The Double Traitor (1915)

THE DOUBLE TRAITOR (1915)

Berlin is on the up; at a fine restaurant there the Baroness says: "We both know our Paris, yet do we lack anything here which you find at the Ritz or Giro's?" Norgate, British diplomat, is forced to agree although he is in general shocked by the awful manners of the nouveaux riches Germans who have spoilt Monte Carlo and the Riviera. And it is not just the middle classes who lack finesse. The Baroness and diplomat have their tete-a-tete interrupted by an imperious and oafish prince.

Norgate and Baroness foil dastardly German schemes as WW1 breaks out.
Run of the mill nonsense 2/10.

The Great Prince Shan (1922)

THE GREAT PRINCE SHAN (1922)

Well Germany has failed in the First World War, but what if it were allied with China? Or a grand alliance with Russia?
This is a strange book, more of a romance than a thriller. 
The great Prince Shan, handsome, enigmatic and brilliant falls for a British aristocrat and spy Maggie. Then leaving the Reich in the lurch they float away in his airship to China.
Shan is presented as a remarkably likeable and sympathetic character.

The former admirer of Maggie, Nigel, does his bit with the emissary of the Soviets, Naida. Thus Britain is saved due to the personable charms of our spies. 
Did Ian Fleming read this?
4/10

The Yellow Crayon (1903)

THE YELLOW CRAYON (1903)

I found this book rather hard to follow. It seemed to refer to past events that were not explained. As doubts and suspicions gather around the enigmatic Mr Sabin, so were my own gaining force. In fact, of course, this is a sequel to the Mysterious Mr Sabin (1898). 
Oppy and his characters seemed to be immersed in a wealthy demi-monde of the imagination in which secret societies flourish and the inevitable Germans play their part.

Not really worth the effort.
4/10

The Box With Broken Seals (1919)

THE BOX WITH BROKEN SEALS (1919)

It is hard work being a transatlantic traveller. An English chap has to put up with an awful lot. On his arrival by train in Chicago James Crawshay of the English Secret Service, remarks: "Your trains Hobson, may be magnificent, but your coal is filthy. I will have a bath...".
Crawshay's bete noir is Jocelyn Thew a handsome and enigmatic Irish adversary who spurns love because of his dedication to his nation.
After much sleight of hand Crawshay and Thew are as reconciled as the two nations would seem to be at the time of writing. Oppenheim's prescience is some years ahead of the facts on the ground.

Both the main characters especially Thew are well-drawn although the plot is severely stretched to keep Thew at liberty.
Again shades of The Thirty Nine Steps with secrets en route to Germany, this time post hoc.
7/10

The Great Secret (1908)

THE GREAT SECRET (1908)

One of the interests in reading what is now relatively unknown fiction is to see to what extent themes in Oppenheim's books seem to be present in later and more lastingly successful works.
In the case of The Great Secret it is Buchan's The Thirty Nine Steps that comes to mind.

A man with a great secret vis-a-vis German war aims is in danger of his life from the Hun's secret service and is given sanctuary in our county cricket playing hero's room. Shades of Hannay and Scudder.
Concerns about immigration are obvious. Written only two years before the Sidney Street siege in which bank-robbing foreign anarchists were brought to heel by Winston Churchill, London is seen as a nest of plotting German waiters and other covert types.
Although it is an entertaining story-and, after all, war did come-it is too cartoon like to take seriously.
6/10

The Cinema Murder (1917)

THE CINEMA MURDER (1917)

The First World War is thankfully forgotten in this 1917 novel of murder, flight, ambition and love.
Readers of crime fiction may find some prefiguring of Peter Lovesey's excellent The False Inspector Dew in this stirring adventure.
A poverty-stricken young art teacher and would-be playwright, Philip goes to meet his equally poor girlfriend who works in a foul mining village as a teacher, a position that is ill-paid and soul-destroying.
United by the hopelessness of their lives both she and Philip live in real poverty and misery of spirit; they even discuss crime as a way out of their dilemma.  On this visit Philip finds that he has been supplanted by his wealthy cousin. He murders the cousin by a canal and taking the dead man's identity flees on a liner to America.
On the liner he meets Elizabeth, a celebrated American actress who asks him to write a play for her. The story of the murder reaches the liner and Philip is forced to evade questions and temporize about his new identity.

In New York he books into a fine hotel in the cousin's name and then disappears to hide under a second pseudonym in cheap lodgings. He maintains contact with Elizabeth and his play is a huge success. However exposure of his true identity seems certain to occur as he is repeatedly questioned by a detective and others.
Elizabeth has her own past that threatens the couple's future happiness and Philip's former girlfriend arrives in New York knowing of his crime and threatening exposure...
Oppenheim (while ultimately seeming to evade charges of outraging contemporary morality) gives us a picture of people who are quite happy to commit and/or excuse murder when the circumstances of their life would seem to offer no other route from hopelessness.
Although this is slightly more excusable than Patricia Highsmith's Ripley it is portrayed with an equal matter-of-factness.
8.5/10

The Evil Shepherd (1922)

THE EVIL SHEPHERD (1922)

Oppenheim loved to turn the tables on the reader. Endings (while not quite those of the staged denouements favoured by Agatha Christie) that reveal something radically new about the character(s) and the situations are a commonplace.
Here Oppenheim presents us with more of a challenge.
The typical young Englishman, a successful barrister, Francis Ledsam has successfully defended his client, Oliver Hilditch, of a charge of murder. After the trial Ledsam is approached by a beautiful young woman Margaret, the wife of the accused, who convinces Ledsam that her husband was not only guilty but is responsible for many other outrages.
Hilditch invites Ledsam to his home where, with Margaret in attendance, he confesses that he was guilty and demonstrates how he killed the man.

Ledsam is so shaken by this that he decides that he can no longer defend those whom he believes to be guilty; it makes him party to crime, it is immoral. (Hardly a Rumpole of the Bailey stance.)
Later that night Hilditch is killed. An accident says his wife, or suicide.
Discussing his new-found desire to rid London of evil with a friend at a restaurant, they are interrupted by a stranger whom they later discover is Sir Timothy Brast the father of Margaret.
Brast is a contemptuous cynic who regards the notion of "good" as so-much piety and nonsense.
Ledsam is led into a strange relationship with Brast whom he initially loathes because of his attraction for Margaret.
Ambiguities, dangers and mysteries multiply. Motives, appearances and easy assumptions are questioned.
Themes: Adventure, romance, good & evil.
Summary: another corker with a touch of moral philosophising. 8/10

A bibliography of E. Phillips Oppenheim

A bibliography of E. Phillips Oppenheim

With thanks to the contributor to the Wikipedia page

I have highlighted those I have so far read.

Novels

• Expiation (1887)
• The Peer and the Woman (1895)
• A Daughter of the Marionis (1895)
• False Evidence (1896)
• A Modern Prometheus (1896)
• The Mystery of Mr. Bernard Brown (1896)
• The Wooing of Fortune (1896)
• The Postmaster of Market Deighton (1897)
• The Amazing Judgment (1897)
• Mysterious Mr. Sabin (1898)
• A Daughter of Astrea (1898)
• As a Man Lives (1898)
• Mr. Marx's Secret (1899)
• The Man and His Kingdom (1899)
• The World's Great Snare (1900)
• A Millionaire of Yesterday (1900)
• The Survivor (1901)
• Enoch Strone [aka A Master of Men] (1901)
• A Sleeping Memory [aka The Great Awakening] (1902)
• The Traitors (1902)
• A Prince of Sinners (1903)
• The Yellow Crayon (1903)
• The Betrayal (1904)
• Anna the Adventuress (1904)
• A Maker of History (1905)
• The Master Mummer (1905)
• A Lost Leader (1906)
• The Tragedy of Adrea [aka A Monk of Cruta] (1906)
• The Malefactor [aka Mr. Wingrave, Millionaire] (1906)
• Berenice (1907)
• The Avenger [aka The Conspirators] (1907)
• The Great Secret [aka The Secret] (1908)
• The Governor (1908)
• The Distributors [aka Ghosts of Society] (1908) (as Anthony Partridge)
• The Missioner (1908)
• The Kingdom of Earth [aka The Black Watcher] (1909) (as Anthony Partridge)
• Jeanne of the Marshes (1909)
• The Illustrious Prince (1910)
• Passers By (1910) (as Anthony Partridge)
• The Lost Ambassador [aka The Missing Delora] (1910)
• The Golden Web (1911) (as Anthony Partridge)
• The Moving Finger [aka A Falling Star] (1911)
• Havoc (1911)
• The Court of St. Simon (1912) (as Anthony Partridge)
• The Lighted Way (1912)
• The Tempting of Tavernake (1912)
• The Mischief Maker (1913)
• The Double Life of Mr. Alfred Burton (1913)
• The Way of These Women (1914)
• A People's Man (1914)
• The Vanished Messenger (1914)
• The Black Box (1915)
• The Double Traitor (1915)
• Mr. Grex of Monte Carlo (1915)
• The Kingdom of the Blind (1916)
• The Hillman (1917)
• The Cinema Murder [aka The Other Romilly] (1917)
• The Pawns Count (1918)
• The Zeppelin's Passenger [aka Mr. Lessingham Goes Home] (1918)
• The Wicked Marquis (1919)
• The Box with Broken Seals [aka The Strange Case of Mr. Jocelyn Thew] (1919)
• The Curious Quest [aka The Amazing Quest of Mr. Ernest Bliss] (1919)
• The Great Impersonation (1920)
• The Devil's Paw (1920)
• The Profiteers (1921)
• Jacob's Ladder (1921)
• Nobody's Man (1921)
• The Evil Shepherd (1922)
• The Great Prince Shan (1922)
• The Mystery Road (1923)
• The Wrath to Come (1924)
• The Passionate Quest (1924)
• Stolen Idols (1925)
• Gabriel Samara, Peacemaker (1925)
• The Golden Beast (1926
• Prodigals of Monte Carlo (1926)
• Harvey Garrard's Crime (1926)
• The Interloper [aka The Ex-Duke] (1927)
• Miss Brown of X. Y. O. (1927)
• The Light Beyond (1928)
• The Fortunate Wayfarer (1928)
• Matorni's Vineyard (1928)
• The Treasure House of Martin Hews (1929)
• The Glenlitten Murder (1929)
• The Million Pound Deposit (1930)
• The Lion and the Lamb (1930)
• Gangster's Glory [aka Inspector Dickens Retires] (1931)
• Up the Ladder of Gold (1931)
• Simple Peter Cradd (1931)
• The Man from Sing Sing [aka Moran Chambers Smiled] (1932)
• The Ostrekoff Jewels (1932)
• Murder at Monte Carlo (1933)
• The Ex-Detective (1933)
• Jeremiah and the Princess (1933)
• The Gallows of Chance (1934)
• The Man without Nerves [aka The Bank Manager] (1934)
• The Strange Boarders of Palace Crescent (1934)
• The Spy Paramount (1934)
• The Battle of Basinghall Street (1935)
• Floating Peril [aka The Bird of Paradise] (1936)
• The Magnificent Hoax [aka Judy of Bunter's Buildings] (1936)
• The Dumb Gods Speak (1937)
• Envoy Extraordinary (1937)
• The Mayor on Horseback (1937)
• The Colossus of Arcadia (1938)
• The Spymaster (1938)
• And Still I Cheat the Gallows (1939)
• Sir Adam Disappeared (1939)
• Exit a Dictator (1939)
• The Strangers' Gate (1939)
• Last Train Out (1940)

Short Story collection

Of these 37 collections of short stories, 26 of which have been issued in book form in the United States, most of the volumes are series with sustained interest in which one group of characters appear throughout the various stories.

• The Long Arm of Mannister [aka The Long Arm]. 1908
• Peter Ruff and the Double-Four [aka The Double Four]. 1912
• For the Queen. 1912
• Those Other Days. 1912
• Mr. Laxworthy's Adventures. 1913
• The Amazing Partnership. 1914
• An Amiable Charlatan [aak The Game of Liberty]. 1915
• Mysteries of the Riviera. 1916
• Aaron Rodd, Diviner. 1920
• Ambrose Lavendale, Diplomat. 1920
• Hon. Algernon Knox, Detective. 1920
• The Seven Conundrums. 1923
• Michael's Evil Deeds. 1923
• The Inevitable Millionaires. 1923
• The Terrible Hobby of Sir Joseph Londe. 1924
• The Adventures of Mr. Joseph P. Gray. 1925
• The Little Gentleman from Okehampstead. 1926
• The Channay Syndicate. 1927
• Mr. Billingham, the Marquis and Madelon. 1927
• Madame and Her Twelve Virgins. 1927
• Nicholas Goade, Detective. 1927
• The Exploits of Pudgy Pete. 1928
• Chronicles of Melhampton. 1928
• The Human Chase. 1929
• Jennerton & Co. 1929
• What Happened to Forester. 1929
• Slane's Long Shots. 1930
• Sinners Beware. 1931
• Crooks in the Sunshine. 1932
• The Ex-Detective. 1933
• General Besserley's Puzzle Box. 1935
• Advice Limited. 1936
• Ask Miss Mott. 1936
• Curious Happenings to the Rooke Legatees. 1937
• A Pulpit in the Grill Room. 1938
• General Besserley's Second Puzzle Box. 1939
• The Grassleyes Mystery. 1940

An Amiable Charlatan (1915)

AN AMIABLE CHARLATAN (1915)

I enjoyed reading this book very much. You can read it with a smile and imagine the author himself enjoying writing this jeu d'esprit. After all Oppenheim wrote some 150 published books and if you are that prolific you deserve to be light-hearted.
Our typically English hero Paul Walmsley is sitting in a fashionable London restaurant-eating his French meal and drinking his German wine- when he meets an American conman and his beautiful daughter. Lured by his attraction to the daughter, the soon-to-be MP finds himself drawn in to a variety of shady schemes by the ingenious Mr Joseph H. Parker. 

This is a novella length initial story with several short stories featuring the same characters.
Summary: the work of an amiable charmer, a book that is highly readable.


Themes: Humour, adventure, romance. 9/10

The Great Impersonation (1920)

THE GREAT IMPERSONATION (1920)

Selling over a million copies and filmed three times this is Oppenheim's most successful book. Published in 1920 it is set just before the First World War. Two physically similar men who have been together at Eton meet in East Africa years later. Both are in exile, disgraced as a result of the deaths of men they have fought.

The Englishman Sir Everard Dominey is sent to his death in the bush by the German patriot and spy His Excellency the Major-General Baron Leopold Von Ragastein. 

Ragastein takes on Dominey's identity and returns to England and his estate in Norfolk.

The Kaiser and the German secret service have great plans for Ragastein/Dominey as an influential Englishman in the event of war and fund him lavishly. However Ragastein/Dominey has a wife who has become mad as a result of seeing her husband bloodied after attacking the morose rival for her affections. Her further descent into madness comes as a result of the Mrs Danver's-like figure of her housekeeper, the mother of the deceased, who manipulates her.

Moreover Ragastein meets the Hungarian wife of the man he killed in a duel, a beautiful princess who is determined that he will now marry her. 

All these characters, the naive peace-loving German ambassador and others are brought together at the Norfolk house which is haunted by the presumed ghost of the man Dominey killed. With war approaching and the likelihood that Ragastein/Dominey will be exposed tensions and subplots build...

Themes include: adventure, war, romance, patriotism, espionage, the nature of identity.

Conclusion: breathless on the edge-of-the-seat tension 7/10.