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Audiobook editionPaperback · 6 × 9 in · 248 pagesHardcover · 6 × 9 in · 248 pagesAbout this book
He looks sorry to trouble anyone. Criminals should be sorry they mistake him for a harmless clerk.
In Edgar Wallace’s Red Aces, Mr. J. G. Reeder tackles three detective cases with a mind far sharper than his appearance suggests. Attached to the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions in London, he wears old-fashioned clothes, carries an umbrella, and seems almost painfully mild. Confident crooks see little to fear. That is their mistake.
These short mysteries move through a London of offices, banks, trains, motor cars, and telephones, where respectable life sits close to the underworld. Wallace keeps scenes short and dialogue direct. At the centre of each case is a contest of wits: clever criminals trust their own cunning, while Reeder brings his quiet understanding of how they think.
What you’ll discover
- An unlikely detective Meet a worried-looking investigator whose apologetic manner conceals a keen grasp of criminal minds.
- Cunning against cunning Follow contests where confident crooks underestimate the very man who understands their thinking.
- Respectability meets the underworld Explore a London where familiar offices and banks stand near the thin line separating lawful life from crime.
- Stories that move Enjoy short scenes, direct dialogue, and plots that rarely pause to explain themselves.
- Character in the details Discover how side whiskers, an umbrella, and old-fashioned clothes make Reeder so easy to misjudge.
Who will love it
This is for readers who enjoy classic puzzle mysteries, quirky detectives and clues planted in plain sight, and who like a gentle hero with a sharp mind.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A mild detective expects the worst
- Love and secrecy unsettle Kenneth
- A bloodstain changes the scene
- The guarded cottage holds contradictions
- Suspicion follows the money
- An apparent culprit needs a listener
- Disappearances point toward a shared fraud
- A river investigation becomes personal
- Small details expose careful performances
Who’s who
- Mr. J. G. ReederA shabby, mild, polite investigator for the Public Prosecutor and the banks, who claims a criminal mind and wants only to see the truth.
- Inspector GaylorA brisk Scotland Yard detective who never quite trusts Reeder's secrecy but always ends up needing his help.
- Kenneth McKayA young bank clerk in Beaconsfield, deeply in love with Margot Lynn and desperate to clear himself of suspicion.
- Margot LynnWentford's niece and secretary, who guards a secret about her uncle and fears for the man she loves.
- Miss GilletteReeder's very capable, outspoken secretary, who wants to help her fiancé Tommy Anton recover his lost fortune.
- Dr. InghamA gentle, wealthy clergyman who seeks Reeder's help in finding a missing man and invites him to his house in Kent.
- Joan RalphA dark-haired young woman who searches for her missing father and her missing fiancé, Frank Seafield.
- Johnny SouthersReeder's poultry-loving neighbour, a customs man who hopes to marry Anna Welford and finds himself under arrest.
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Red Aces: Being Three Cases of Mr. Reeder
by Edgar Wallace · 1929
A mild detective in a square hat follows clues through snow, a Kent cliff house and the Thames.
Medium level2–5 hours to read20 languages
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“I have no friends.”
In short
Picture a snowy lane at night. A mounted policeman stops a car, and in its headlights lies an old man beaten to death.
Red Aces: Being Three Cases of Mr. Reeder at a glance
- Reading time
- About 4 h 30 min3 h 35 min fast, 5 h 20 min slow
- Length
- 63,800 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1929by Edgar Wallace
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A jealous clerk and a secretive girl
Kenneth McKay counts other people's money at a bank in Beaconsfield. Every morning he rides a noisy motorcycle there from Marlow. His father George sits in a gaunt house by the river, brooding over a lost fortune. He spends his days with a deck of cards, working out what he calls inherent probabilities, or spinning a small roulette wheel.
Kenneth is deeply in love with Margot Lynn, who lives in London and will not say what she does for a living. She calls herself secretary to a businessman, yet she goes to the office only a few hours a week. One Sunday Kenneth walks into a wood near Burnham to photograph two fighting stoats. Instead he sees Margot with an elderly man whose arm rests on her shoulder. She refuses to explain. Then a letter arrives telling Kenneth never to see her again.
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A mild detective in a square hat follows clues through snow, a Kent cliff house and the Thames.
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Details
- First published
- 1929
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 5 h 5 min
- Level
- Medium level
- Paperback
- 248 pages · 6 × 9 in
- Hardcover
- 248 pages · 6 × 9 in
- Large print paperback
- 400 pages · 6 × 9 in
- Large print hardcover
- 400 pages · 6 × 9 in
- Delivery and returns
- Printed when you order. Usually here in 12 to 14 days.Arrives Wed 2 Dec to Tue 8 Decto United States, printed for you at cost
For Christmas, order by Thu 12 Nov
Cite this edition
Wallace, Edgar. Red Aces: Being Three Cases of Mr. Reeder. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/red-aces-being-three-cases-of-mr-reeder.
Wallace, E. (2026). Red aces: Being three cases of Mr. Reeder. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/red-aces-being-three-cases-of-mr-reeder (Original work published 1929)
Wallace, Edgar. Red Aces: Being Three Cases of Mr. Reeder. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/red-aces-being-three-cases-of-mr-reeder.
@book{wallace2026red,
author = {Wallace, Edgar},
title = {Red Aces: Being Three Cases of Mr. Reeder},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/red-aces-being-three-cases-of-mr-reeder},
note = {First published 1929}
}
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What is Red Aces by Edgar Wallace about?
It collects three cases of the detective J. G. Reeder: a murder in the snow marked by two playing cards, a swindle behind a series of disappearances, and a barge smuggler's murder on the Thames.
Who is Mr. J. G. Reeder?
Reeder is a stooped, polite investigator attached to the Public Prosecutor's Department and the banks. He wears a square hat, carries a furled umbrella, knows about poultry and claims his criminal mind helps him see crime.
What do the two aces mean in Red Aces?
The ace of diamonds and the ace of hearts are pinned to a dead man's door. Reeder believes they were placed there after the murder, and he treats them as a signal that points to a hidden past.
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.
“I have no friends.”
More by Edgar Wallace
See all their booksMore like this
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