7 h 14 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 7 h 14 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the most dangerous person in the room looks like someone you can trust?
In The Angel of Terror, Edgar Wallace draws you into a crime story built on deception, danger and a villain hidden in plain sight. Respectable appearances offer no certain guide to character. The pull is immediate: how do you recognise a threat when it gives you so little reason to look twice?
Wallace writes for speed and surprise, drawing ordinary people towards schemes larger than they understand. His crime fiction sets wrongdoing against the search for justice, with suspense growing from the gap between appearances and intentions. Here, the pleasure lies in following a moving puzzle, watching for danger and wondering where trust belongs.
What you’ll discover
- Danger behind good manners Discover the unsettling appeal of menace that wears a respectable face.
- A plot with pace Short chapters keep you moving through a story shaped by deception and surprise.
- Ordinary lives under pressure Feel the tension of decent people drawn towards schemes beyond their understanding.
- The pull of justice Follow a crime puzzle where wrongdoing meets the pressure to restore order.
- An introduction to Wallace Meet a storyteller whose appeal rests on suspense, swift movement and hidden threats.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy a clever villain, a disguised hero, and plots that move from courtrooms and London flats to sunlit coasts will love this book. It also suits fans of quick dialogue and sharp young lawyers.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A beautiful witness wins belief
- Debt makes a strange bargain tempting
- The marriage creates a new target
- Jean plans while her father falters
- Other hands carry out the danger
- The sunny escape offers no safety
- Jean turns beauty into a disguise
- Wealth makes the law a weapon
- Small signs matter more than charm
Who’s who
- Lydia BealeA fashion illustrator weighed down by her father's debts, she agrees to a wedding of convenience and finds herself the heir to a fortune.
- Jack GloverA quick-tongued young solicitor who is sure his friend Meredith is innocent and sets out to protect the widow from the Briggerlands.
- Jean BriggerlandA beautiful and cold-minded cousin who plays the injured angel while planning to win a fortune by any means.
- Mr. BriggerlandJean's dark, brandy-drinking father, who is a coward at heart but follows her plans and sometimes improvises on his own.
- Mr. RennettThe grey-bearded senior partner, loyal to the Meredith family and willing to risk his career to help.
- JaggsA shabby, squinting old pensioner hired as night watchman, who sits in the dark and seems to know everyone's secrets.
- Marcus StepneyA smooth cardsharp and fashion-plate gentleman, always short of money and ready to be used by Jean.
- MordonThe Briggerlands' pale, handsome chauffeur, who drives Jean's schemes and hopes to win her.
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The Angel of Terror
by Edgar Wallace · 1922
A widow of one hour inherits a fortune, and a girl with an angel's face begins to plan her death.
Easy read2–5 hours to read2 languages
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In short
What would you do if two lawyers offered you a fortune for a marriage that lasts one morning? That is the choice facing Lydia Beale in The Angel of Terror, a crime novel by Edgar Wallace.
The Angel of Terror at a glance
- Reading time
- About 4 h 10 min3 h 15 min fast, 4 h 55 min slow
- Length
- 58,900 words
- Library level
- Easy short sentences, plain words
- First published
- 1922by 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 lovely witness sends an innocent man away
The book opens in a silent courtroom. A judge lays black silk over his wig and sentences James Meredith to death for shooting Ferdinand Bulford. The jury asks for mercy, and soon the sentence is changed to life in prison.
Everything rests on one witness, Meredith's cousin and fiancée, Jean Briggerland. She swears he threatened Bulford. Meredith says he came only to end the engagement, and that Jean would gain from his ruin. The judge calls her a pathetic and beautiful figure and cannot believe such a girl would lie.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1922
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 4 h 40 min
- Level
- Easy read
Cite this edition
Wallace, Edgar. The Angel of Terror. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-angel-of-terror.
Wallace, E. (2026). The angel of terror. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-angel-of-terror (Original work published 1922)
Wallace, Edgar. The Angel of Terror. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-angel-of-terror.
@book{wallace2026angel,
author = {Wallace, Edgar},
title = {The Angel of Terror},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-angel-of-terror},
note = {First published 1922}
}
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What is The Angel of Terror about?
A rich man is jailed for a murder he did not commit, and a young lawyer arranges a marriage that makes a poor illustrator his heir. Then the family that wanted the money starts to plot against her.
Who is the angel in The Angel of Terror?
The angel is Jean Briggerland, a lovely and gentle-looking young woman whom the press and the court call an angel. Behind that face she plans murder with calm precision.
Who wrote The Angel of Terror and when?
Edgar Wallace wrote it, an English author who died in 1932. It is a work of fiction from the early twentieth century, set in London and on the French Riviera.
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
See all their booksMore like this
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