4 h 47 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 4 h 47 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
In a small American town, stolen jewels and strangers with hidden pasts turn ordinary roads into dangerous ground.
The Oakdale Affair brings crime, mistaken identity and romance into the streets of a small town and the roads beyond it. Strangers arrive with pasts no one can check. Stolen valuables drive the mystery, while a secret touches many lives. The question is not just what happens, but who anyone really is.
Edgar Rice Burroughs builds this short adventure around action, concealment and quick turns of fortune. Here, the creator of Tarzan turns familiar American surroundings into a place of uncertainty. Personal courage matters more than rank or money, and a touch of romance gives the danger a warmer edge.
What you’ll discover
- Strangers worth watching Meet people whose hidden pasts make every new arrival a reason to wonder.
- Danger close to home Follow an adventure that finds uncertainty in a small town and its surrounding roads.
- A mystery in motion Let stolen valuables and mistaken identities pull you through quick turns of fortune.
- Courage over status Explore a world where personal bravery counts for more than wealth or social standing.
- Romance amid uncertainty Find a touch of love woven through the secrets, crime and restless adventure.
Who will love it
This is for readers who like a fast mystery with a comic voice, a storm and a haunted house, and a tramp who quotes poetry.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A bold thief becomes frightened
- Boasting puts the Kid in danger
- Oakdale turns uncertainty into rumor
- Bridge offers help amid the darkness
- Footprints explain the supposed ghost
- Mutual protection becomes a shared risk
- Courage can live beside fear
- Appearances invite the wrong conclusions
- Kindness connects people amid uncertainty
Who’s who
- The Oskaloosa KidA slim, brown-eyed youth in an ill-fitting suit who boasts of burglary but fears the dark, and who longs for friends and freedom.
- BridgeA ragged tramp with a gentleman's manner who quotes poetry, fears no ghosts, and takes a frightened youth under his protection.
- The Sky PilotThe gray, strong leader of a gang of tramps, once a minister, who wants the Kid's loot and avoids open murder.
- Dopey CharlieA drug-dependent gangster skilled with a knife who tries to kill the Kid for the jewels and because he fears the Kid is a detective.
- GiovaA young Gypsy woman who buries her father alone and keeps a feared brown bear called Beppo, her only love.
- Willie CaseA gawky farm boy and eager reader of a detective manual who hunts a reward and gets almost everything wrong.
- BurtonA calm, careful city detective who assumes nothing, follows each clue, and is hired by Jonas Prim to find his missing daughter.
- Jonas PrimThe Oakdale banker who loves his daughter, doubts his wife's marriage schemes, and mobilizes money and influence to find her.
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The Oakdale Affair
by Edgar Rice Burroughs · 1918
A young burglar flees Oakdale in a storm and enters a haunted house as a chain moves upstairs.
Medium level2–5 hours to read2 languages
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In short
A slender youth in a borrowed suit crosses a moonlit lawn, opens a safe behind a tapestry, and takes a small pistol from a dressing table. Then he walks into the dark countryside, where barking dogs, croaking frogs, and a shaggy bull turn the daring thief into a frightened boy.
The Oakdale Affair at a glance
- Reading time
- About 2 h 40 min2 h 10 min fast, 3 h 15 min slow
- Length
- 38,700 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1918by Edgar Rice Burroughs
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 Nervous Burglar Robs the Prim House
The story opens at night outside the big house of Jonas Prim, president of the First National Bank of Oakdale. The family is at dinner. A slender youth in a borrowed chauffeur's suit crosses the moonlit lawn. His eyes look strained, yet his walk is bold. He slips through a French window of the dark library.
A back stair leads to the rooms of Abigail Prim, the banker's nineteen-year-old daughter. The youth opens a safe behind a tapestry in moments. He fills his pockets with bills and jewels, and takes a small pistol from a drawer. Then his elbow knocks a silver candlestick to the floor. He hides behind a screen, but nobody comes.
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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
- 1918
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 3 h 5 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Burroughs, Edgar Rice. The Oakdale Affair. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-oakdale-affair.
Burroughs, E. R. (2026). The Oakdale affair. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-oakdale-affair (Original work published 1918)
Burroughs, Edgar Rice. The Oakdale Affair. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-oakdale-affair.
@book{burroughs2026oakdale,
author = {Burroughs, Edgar Rice},
title = {The Oakdale Affair},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-oakdale-affair},
note = {First published 1918}
}
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What is The Oakdale Affair about?
It follows a young burglar called The Oskaloosa Kid and a tramp named Bridge through a night of crime in the town of Oakdale and a haunted farmhouse, where a detective, a Gypsy girl, and a bear all play a part.
Who is Bridge in The Oakdale Affair?
Bridge is a wandering tramp with a gentleman's speech and a taste for poetry. He fears no ghosts, notices small clues, and takes the frightened Kid under his protection without asking too many questions.
Is the haunted Squibbs house real in the story?
The Squibbs house is a ruin where a whole family was murdered twenty years ago, and rumors of ghosts keep people away. The night inside it gives the story its most famous scenes of dread, chains, and strange footsteps.
The author
Edgar Rice Burroughs
1875–1950 · American adventure novelist
Edgar Rice Burroughs was an American writer born in Chicago in 1875. He wrote novels about Tarzan and novels set on Mars. His first Mars story appeared in 1912 and became the book A Princess of Mars in 1917. He later lived in California and died in Encino in 1950.
More by Edgar Rice Burroughs
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