Story summary
Samenvatting van Vierkante Jane
- 8 min. leestijd
- 8 parts
- Binnenkort te beluisteren
A veiled thief robs the greedy rich, leaves a four-square label, and sends her spoils to hospitals.
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Vierkante Jane in het kort
Samenvatting: 8 min leestijd
- Leestijd
- Ongeveer 2 h 15 min1 h 45 min fast, 2 h 40 min slow
- Lengte
- 31.900 woorden
- Bibliotheekniveau
- Gemiddeld longer sentences, everyday words
- Voor het eerst verschenen
- 1919by Edgar Wallace
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). Hoelang het duurt om de klassiekers te lezen · Bijgewerkt
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Vierkante Jane in short
Four Square Jane is the story of a thief who targets the rich and unkind and leaves a small label on every crime. It moves from a country house party through a haggled reward, a library of ten safes, a stolen painting and a wedding stopped at the altar. Then comes a murder in a small London office and a dinner that goes dark.
What Vierkante Jane is about
Picture a wet afternoon in Buckinghamshire. A rich financier watches the rain drown his geraniums. Tonight his house will hold more jewels than he could buy, and the papers are full of a thief who leaves a small label with four squares and the letter J.
Four Square Jane is a crime story by Edgar Wallace, who wrote at astonishing speed for the popular readers of his day. Peter Dawes of Scotland Yard takes up the chase. He soon sees that she hurts nobody, gives much of her loot to hospitals, and carries a private quarrel against certain very rich men.
Voor wie is het?. You will enjoy this if you like clever thieves, quick detective work, and tricks played on the pompous. It suits fans of classic British crime and anyone who cheers for the outlaw with a conscience.
The story in 8 parts
Key idea 1 · free to read
A rich host hires a woman detective
At Adchester Manor House, the financier Joe Lewinstein is preparing a ball and a shooting party. His guests will wear everything they own. His wife Miriam does not share his joy. She knows that a house full of diamonds is just what Four Square Jane likes.
Lewinstein has asked the Ross detective agency for its best woman. Calling herself Miss Caroline Smith, she poses as a young American detective, with rimless glasses and a soft drawl. She asks to go wherever she likes in the house and tells him not to be alarmed by anything she does.
At dinner, the young lady upstairs falls ill. A stranger whose car has run out of petrol is a doctor. He names scarlet fever, tells Lewinstein to keep it from his noble guests, and promises an ambulance at three in the morning.
Meanwhile a slim figure moves along the upstairs corridor. Doors open to a skilful key, one after another, and a small label is pressed against each handle. Near the end of the night, Lewinstein finds the label on his wife's door.
The person you invite in to protect you can be the one who most needs watching.
- 2Begin gratis met lezen
A stolen armlet pays for a hospital
At the Bloxley Road Hospital for Women, Dr. Parsons tells his governors that the money has run out.
- 3Begin gratis met lezen
Scotland Yard puts its cleverest man on the case
Chief Superintendent Peter Dawes is young for his rank, calm and fond of any crime that holds a puzzle.
- 4Begin gratis met lezen
A wedding is stopped by a missing paper
Now the story turns to Joyce Wilberforce, who lives with her mother, a woman with a fondness for social rank.
- 5Begin gratis met lezen
A murder makes the game far more serious
The mood darkens when Dawes learns more about Lord Claythorpe.
- 6Begin gratis met lezen
Robbing the greedy forces a question about justice
One theme of the book is whether a crime can be fair.
- 7Begin gratis met lezen
Trust, guardianship and motive shape the suspicion
Another theme is who can be trusted with another person's property.
- 8Begin gratis met lezen
Disguise and misdirection shape the way it is told
The book is told in chapters that read like separate adventures.
Read all 8 key ideas now
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Characters, plot and themes
Main characters
- Four Square Jane A masked, quick-witted thief who robs rich, unkind men, leaves a four-square label behind, and sends a good share of her spoils to hospitals.
- Peter Dawes A calm, clever Scotland Yard superintendent who loves a puzzle and is determined to find out who Jane really is.
- Joe Lewinstein A self-made financier who throws a grand house party, hires a detective to guard his guests, and half admires the thief.
- Lord Claythorpe A thin, yellow-faced, miserly lord with ten safes in his library, who cheats a hospital and wants his son to marry a fortune.
- Joyce Wilberforce A spirited young heiress who does not want to marry Lord Claythorpe's son, and who has her own plans for her life.
- Jamieson Steele A civil engineer accused of forging a cheque, who ran away and is now whispered about as a friend of the thief.
- Donald Remington Lord Claythorpe's sour, silent clerk, who knows far more of his master's business than is safe and wants a quiet cottage.
- Dr. Parsons The anxious chairman of a failing women's hospital, who needs eight thousand pounds to keep its doors open.
How it ends (spoiler)
Dawes arrests Lord Claythorpe for killing Remington. The lord confesses that he had been stealing from Joyce's fortune, then dies by a poison button hidden on his coat. Dawes works out that Joyce is Four Square Jane and that she is already married to Steele, who was the doctor at Lewinstein's house. The couple drug the detective's cigarette and escape over the rooftops, taking the last bond. Two months later she writes from South America, promising to live blamelessly and joking that Dawes should bring his own cigarettes.
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Vragen over Vierkante Jane
What is Four Square Jane about?
It follows a clever woman thief who robs rich, unkind men and leaves a label with four squares and the letter J. Peter Dawes of Scotland Yard tries to catch her and discover who she is.
Why is she called Four Square Jane?
The police name her Jane because of the mark she leaves behind, a printed label showing four squares with a letter J in the middle. The name stuck, and the label is her calling card.
Who is Peter Dawes?
He is a calm Scotland Yard chief superintendent who loves puzzles. He is given the Four Square case after the Claythorpe robbery and follows her tricks with growing admiration.
Is Four Square Jane easy to read?
Yes, in the sense that it moves quickly. It has short chapters, lively dialogue and a different scheme in each one, so you can follow it easily in separate sittings.
Who wrote Four Square Jane and what kind of book is it?
Edgar Wallace wrote it. It is a light British crime thriller from the early twentieth century, full of disguises, daring thefts, a chase and a dry sense of humor.
Verwijs naar deze uitgave
Wallace, Edgar. Four Square Jane. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/four-square-jane.
Wallace, E. (2026). Four square Jane. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/four-square-jane (Original work published 1919)
Wallace, Edgar. Four Square Jane. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/four-square-jane.
@book{wallace2026four,
author = {Wallace, Edgar},
title = {Four Square Jane},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/four-square-jane},
note = {First published 1919}
}
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