Mystery and Crime Horler, Sydney: Chipstead of the Lone Hand. V1. 5 December 2012

[Pulpmeister]

Sydney Horler (1888-1954) was the prolific author of around 100 novels, all very lightweight, and most of them "shockers" as they were once called in Britain, in the Edgar Wallace mode but (in all fairness) not quite as good.

Horler was prone to rampant xenophobia, but this book, the second entry in the Chipstead series, is unusually free of it: Chipstead likes France and the French, wants to retire to a villa in Provence, and is appalled at the behavior of the British abroad.

Very few Horler titles are in digital form; this is as good an entry into his world as you are likely to find. Chipstead, a wealthy young man about town with connections to the Secret Service, battles the sinister master criminal The Disguiser. The plot is gosammer thin, but it's all fairly harmless fun.

This edition was recovered from a very decrepit Hodder paperback from, I think, the 1930s, crumbling away before my eyes. The cover illustration was recovered using a lot of photoshopping to remove foxing, tears and whatnot.

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