Oppenheim, E. Phillips: A Prince of Sinners. V1. 6 Sep 2011
 

Edward Phillips Oppenheim (October 22, 1866 – February 3, 1946), was an English novelist, in his lifetime a major and successful writer of genre fiction including thrillers .A best-selling author of novels, short stories, magazine articles, translations, and plays, Oppenheim published over 150 books. He is considered one of the originators of the thriller genre, his novels also range from spy thrillers to romance, but all have an undertone of intrigue.

Excerpt
The candidate went out to his carriage and the others followed in twos and threes. A young man pale with nervous mouth strongly-marked features and clear dark eyes looked up from a sheaf of letters which he was busy sorting.