9 h 26 minAudiobook6 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 9 h 26 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the next great weapon attacks not people, but the grain that keeps them alive?
In The Green Rust, Edgar Wallace builds a thriller around a threat to the food nations depend on. Rust, a plant disease that attacks grain, becomes a weapon. Behind the danger lies a hidden scheme, protected by secrecy. Those hunting it face stakes that reach far beyond a single crime.
The chase turns on a question: what happens when knowledge of nature falls into the wrong hands? Science promises better harvests, yet it can also threaten them. Wallace keeps that danger close through scheming, pursuit and quick chapters, giving the story a sense that time is running short.
What you’ll discover
- A harvest under threat Feel the urgency of a mystery in which the food supply itself is at risk.
- Secrets worth pursuing Follow determined hunters toward a hidden scheme whose planners depend on keeping their purpose concealed.
- Science turned against life Explore the danger of knowledge used to destroy the crops it might otherwise help protect.
- A swiftly moving chase Let quick chapters and clear stakes carry you through a tale of secrecy and pursuit.
- Danger beyond one victim Enter a crime story that makes the safety of the harvest a matter of worldwide concern.
Who will love it
Readers who love fast thrillers with secret identities, clever detectives, wicked scientists and a heroine with a sharp tongue, and who enjoy a mystery that mixes danger with humour and a little romance.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A dying man guards a secret heir
- A shop girl lives between two neighbours
- Oliva loses her job and gains another
- Oliva overhears a troubling conversation
- A gift of soap proves a friend's warning
- A death in the Grand Alliance palm court
- Kidnapped and shut in the house at Staines
- What the story is really about
- How the story is told
Who’s who
- Oliva CresswellA quick-witted cashier and secretary who is, without knowing it, the heir to a great fortune, and who wants to understand the mystery around her.
- Stanford BealeAn American detective who plays a drunkard next door, and who wants to stop a terrible plot and keep Oliva safe.
- Dr. van HeerdenA smooth, bearded doctor with a laboratory, who poses as Oliva's friend and wants money and power for a secret scheme.
- James KitsonJohn Millinborn's lawyer and friend, who guards the secret of the will and hired Beale to watch over the girl.
- Mr. WhiteThe pompous managing director of Punsonby's store, secretly in debt, who invests in the doctor's mysterious syndicate.
- Superintendent McNortonA big, good-natured Scotland Yard officer who helps Beale and slowly learns how serious the Green Rust is.
- Parson HomoA well-spoken criminal known as the Parson who helps Beale for a price.
- Hilda GlaumA silent, sullen clerk at Punsonby's who is loyal to the doctor and hides a secret life.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet or computer, once the book texts are online.
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- Read by Lucas Linden, complete. It opens once the recording is online.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 6 minutes, to read today.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
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The Green Rust
by Edgar Wallace · 1919
A dying millionaire is stabbed in a quiet cottage, and a girl who knows nothing is the heir to his fortune.
Medium level5–10 hours to readEnglish
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In short
A rich man lies dying in a Sussex cottage, and his last wish is to protect a niece who knows nothing of her inheritance. Within hours he is stabbed, and the killer vanishes.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A dying man guards a secret heir
The story opens at Hill Lodge in Sussex, where the shipbuilder John Millinborn is dying. He tells his lawyer and friend James Kitson that his fortune goes to a niece, whose father was a swindler who changed names. The girl is not to learn of the money until she marries, because Millinborn fears fortune hunters.
A young doctor named van Heerden has cared for him since the man fell ill on a train. Kitson walks to the village to fetch strychnine at the doctor's request. On the way he meets a filthy, wild-eyed stranger in a plantation of ash trees who rants about boiling people alive.
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- 15-minute summary
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Details
- First published
- 1919
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 6 h 10 min
- Level
- Medium level
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What is The Green Rust about?
It is a thriller about a murdered millionaire, his hidden heir Oliva Cresswell, and a doctor named van Heerden who is building a terrible plan around a substance called the Green Rust. American detective Stanford Beale tries to stop him.
What is the Green Rust in the book?
It is a green, musty-smelling powder that the doctor and his hired chemists work on in secret. Beale fears it deeply, and the story slowly shows what it is for and why so many people want it hidden.
Who is Stanford Beale?
He is an American detective, brought to London by the lawyer James Kitson. He pretends to be a drunk next door to Oliva, so that he can watch the doctor and protect the girl without being noticed.
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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