The Gaunt Stranger

 The Gaunt Stranger (The Ringer; 1925) by Edgar Wallace

Lewis Meister is a crooked lawyer. He represents criminals--for a steep price, usually a hefty percentage of whatever ill-gotten goods they've managed to get their sticky fingers on. And he isn't above "shopping" them to the authorities if he thinks it's in his best interests. But he's done it once too often. Henry Arthur Milton, known throughout the underworld as the Ringer, was Meister's partner in crime for a good while and they did quite well. Then Meister set him up and mismanaged his defense in such a way that he was sent to prison. Prison was never meant to hold the likes of the Ringer, though, and he escaped to Australia where he plotted his revenge. Because nobody shops the Ringer and gets away with it. Nobody. Just ask Toby the "nose" (police informant) who ratted on him once...oops, you can't. The Ringer introduced Toby to his favorite weapon, the knife, and Toby won't be ratting on anyone else. Ever. The Ringer is a master of disguise and, now, London is buzzing with the rumor that he's back in England and ready to mete out his own particular brand of justice to the crooked lawyer.  

Inspector Alan Wembury doesn't much care for Meister, but he cares for murder even less and is determined to foil the Ringer's plans to kill the lawyer. But it's hard to defend against a man who could be anybody...the Ringer's gift of disguise is that good. He's also got an added worry, the young woman whom he has loved since they were young is working for Meister (who gave her a job "out of the goodness of his heart" when her brother was sent to jail for robbery) and he's afraid of what the Ringer will do if she gets in the way of his plans.

The gaunt stranger is a mysterious figure haunting Flanders Lane where Meister lives. The stranger watches Meister. He watches Wembury and the division's doctor. He watches Mary Lenley. He watches everyone connected with the case. But who is he? And is he the Ringer or is he on the side of the angels?

One of Wallace's thrillers, we learn from Curtis Evans' excellent introduction that it was reworked into a stage play and a revised novel called The Ringer. There is plenty of suspense as we wait to see if the Ringer will succeed in his quest for vengeance and how many others he will kill along way. Since we know "who" the culprit is and what the crime will be, the only real mystery for the reader to try and solve is who, among the characters introduced, the Ringer really is. I'm pleased to say I figured that out--but didn't figure out the reverse of the coin (spoiler coded using ROT13) [Xabjvat gung gur Evatre jnf ABG gur tnhag fgenatre, V qvqa'g svther bhg jub gur fgenatre jnf--gb or ubarfg, V guvax Gur Tnhag Fgenatre vf n cbbe gvgyr, orpnhfr bapr V'q svtherq bhg gung gur gvgyr punenpgre vfa'g gur Evatre, V ernyyl qvqa'g cnl zhpu nggragvba gb uvz ng nyy.] The story is pretty standard fare from Wallace. My one complaint--even though this is a fairly short book, it seemed to take for-ev-er for the Ringer to really get busy. As it stands, it could easily have been a short story. There needed to be more real action in the 190-ish pages to warrant its length. Otherwise, good characters--I particularly liked Inspector Wembury. He's quite human and is willing to give Mary's brother a chance to make things right. ★★★

First line:  Flanders Lane, Deptford, is narrow and dingy.

Last line: He raised the glass to his lips and did not put it down until the enormous quantity had disappeared, and Alan watched him, fascinated.
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Deaths = 7 (one fell from height; one drowned; one hanged; three stabbed; one shot)