Wallace, Edgar (1875-1932), was a British journalist, novelist, and playwright who gained enormous popularity during his lifetime for his detective and suspense fiction. His literary output included about 175 books and 15 plays. Wallace was one of the earliest writers of the modern “thriller” novel. His works were praised for their strong plots and exciting climaxes. However, little of his fiction is read today.
Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace was born on April 1, 1875, in Greenwich, England. He was abandoned as a baby and brought up in poverty. He entered journalism in 1899 as a war correspondent in the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902, also called the South African War. He first achieved success as a novelist in 1905 with the adventure story The Four Just Men. His novel Sanders of the River (1911), the story of a district commissioner in Africa, was the first of a series set in Africa. Among his other best-selling novels were The Crimson Circle (1922), The Flying Squad (1928), and especially The Terror (1930). Wallace wrote a number of successful plays, including On the Spot (1930). He also wrote for motion pictures and was one of the authors of the screenplay for the famous adventure film King Kong (1933). He died on Feb. 10, 1932.
