's safety and happiness.
- Jeff LeggeThe forger known as the Big Printer, he wants his revenge on Peter and a wife he has tricked into marrying him.
- Emanuel LeggeA thin, spectacled old convict fresh from prison, he wants half of an old fortune and to ruin Peter Kane.
- Mr. J. G. ReederA shabby, mild investigator who loves flowers and chickens, he wants only to catch the man who forges the banknotes.
- CraigA hard and honest Scotland Yard inspector, he is an old friend of Peter's and wants proof against the Legges.
- ParkerJohnny's valet, who keeps his calm and his opinions on dress whatever happens, and wants his master's clothes to be right.
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
- 6 h 52 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 13 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 La camera n. 13 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.
La camera n. 13
by Edgar Wallace · 1924
A convict walks out of Dartmoor to learn the girl he loves has married the one man he swore to ruin.
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In short
Room 13 is a crime novel by Edgar Wallace, who wrote fast, wrote often and knew the London underworld of his day. It was published in the years after the First World War.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A prisoner learns to wait and watch
The story opens at Dartmoor, under a stone archway carved with a Latin motto about sparing the defeated. Johnny Gray works on a bricklaying party with an old lifer named Lal Morgon. Johnny is serving three years for a racecourse swindle in which one horse was secretly swapped for another. He says he knew nothing of the switch, and he accepts his sentence without appeal for a reason he keeps to himself.
Morgon loves to gossip, and the gossip is useful. He tells Johnny about Emanuel Legge, a convict who once broke into a ship's strong room with Peter Kane and got away with a fortune in American money. Peter was never caught. Legge was, after he shot a policeman, and he blames Peter for it. His son Jeff is said to be the Big Printer, the biggest maker of forged money in the world.
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What is Room 13 by Edgar Wallace about?
It follows Johnny Gray, released from Dartmoor Prison, as he tries to protect Marney Kane from a marriage that is a revenge plot by the Legge family, who print forged banknotes. A mild investigator named Reeder trails them all.
Who is the Big Printer in Room 13?
The Big Printer is the underworld name for the maker of near-perfect forged banknotes that flood Europe. Police and bank detectives have hunted him for years. Readers learn early who is suspected, and the book is about proving it.
Who is Mr. Reeder in Room 13?
Mr. J. G. Reeder is a stooping man in an old frock coat who talks about flowers, rabbits and poultry. He works for the banks and the government, and he notices everything. Wallace used him in several other stories.
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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