A millionaire is taken suddenly ill, and sensing his mortality, he asks his attorney to do him one last favor - to find and secretly watch over his missing niece, the daughter of his profligate deceased sister. This niece at the appropriate time would become heir to his millions. However, the millionaire is mysteriously murdered, stabbed to death in his sick bed. Oliva Cresswell, the unsuspecting niece, has been a cashier in a large West End store for five years when she meets a Mr. Beale, a self described wheat merchant, is attacked in her flat and rescued by this Mr. Beale, is offered a job as his confidential secretary, refuses him, is unexplainably sacked and finds herself in need of his offer. The mysteries multiply and deepen as the story proceeds.
Edgar Wallace
**Edgar Wallace** (1875–1932) est un écrivain britannique prolifique, célèbre pour ses romans policiers et ses thrillers. Auteur de plus de 125 romans, une cinquantaine de recueils de nouvelles et 25 pièces de théâtre, il a marqué la littérature populaire du début du XXe siècle. Son œuvre, souvent adaptée au cinéma, mêle suspense, aventure et une fine observation des tensions sociales. Wallace est également connu pour son engagement dans le journalisme et sa participation à la vie politique britannique.
