Sexton Blake Bibliography: 1923

Notes: At Greyfriars School, Dick Russell is one of the poorer pupils until his father suddenly gets a job as secretary to an immensely wealthy man named Gordon Gummer. Mr Russell receives a huge salary in return for looking after important documents and Dick receives plenty of pocket money for the next two weeks. But then the flow of cash stops and Dick's father vanishes. When the lad goes home to find him, he finds the police instead. His father is a wanted man! He is accused of embezzlement and treason for selling government documents to foreign powers. A shocked Dick Russell returns to school and there has to endure the taunts of the bullies. This becomes so bad that, eventually, he decides that the situation must be brought to a head — his father must be caught and must answer to his crimes. So, accompanied by Harry Wharton and a small group of friends, he journeys to London and employs the help of Sexton Blake. The detective searches Mr Russell's house and finds clues that suggest the fugitive is hiding out somewhere near Greyfriars. Meanwhile, back in that town, Billy Bunter has wandered down to the coast ands has encountered Blake's quarry on a beach. He is persuaded by the man that the treason charges are all a part of a government mission that Bunter will ruin if he talks. But, of course, when Bunter meets Blake back at the school he can't control his mouth and blurts out the truth. Mr Russell is duly caught and sent for trial where he is completely exonerated. It turns out that Gummer was the villain and Russell had driven him from the country; but Gummer's servant had stolen the evidence ... which was then recovered by Sexton Blake.

Trivia: A rather extraordinary event this — the one and only time Sexton Blake crossed into the world of Billy Bunter and Greyfriar's! Usually, when the adventures of Wharton & Co. required the presence of an investigator, Ferrers Locke would be the detective of choice. However, in this issue there is an instalment of a Ferrers Locke serial which finds him in Russia. Since he couldn't be in two places at once, an alternative was required, thus the presence of Sexton Blake.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Notes: None at present.

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Notes: This was anthologised in THE SEXTON BLAKE CASEBOOK (1987).

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Notes: Story features Dr. Huxton Rymer.

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Notes: Story features Hon. John Lawless.

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Notes: Story features George Marsden Plummer.

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Notes: Story features Adrian Steele.

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Notes: 'A wonderful story of London and Vienna, introducing Granite Grant (King's spy) and Mdlle. Julie.

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Notes: Story features Trouble Nantucket and Hon. John Lawless.

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Notes: None at present.

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Notes: This story features Topper, Sexton Blake's occasional second assistant.

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Notes: Story features Dr. Huxton Rymer.

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Notes: In India, Blake and Tinker fall into the hands of Gunga Dass. The crook gives them a drug that suspends all signs of life then has their apparently dead bodies placed in a Tower of Silence. Just as vultures descend to pick off their flesh, Blake regains sufficient of his wits to cry for help. After recovering from this ordeal, he is approached by a Parsee whose daughter, Zenda, has been kidnapped by Dass, who intends to sacrifice her to Kali. Blake vows to rescue the girl. Surviving an encounter with a man-eating tiger, he heads to Budgahpoor and a secret temple beneath the Bawhar Hills. Here, Blake disguises himself as a priest and, during the sacrificial ceremony, rescues Zenda. Tinker aids his escape by blowing up the temple's entrance tunnel. This causes the nearby river to divert its course and all the worshippers are drowned. Gunga Dass, however, escapes and captures Blake, Tinker and the girl. The detectives break out of their prison, discover an ally in Lieutenant Price, a British police official, and take the fight back to Dass by employing disguises as a means to infiltrate his palace. There, they learn that Zenda has been taken to Madras. They set out for that city but, en route, Blake is once again drugged by Dass and abandoned deep in the jungle, where he is tormented for three days by a hideous cannibal. By the time he makes his escape, his assistant has located Dass, and a trap is set for the crook. He falls into it, the girl is rescued, and Dass is transported to Britain and imprisoned pending trial.

Trivia: Blake and Tinker are responsible for hundreds of deaths in this tale!

This isn't the first time Blake finds himself imperilled in a Tower of Silence. It first occurred in THE FIRE-WORSHIPPERS (UNION JACK issue 194, 1907). It will happen again, too, this time in THE TOWER OF SILENCE, a novel written in 2013, though it claims to be an unpublished story from 1927.

Rating: ★★★★☆ The usual weaknesses are present—principally in the form of hard to swallow coincidences and good luck favouring our heroes—but the fantastically evocative descriptions of India do much to compensate for them.

Notes: Story features Gunga Dass.

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Notes: None at present.

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Notes: Story features Adrian Steele.

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Notes: In China, George Marsden Plummer, disguised as a mandarin, steals a code book from bank officials. It allows Aubrey Dexter, in London, to fraudulently withdraw £200,000 from the Anglo-Chinese Bank. Blake is rapidly able to identify them as the crooks behind the crime, and has Scotland Yard watch the ports in case Dexter tries to depart or Plummer arrives. Dexter, however, together with his valet, Roberts, manages to slip through the cordon and sails to rendezvous with his partner in crime. Blake, Tinker, Pedro, Detective-Inspector Martin, and Victor Wayland, the young man who had been forced to give away the bank's cipher, set off in pursuit by plane. Hearing that their quarry is heading for Basra, they set course for that city but, after engine trouble, crash-land in the Syrian desert. For two days, they suffer dreadful thirst and torment before then being rescued by an Arab caravan. As they enter Basra, they are spotted by Plummer and the recently arrived Dexter. Plummer overhears Wayland make a disparaging remark about him, and is driven to a fury. One night, he creeps into the young man's room and challenges him to a duel with swords. It is a mistake—Wayland is the better swordsman, and Plummer receives a serious wound to his shoulder. He manages to escape and, with Dexter, flees in a motorboat towards Bagdad. Blake and his friends follow and discover the heavily disguised crooks in a casino. They capture them and hand them over to the police. The stolen money is recovered.

Trivia This case occurs some weeks after after The Case of the Doped Favourites (THE UNION JACK issue 998, 1922).

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Notes: None at present.

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Notes: None at present.

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Notes: Story features Leon Kestrel.

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Notes: None at present.

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Notes: This case takes Blake to the South Seas.

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Notes: This marks the final appearance of Hon. John Lawless.

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Notes: Story features Granite Grant and Mlle. Julie. This was reprinted under the same title in THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY 2nd series issue 458 (1934).

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Notes: None at present.

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Notes: Story features Granite Grant and Mlle. Julie. This was reprinted under the same title in THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY 2nd series issue 523 (1936).

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Notes: Doctor Huxton Rymer and his companion Mary Trent stumble upon the scene of a murder. A man named James Townshend has been killed by Chinamen who seek possession of a map he keeps in his crimson-coloured belt. Rymer makes off with the belt and some documents. Meanwhile, Townshend's daughter, Sylvia, engages Sexton Blake. Her father, she explains, had been entrusted with jewels by descendants of the Manchu dynasty along with evidence pertaining to the correct line of descent, all of which he had buried in Australia. The map is the only clue to the treasure's whereabouts. When Blake and Tinker investigate the scene of the murder, Tinker gets onto the trail of one of the Chinamen and is led to Prince Wu Ling, the head of the Brotherhood of the Yellow Beetle. After narrowly escaping an attack by Wu Ling's henchman, San, Tinker reports back to Baker Street where Blake deduces that this affair is a three-cornered fight that will inevitably lead to Australia. Furthermore, he soon finds evidence that Huxton Rymer and Mary Trent occupy one corner of the triangle. Now all parties set sail for the southern continent — Blake, Tinker and Sylvia Townshend with Mademoiselle Yvonne aboard the Fleur-de-Lys, her yacht. Upon arrival, Blake is approached by Mary Trent who tells him that Rymer has been kidnapped by Wu Ling and will be killed unless she delivers the map. She begs Blake to act as go-between and rescue the doctor. He agrees to this but falls into a trap; Rymer and Wu Ling have actually joined forces. Blake's life is saved by Yvonne and Tinker who, suspecting that all is not as it seems, gather a force of men to rescue the detective. Tinker shoots Wu Ling in the shoulder and all the criminals are captured (though they are later — and rather inexplicably — released). Finally, the treasure is recovered and Blake becomes its guardian.

Trivia: Sexton Blake insists that he has no middle name. This conflicts with the final ever edition of The Sexton Blake Library series 4 THE LAST TIGER in which is published a personal message of farewell from 'Sexton T. Blake'. However, there is a P.S. to the letter in which the detective writes: 'Hah—that middle initial was something I always managed to keep to myself.' ... so maybe he was simply fibbing in this story?

This tale was reprinted under the same title in THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY 2nd series issue 463 (1935).

Rating: ★★★★☆

Notes: Story features Boss Walmer Stone.

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Notes: 'A Story of Detective Work and Daring Adventure, in which Sexton Blake follows up the Clues of Thirteen Marked Doubloons..

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Notes: Story features Dr. Huxton Rymer.

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Notes: Story features Fenlock Fawn.

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Notes: This is a direct sequel to THE DIAMOND SPECIAL (UNION JACK 1,001, 1922). Sexton Blake and Tinker have returned to Cairo in the guise of a seditious carpet weaver named Ben Zukur and his son. Through means of a young army officer named Captain Cedric Dunn, the detective is seeking more information about Prince Hamad and his anti-English activities. Hamad is working with The Three Musketeers, who Blake is trying to capture after they performed two diamond heists in Paris. "Ben Zukur's" outspoken opposition to British rule soon brings him to the prince's attention and the carpet weaver is invited to join Hamad's secret organisation. He accepts the offer and is given his first assignment; to spy on Captain Dunn and discover whether he has anything in his past which can be used against him. At the same time, the prince sends a Greek woman, Madame Soukolis, to seduce the Captain. She makes the mistake of assuming that Dunn has been ejected from the army (else why is he living a leisurely life in Egypt?) and he plays along with her by pretending to be angry with the British authorities. Thinking that he might join their cause, Soukolis arranges for Dunn to meet Hamad. This appointment coincides with a meeting between Hamad, the Musketeers and Ben Zukur. The Englishmen use the opportunity to try to capture their enemies. Throwing off his disguise, Blake pulls a gun and a ferocious firefight ensues. Nearly all parties are injured (the detective takes a bullet in the artery of his arm) but, ultimately, the villains escape and flee from the city ... leaving their haul of diamonds behind.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Notes: None at present.

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Notes: While on death row, Gunga Dass has Sexton Blake deliver a message to a high priest of Parvati. Dass promises the priest that, in return for religious rites to absolve him of his sins, he will reveal the whereabouts of "The Illustrious Child" — a mummified corpse sacred to the Hindu faith that disappeared many years ago. The priest attends Dass in his cell and is hypnotised by him. Dass cleverly swaps identities with the man and returns with Blake to the temple of Parvati. There, he pounces on the detective, overpowers him, and leaves him bound to a booby-trap that will ensure that when Tinker comes searching for his guv'nor, he will inadvertently kill him. Tinker, though, proves more wily than Dass anticipated and manages to free Blake. The next day, Detective-Inspector Rollings is visiting the detective when an elderly Parsee enters the consulting room in a state of mortal terror. His name is Josef Abraham and, many years ago, he paid Gunga Dass to steal The Illustrious Child. Sailing with it for England, Abraham had been shipwrecked. He'd hidden the mummy in a cave on the coast of Portugal. For years, he has feared that Dass, to win the great reward offered for the artefact, would seek him out and force the hiding place from him. Now, Dass is attempting to do just that. Abraham tells Blake that, in the safe at his home, there is a map showing the location of the cave. Blake, Tinker and Rollings race to the man's house, take possession of the map — which Blake memorises — and find a note from Dass informing Abraham that he will telephone at a specific time to be told the whereabouts of the mummy. If the old man is not forthcoming, he will be killed. Without telling Abraham of the note's contents, Blake disconnects the phone and sends Rollings to gather a force of plain-clothes men with which to surround the house. Despite these precautions, at the appointed hour, the old man is killed. Blake uncovers the diabolical means by which the murder was done. Upon returning to Baker Street, the detective is attacked by Dass and the map stolen. Knowing that the crook will make at once for Portugal, Blake and Tinker do the same, unaware that Dass, disguised, is aboard their vessel. When the ship reaches its destination, Dass swims ashore, locates the cave and, inside it, the mummy's sarcophagus, but he becomes trapped by the rising tide. During the night, the solitude imbues him with superstitious fear and drives him to the brink of madness. Blake and Tinker reach the cave just as the tide turns, and they see the Indian's body swept away, his eyes fixed wide with terror. After retrieving The Illustrious Child, Blake discovers evidence that Dass has survived his ordeal and again slipped through his fingers.

Rating: ★★★★★

Notes: An ex-con, Jake Fisher, tells Sexton Blake how he discovered an elderly and blind Chinese priest drugged in the back of a car, and took him home for his wife to care for, only to have his guest abducted from the house. When Blake hears that the Owl might be involved, he calls Hon. John Lawless. The latter, while disguised and staking out Fisher’s cottage, sees it being searched, tackles the intruders, but is captured by them. Mistaking him for Fisher, they summon the Owl, who demands that “Fisher” hands over a silk banner dropped by the priest. Lawless declares that he has no knowledge of it. He then watches in astonishment as Bonalli, assisted by a Chinese henchman, is made up as the priest. During this process, reference is made to the Temple of the Blind. Meanwhile, Blake and Tinker trail one of the Owl’s men, Tim the Badger, to an opium den. There, they discover the imprisoned priest and are able to sneak the unconscious man out. While Tinker takes him to Baker Street, Blake traces and rescues Lawless. After learning from the priest that the Owl intends to rob a secluded Chinese temple of its jewels, Blake, Tinker and Lawless travel across the world in an attempt to intercept him. The Temple of the Blind is built into the side of a remote mountain, and all its rooms and corridors are kept in pitch darkness. Blake learns that the Owl has already entered it. He follows, and finds that the crook is not after the jewels, but rather the platinum boxes in which they are kept. Blake corners Bonalli and, after a violent tussle, they both fall into the hands of the blind priests, who are enraged that their temple has been desecrated by foreigners. Blake and the Owl are sentenced. They will be permitted to leave, but first they will be blinded! Desperate to escape, they strike a bargain: the Owl will use his special vision to assist Blake, providing the detective allows him to go free should they make it out of the temple. They succeed in their escape, and the Owl departs empty-handed.

Rating: ★★★★☆ One of the author’s better yarns. The descriptions of the temple are very atmospheric.

Notes: None at present.

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Notes: Story features Humble Begge.

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Notes: Story features The Owl.

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Notes: Story features Granite Grant.

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Notes: This tale introduces two new characters who will make regular appearances in the Blake saga: Gilbert and Eileen Hale. Lord Witham, Chairman of the Armdale-Witham Engineering Company, and the inventor, Chilvers, arrive by plane at London airport. Upon departure from the aircraft, Chilvers realises that he has been robbed of a small box containing pellets of a substance he's invented that will lead to the development of a new type of turbine engine. The thief is a fellow passenger, a young woman named Eileen Hale, who surreptitiously hides the box in a nearby car's radiator. Witham employs Sexton Blake to recover it. The detective soon gets onto the trail of the girl and her husband, Gilbert, and follows them to Sheffield where, unfortunatly, they drop out of sight. Discovering that the plans of the turbine engine have been stolen from Witham's foundry but that one vital page was left behind, Blake and Tinker sign on as employees working on a 'secret project'. This, they hope, will attract the attention of the thieves. A man named Gant starts to spy on them and, later, Tinker catches sight of him in the company of a Japanese man, Dr Yorima Kamura. These two try, but fail, to recover the lost page. The next day, Tinker assists a man named Colonel Elliott whose car has broken down. He is invited to Elliott's home and there finds two house guests — the Hales! They are civil during his visit but when he leaves they realise that he has taken possession of the pellets. They catch up with him, take him prisoner, and are joined by Kamura and Gant who torture the lad to find out where he's hidden the pellets. However, the Hales object to this and the gang members begin to fight with each other. At that moment, Blake and the police arrive and the criminals scramble out of the window and race away. Though the gang isn't captured, all the stolen materials are recovered.

Trivia: Tinker's age is given as 'about eighteen'. Blake has an agent named Manning who works for him in Sheffield.

Rating: ★★★★★

Notes: Li Hung Su, a Chinese luminary resident in London, summons his manservant, Ames, and informs him that he is about to be visited by an enemy, an American named Hiram Blenkinsop. Ames is to hide and, when Li Hung Su exposes himself to attack, must emerge and prevent it. However, as the mandarin suspects, Ames is in the pay of his opponent and communicates the plan to Blenkinsop. When the American arrives at the house, a written message drops to him from an upper window. It alerts him to the fact that the plan has altered. Ames will meet him disguised as Li Hung Su while the Chinaman, made up to resemble Ames, spies on them. This, though, is a deception. In fact, no swapping of roles has occurred. Thus it is that when violence erupts, Blenkinsop is tricked into killing his own agent. The police are summoned and he's arrested for murder but immediately escapes and seeks the sanctuary of Smith's, the "thieves' kitchen." There, he meets with a group of high-ranking crooks and is introduced by Zenith the Albino to "Mr West," whom he is supposedly already acquainted with. Blenkinsop denies knowledge of the bearded fellow but claims to have seen him exiting a house in Baker Street. Zenith confronts West, suspicious that he might be Sexton Blake. West removes his disguise to reveal himself as Leon Kestrel. Mollified, Zenith allows the meeting to resume. Blenkinsop informs the gathering that Li Hung Su is in the country to deliver a treaty that will ensure Chinese neutrality in the event of a war between Japan and the States. Blenkinsop has been paid to ensure that the treaty "disappears." After the meeting, Kestrel departs, meets with Tinker, and removes his double disguise ... he is Sexton Blake! The detective seeks out Li Hung Su, who is attending a bal masque at the Burleigh Club and is costumed as a medieval executioner. Blake quickly realises that it is actually Zenith beneath the black mask. A terrific fight ensues after which the albino escapes. Blake and the real Li Hung Su hurry to the latter's house, certain that the master crook has gone there to search for and steal the treaty. They learn that Zenith had, indeed, been there but had departed after giving each room only a cursory examination. The document is safe. Blake calls Number Five of the Secret Service and learns from him that the treaty is due to be delivered at midnight and is at risk until then. Li Hung Su's house is under observation by a team of Secret Service agents, among them Julia Fortune. Nevertheless, Zenith manages to get through the cordon and subsequently escapes in a fast car ... unaware that Tinker is clinging to his vehicle's roof! Julia Fortune is in hot pursuit but the crook causes her to crash her motorcycle. She is knocked unconscious. Blenkinsop wants to kill her but the albino won't allow it, so she is left lying in a ditch. Zenith drives to the Green Man public house owned by his cohort Frau Krantz. There, Tinker is caught, bound, and dropped into an empty gasometer that is due to fill a few hours later. Fortune recovers and makes her way to Baker Street. Her information leads Blake to the Green Man, to Tinker's rescue, and to the fact that Zenith intends to flee with the treaty aboard a ship named Gwalia. Blake and Tinker book passage on the same vessel, where they pierce the albino's disguise, retrieve the document, and have the crook arrested. We are informed that Zenith later escapes from Sing Sing prison.

Trivia: Blake has authored a brochure entitled DETECTION BY DEDUCTION.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Notes: Aboard the Kui Sang, en route from Manila to Hong Kong, there are four passengers, one of whom is Doctor Huxton Rymer. When he catches a stoker named Atwood searching his cabin, the man explains that he'd mistaken it for that of one of the other passengers, John Creek, whom he'd followed all the way from the island of Benjemasin. Rymer forces him to tell his story. Atwood had gained possession of two large and very valuable pearls but, at Benjemasin, lost them to a casino and drug den proprietor named Hop Sing. In an attempt to retrieve them, Atwood murdered the Chinaman only to then find that the pearls had already been sold to Creek. When the latter booked passage to Hong Kong, Atwood got a post as stoker on the same ship. Rymer tells Atwood he will help him to recover the pearls and will split the profit fifty-fifty. Days later, Sexton Blake is in a Hong Kong on business when receives a message from a Parisian gem-merchant who has been contacted by Creek. The detective is asked to examine the pearls and, if he is satisfied as to their value, to purchase them on the merchant's behalf. He agrees but is puzzled when Creek goes missing. In the lounge of his hotel, Blake meets the captain of the Kui Sang, who identifies a man passing through the room as one of his four passengers. Blake recognises — and is seen by — Rymer, who is on his way to meet with a tong leader named San Wu. He pays this man to stage-manage a fracas and when the melee occurs, John Creek is, as planned, caught in the middle of it. Rymer comes to his aid, gives him a drugged cigarette, and when his victim is unconscious, makes off with the pearls. Blake hears about it and sends Tinker to follow the master crook. By now, a typhoon is sweeping across Hong Kong, and when Rymer enters a house in a quarter frequented by criminals, Tinker stands an uncomfortable watch. He, however, has also been shadowed, and is attacked from behind by a Chinaman. A fierce struggle ensues, ending only when Tinker, at the brink of oblivion, manages to shoot his assailant dead. Wounded and unconscious, Tinker is discovered by Rymer, who moves the youngster to a position where he'll not be drowned by the torrential rainfall before then returning to the hotel, giving Blake a polite nod as he passes him. An hour or so later, Tinker staggers in and collapses into his guv'nor's arms. The next morning, Creek arrives, having been dumped, blindfolded, in a town square. Blake and Creek go to Rymer's room to confront him but the doctor denies everything, claiming only to have helped Creek out of a jam. The detective visits his friend Kang Ling — a tong leader and rival to San Wu — and learns from him that a merchant intends to buy the pearls from Rymer. Blake arranges it so that when Rymer goes to visit this man, his own game is turned on him, and he is caught up in a brawling crowd. Blake saves Rymer from the riot — but only after first after picking his pocket of the pearls, which are then returned to Creek. Atwood is assassinated in revenge for his murder of Hop Sing. Huxton Rymer, finding that Hong Kong is now too hot for him, books passage on the first departing vessel.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Notes: Story features Dr. Huxton Rymer.

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Notes: Story features Mlle. Yvonne Cartier.

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Notes: Story features Dr. Huxton Rymer.

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Notes: A millionaire art collector named Mathew Cardolak commissions the Three Musketeers to steal a gem-encrusted sceptre from an isolated tribe of jews who live in a remote region of India. Cardolak hates jews (even though his mother was jewish) and wants to deprive the race of this artifact which, according to legend, will one day signify their return to Palestine. The Musketeers succeed in their mission, replacing the sceptre with an imitation. They then escape aboard Cardolak's luxury yacht, the Sultan. Some months later, the theft is discovered and a Rabbi commissions Sexton Blake to recover the sceptre. Already suspecting the Musketeers, Blake and Tinker travel to New York where they meet up with the detective's American agent, Bryant Kennedy. The three then set off for Boston where Cardolak's yacht is harboured. En route, they are nearly killed when their car is forced off the road by the Musketeers. However, they survive and finish their journey. Hiring a submarine and a crew of bootleggers, they attack the Sultan, recover the sceptre and capture the Three Musketeers. Cardolak, however, is not aboard and remains free.

Trivia: This story seems to have been finished in a hurry. There are elements introduced in the early chapters that are left unresolved. For example, the criminals are helped by a native boy who they then kidnap to prevent him from talking. We never learn what becomes of him. Also, Blake takes the imitation sceptre with him to America. Why? We never find out.

The racist overtones of this tale make for uncomfortable reading. There is an astonishingly bigoted (by current standards) statement made by Blake: "As you know, I am not anxious to take cases from the Jewish race, for the simple reason that they usually have to do with financial matters along lines which I do not approve."

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Notes: Story features Adrian Steele.

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Notes: Story features Dr. Huxton Rymer and George Marsden Plummer.

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Notes: Story features Gunga Dass.

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Notes: This is billed as a tale of Zenith the Albino, so it comes as a complete disappointment to find that he has just one scene. Add to this a downright rude and charmless Sexton Blake and you're left with little to admire. Two scenes save this issue. In the first, Blake takes on a heavyweight champion boxer. The fight is brutal in the extreme and the detective has his lights punched out ... but not before he gives as good as he gets. He wins the fight but doesn't stay conscious long enough to realise it. When he eventually staggers to his feet, his lips are split and bleeding, his eye is black and swollen, and he feels like he's been hit by a train. It's very satisfying to witness a realistic and savage fight from which Blake emerges much scathed when usually he just dusts himself off and continues on his way without any consequences. This time, his battered ribs are giving him grief for a good few paragraphs after the event. The second excellent scene is very eerie. A criminal-scientist (Blake's main opponent rather than Zenith) is standing behind a red curtain that divides a room. The detective draws it aside and looks into a space bathed in crimson light apart from a white spotlight shining on the villain's face. As Blake enters, he finds himself slowing down, having difficulty moving and breathing. The struggle that follows is thrilling, though the eventual explanation is absurd in the extreme. However, none of this compensates for the fact that this is a confused and irritating story that throws in Zenith merely for novelty value. It gives Leon Kestrel, the Master Mummer, a similar one-scene walk-on part, too ... but he doesn't even get front-page billing.

Rating: ★☆☆☆☆ Obviously an off-day for George N. Philips.

Notes: In San Francisco, Prince Wu Ling organises a raid on the House of the Silver Moon, the headquarters of Hsui-fsi, otherwise known as Sir Gordon Saddler. One of his henchmen breaks the tabu of Confucius (which has protected the Ling-tse vase since THE THOUSANDTH CHANCE UNION JACK issue 1,000, 1922) and makes away with the sacred artifact. Saddler calls Sexton Blake for help. Blake and Tinker voyage to America, narrowly avoiding assassination attempts from the Brotherhood of the Yellow Beetle while en route. Blake then travels by yacht — Tinker by car — from New York down to Mexico, where Wu Ling awaits a ship to take him and the vase to China. When the Chinaman's vessel arrives, he boards it, but so does Tinker. The lad climbs the mast and signals to Blake's yacht, which quickly comes to intercept the criminal. Unfortunately, though, an accident below decks causes an explosion to rip through Wu Ling's vessel. With a number of craft coming to aid the sinking yacht, Wu Ling is able to escape in the confusion.

Trivia: Blake's American agent, Bryant Kennedy receives a mention.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Notes: Story features Leon Kestrel.

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Notes: Professor Buppy, an eccentric Egyptologist, places an advertisement in a newspaper’s personal columns offering £2,000 to anyone who can steal a small but carefully guarded item. Zenith the Albino has Buppy brought to Smith’s, the "thieves' kitchen." The professor explains that an Egyptian named Amen-Ta has promised to show him the secret entrance to a hidden tomb but only on the condition that a scarabaeus, stolen from his country two hundred years ago, is returned. The scarabaeus is currently owned by an African millionaire named Julius Harbut, who refuses to part with it. Zenith agrees to steal it. Meanwhile, Harbut has got wind of the threat and tries to hire Sexton Blake to stand guard for two days, after which the African will be moving to more secure property, an old cliff-side monastery called Blackrock, on the Welsh coast. Blake refuses the commission. That evening, Zenith calls on Harbut, introduces himself as Detective-Inspector Coutts, uses gas to knock out the millionaire, and makes off with the scarabaeus. When Blake hears of this, he sets Tinker to watch Buppy, to whom the stolen item must be delivered. Sure enough, it is, and Blake takes possession of it. He receives a radio message from Zenith, who vows to steal it back again. Harbut relocates to his new property and Blake, Tinker and Pedro go with him. At night, a nun appears and tells Blake that there are many secret rooms in Blackrock, which she uses as her quarters without Harbut’s knowledge. She takes him to the African, who has collapsed with symptoms of the bubonic plague. Blake sends Tinker to London to fetch medical supplies. The following night, during a fierce storm, the detective catches Amen-Ta in the act of trying to steal the scarabaeus. The Egyptian confessed to purposely infecting Harbut and hands over a serum, which Blake injects into the sick man. Then, after locking the intruder into a room, he sets out to find the secret means of entry the man had used ... only to come face to face with Zenith. A terrific battle ensues, taking the combatants to the brink of the cliff, until it is brought to an end by a massive lightning strike. This disaster wrecks part of the monastery and liberates Amen-Ta. He makes off with the scarabaeus only to have it shot and destroyed by Tinker, who has returned from London. The young 'un finds Blake alive amid the debris. Zenith is presumed to have fallen over the cliff edge and been swept away but, in fact, he was rescued by the nun.

Trivia: Detective-Inspector Coutts’s initials are given as “H. F.”

"Three years before, at the New Caister Hotel, during a severe storm, he had first set eyes on the master crook ..." This is a reference to A Duel to the Death (UNION JACK issue 837, 1919).

"Blake had been in Bombay in 1896 ..." A rare 20th century reference to the fact that the detective was active during the Victorian era, though there’s no story from 1896 or thereabouts that has him in plague-ridden Bombay.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Notes: This is the second story in the history of the Ling-tse Vase. Shortly after the events of THE TABU OF CONFUCIUS, Sexton Blake and Tinker are guests of Colonel Fairfax and are fishing off the coast of California. Blake catches a huge tarpon which Chan, one of the Colonel's Chinese 'boys', guts. Blake, who is watching, catches a glimpse of something in the fish's stomach which he afterwards realises was the Ling-tse vase. This had been considered lost at sea after the detective's previous encounter with Prince Wu Ling. When Blake returns to recover the artifact, he finds that Chan has fled with it. Communicating with Sir Gordon Saddler, Blake learns that Chan works for Chuen-to-yan of the Temple of Eternal Light, one of the three contenders for rulership of China — the others being Wu Ling and Sir Gordon himself, in his guise of Hsui-fsi. Blake agrees to travel to China with Sir Gordon in pursuit of Chan. The following November finds the two men and Tinker in Canton. After learning that Wu Ling is to meet with Chuen-to-yan in a temple beyond the infamous Thieves' Market, Blake sets Tinker to watch his movements. Unfortunately, Tinker is spotted, captured and destined to be sold as a slave in the Thieves' Market. Sir Gordon gathers his forces and, led by Blake, they raid the market and rescue Tinker, who has been flogged by his captors. The following night, Blake and Saddler meet with Wu Ling and Chuen-to-yan on neutral ground; in a temple in which violence is forbidden. Saddler asks to examine the Ling-tse vase and his wish is granted. With a slip of the hand, he attaches the small artifact to the leg of a homing pigeon which he has secreted up his sleeve. Wu Ling and Chuen-to-yan look on helplessly as the bird flies away. Adhering to the rules of the temple, they are forced to allow Blake and Saddler to leave unmolested.

Trivia: Tinker is said to have close-cropped dark hair which he disguises with a blonde wig while trailing Wu Ling. Usually, he is described as having blonde hair. Sexton Blake's extensive jade collection receives another mention.

Rating: ★★★★★

Notes: None at present.

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Notes: None at present.

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Notes: None at present.

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Notes: None at present.

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Notes: This is the third story in the history of the Ling-tse Vase. The first tale — THE TABU OF CONFUCIUS — appeared in issue 1,023; the second — THE SLAVE OF THE THIEVES' MARKET — in issue 1,026. Sexton Blake and Sir Gordon Saddler return to the latter's home to find that it has been raided by Chuen-to-yan's men. A ferocious battle has been fought and all combatants have been killed with the exception of Tinker, who was knocked unconscious during the fray. However, the Ling-tse Vase, which the attackers were after, is nowhere to be found. Unknown to Blake, one of Sir Gordon's men had concealed it in a giant bean pod moments before being knifed to death. The pod had dropped into a stream and was swept away. Believing the vase is lost forever, Blake and Tinker book passage home. They travel to Hong Kong and there board a steam ship. A few hours after their voyage begins, they hear that an antique dealer has recently been murdered back in the port. Blake is given the details and realises that quite by chance the man had recovered the vase and had then been killed, possibly by one of Chuen-to-yan's or Wu Ling's agents. However, a wire from Saddler makes it clear that neither of the Chinese warlords has the vase and both are frantically searching for it. Tinker realises that the murdered man must have sent the vase to England by post and Blake surmises that Wu Ling is also on his way to London. When he arrives at Baker Street, the detective meets with a Chinese ally, Hong-Lo-Soo who has traced the vase to an antique dealer named Carter. Blake and Hong-Lo-Soo drive to the dealer's shop and there find him murdered and the vase gone. The Chinaman mobilises his forces, hoping to catch the murderer, a member of the Brotherhood of the Yellow Beetle. Sure enough, the man is cornered. When faced with Blake, Tinker and Hong-Lo-Soo, he dashes the vase to the ground but Tinker's lightning-fast reactions save the day and he catches the precious item just before it hits the hard floor. The Ling-tse Vase is handed to Hong-Lo-Soo for safekeeping. Later, word reaches Blake that Wu Ling has managed to slip out of the country.

Trivia: Blake's American agent, Bryant Kennedy, is mentioned.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Notes: Story features Moonslayer at takes palce in Canada.

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Notes: None at present.

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Notes: Richard Goyne is notable for having contributed more stories to the Dixon Hawke Library than any other author.

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Notes: None at present.

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Notes: Story features Bertrand Charon.

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Notes: Story features Gunga Dass.

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Notes: In Paris, Zenith the albino meets with Doctor Cartouche, who has invented X-ine, a drug that raises strength and the senses but which is very highly, and instantly, addictive. After the doctor is killed by one of his test subjects, Zenith makes off with a vial of the green crystals by which the drug is made. Some days later, a young man named Bathyde, under the influence of the drug, visits Baker Street and tries to assassinate Sexton Blake. He fails and is taken into police custody, but withdrawal symptoms set in, and, if he does not receive a further dose, he will die. Julia Fortune visits Sexton Blake and reveals that Bathyde is actually her brother, Hubert Fortune. She asks the detective to get him another dose, so that he might survive and be weaned off X-ine. Hubert had been due to meet Frau Krantz at a certain house after he'd murdered Blake. Julia disguises herself as her sibling and goes in his stead. Blake and Tinker also visit the house, in the guise of telephone repair men. Julia's disguise is pierced by Krantz and she's taken prisoner. One of the Frau's cohorts then dons the disguise and leaves the house to lead Blake and the watching police astray. Blake and Tinker depart but, upon realising they've been tricked, return to the house where, through a basement window, they see Julia about to be pushed into a furnace. Bursting into the house, they engage in a ferocious battle, during which the house catches fire. The Frau escapes, leaving them to burn. Blake aids everyone's escape then re-enters the blazing premises to retrieve a sample of X-ine. On the top floor, he finds Zenith, who has come for the same. They fight, and the albino flees with the bottle of crystals, but Blake gets a small amount and, the next day, in his laboratory, finds a means to render the drug harmless. Hubert is cured of his addiction. It later emerges that X-ine is being used to create addicts of government ministers that they might be bribed. Blake impersonates one, meets with the supplier—Zenith—and destroys the sole remaining supply of the drug. Zenith leaves his enemy bound to a time-bomb, but a police constable arrives in time to save he detective.

Rating: ★★★★★

Notes: When a dead man is found in front of the abandoned and semi-derelict St. Barnabas church, Sexton Blake deduces that the victim had been pushed from one of its windows. The police find a note on the man that identifies him as James Raoul, the first mate of the ss. Sofia docked at Southampton. The ship is owned by Count Rothsky who was bringing to England three cases of gems entrusted to him by Russian noblemen. This cargo had been taken ashore and left in the charge of Raoul prior to being transported to London but it and first mate had then vanished. Rothsky visits Blake at Baker Street and asks the criminologist to investigate. Blake surmises that Raoul must have travelled to the capital in one of the motor-vans that deliver strawberries from Southampton to Covent Garden. When Rothsky browses Blake's index, he recognises a photograph of Professor Kew, who nursed him when he was unexpectedly taken ill in Vladivostock prior to his voyage to Britain. Blake realises that Kew was responsible for the illness and undoubtedly mesmerised the count to learn his plans. The detective disguises himself and after walking around Covent Garden discovers a new store established to sell strawberries. He ingratiates himself with Joe and Bert, the men who're unpacking the loads, gets a day's work out of them, and also manages to make an imprint of a key that Joe is carrying. This gives access to an underground passage that leads from the store — which is a front for their criminal activity — to a labyrinth beneath the church. Believing that the gems might have been hidden there, he and Tinker set out to search St. Barnabas. Meanwhile, Joe and Bert report to Kew that the gems have been delivered to Count Bonalli, aka the Owl, who will value them and act as a "fence." The three crooks go to meet him in the church's crypt. When they encounter Tinker, Kew uses a gas pellet to render the youngster unconscious. Blake discovers Bonalli's den, where he spies as Kew and the Owl discuss the disposal of the gems. The professor departs and Blake grapples with Bonalli. Kew, however, returns and knocks him unconscious. Tinker regains his wits in a filthy lodging house, tied and bound and guarded by Joe. He escapes, hurries to Baker Street, and is visited by Rothsky. He and the count return to the church. Tinker falls through a secret panel into the labyrinth. Rothsky goes to fetch the police. Blake, meanwhile, is held captive by the Owl and watches as the crook sorts through a small batch of the stolen gems. When the crook goes to get more, he stumbles across Tinker, who shoots at him. Bonalli flees. Blake and Tinker find the place where the gems are stashed, Rothsky arrives with the police, and the villains' game is up, though they all get away scot free.

Trivia: Professor Kew speaks "nearly all languages."

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ Some lazy writing here. The two master crooks come face to face with Blake and slam and lock a door on him. Not long after, Kew tells Bonalli that he's convinced Blake is "here somewhere," as if neither of them have seen him. Also, Kew drops out of the tale and is forgotten about. The title is too much of a giveaway, too.

Notes: None at present.

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Notes: Story features George Marsden Plummer.

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Notes: In America, rogue millionaire Mathew Cardolak hires a couple of bootleggers, brothers Mike Twin Daly and Jack Twin Daly, to break The Three Musketeers out of prison. The mission is successful and Cardolak transports Algy Somerton, Archie Pherison and Reggie Fetherston to France in his yacht, the Sultan. He commissions them to steal the famous Louis Ostensoir from Notre Dame cathedral. The three crooks develop a clever scheme which involves one of them posing as a crippled friar to transport the priceless relic out of the cathedral under his robes. The heist succeeds but there is an unexpected development in the form of Tinker, who is outside the cathedral with Sexton Blake and who notices the strange-looking monk. When the robbery comes to light, Tinker pieces together the clues and alerts Blake to the fact that the Musketeers are behind the theft. The detective and his assistant join with the French river police as they search for the trio who are known to be escaping on a motor boat. When they reach a small island, they are ambushed by the Musketeers and a vicious gun battle commences. Blake is scraped by a bullet and falls unconscious into the police launch. The vessel is then stolen by Archie and Algy who don police uniforms in order to fool the other search parties. When they find Blake in the boat, they try to kill him but the resultant fight is so fierce that the launch is damaged and sinks. Meanwhile, on the island, the police recover the stolen Ostensoir. They then speed upriver in the motor boat originally used by the crooks and find Blake unconscious in the river. Reggie escapes overland and makes his way back to the Sultan where he is later reunited with his two comrades.

Trivia: Tinker describes Blake's Baker Street rooms as being "stuffed with dusty old rubbish".

Rating: ★★★★★

Notes: Story features Mlle. Yvonne Cartier.

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Notes: Lilith Barradale visits Sexton Blake to express her suspicions of Arnaud Brank and his daughter, both of whom are her brother Frank's guests at Barradale Hall. Her misgivings stem from having witnessed them purposely attempt to hit a stranger with their car. While she's in Blake's consulting room, the self-same stranger arrives and claims to be the real Frank Barradale. It quickly emerges that he has been the victim of enforced plastic surgery, and that the man Lilith has considered her sibling is, in fact, an impostor. Blake and Tinker arrange to be invited to the Hall as guests. There they find a secret room, which Blake deduces is being used by the villains as a base from which to gain control of the family fortune. Blake uses Pedro to trace the crooks from the Hall to an old Mill, where he encounters Zenith the albino and engages in a fight, which finishes with the detective being captured. He is taken to the secret room, paralysed with curare, and told that his brain will be operated on to make him an imbecile. He escapes, turns the tables, exposing Brank and his daughter as crooks, "Frank Barradale" as an impostor, and rescuing Lilith's real brother from assured murder. Zenith tries to assassinate him with a bit of sharp-shooting but is hit by a car driven by Detective-Inspectors Coutts and Harker. Injured, he makes a getaway on a motorcycle.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Notes: None at present.

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Notes: None at present.

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Notes: Story features Dr. Huxton Rymer. It would be reprinted with heavy revisions by George Paul Mann as STATE OF FEAR in THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 4th series · Issue 474 · Apr. 1961.

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Notes: Artist David Stone is a man who possesses extraordinary physical strength. He also lives a double life. By day he works as a cabinet-maker, using the alias 'A. Long'. On Saturday nights he goes to his strangely designed house off Edgware Road — where lives his misshapen brother — and he changes into evening clothes. He then proceeds to a secret gambling club, where he and the other members wear masks to keep their identity secret. On the night this story begins, he is casually noticed by Sexton Blake, who is also in the club. Had the detective followed Stone when he leaves, he would have witnessed him breaking the neck of a fellow club member named Geoffrey Howland. Next morning, the death is reported as an accident. The detective receives a visit from a man named Bramwell Chester, who claims that Howland was murdered and the same fate awaits him. He tells how twenty years ago he and Howland were part of a wild group who lived in the Latin Quarter of Paris. One night, one of the group, John Hasford, had been arrested for the murder of a model, Helene Merchardier. The rest of the group — Joe Thurlston, Ricardo Gospert, Freddie Buckford (now Lord Baymore), and another model, Camille Desmoulins — believed his claims of innocence but conspired against him. He was sentenced to a life term on Devil's Island, where he became known as the Black Eagle. Now, Chester has heard that Hasford escaped from the penal colony six months ago. He also informs Blake that Gispert and Thurlston have recently been killed and they, Buckford, Howland and Chester, all received notes stating that H is free — the guilty shall pay. Blake investigates and realises that Hasford and Stone are one and the same. He goes to Paris and finds Camille Desmoulins in the beggars' quarter. She is a drug-addled wreck and confesses to the murder of Helene Merchardier. Returning to Baker Street, the detective finds himself confronted by Stone. He tells him that he's discovered the truth and that the years on Devil's Island were unjustified. He allows Stone to go free.

Trivia: Twenty years ago is referred to as 'the early days' of Blake's career. His detective agency is now a 'vast International network'. Mrs Bardell has 'relatives' who live on the other side of London. The Grey Panther is driven in this story.

This was anthologised in THE CASEBOOK OF SEXTON BLAKE (2009).

Rating: ★★★★★

Notes: Story features George Marsden Plummer.

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Notes: An adventurer named Jim Priestley is preparing to smuggle illicitly obtained emeralds out of South America. He hides them in six balls of rubber but these are stolen by a crook named Erdurm. Priestly confronts him and gets the balls back but, in doing so, he accidentally kills the man with a blow to the head. Two years later, Priestley is living an honest life in England and is married, with a new baby. His idyllic existence is shattered when a Colombian named Doctor Carlos Amontado reveals that he knows about the killing of Erdurm and coolly announces that he is coming to stay at the Priestley home. He sets up a laboratory there and introduces to the family a nursemaid for the baby. He and this woman then begin experimenting in the lab, injecting a substance into the infant that is obviously doing the child no good at all. Priestley consults Sexton Blake and asks for his help. The detective, pretending to be an old friend, and with Tinker as his chauffeur, visits the family and meets Doctor Amontado. That night, he also recognises the nursemaid — she is Marie Galante! However, Galante, in turn, recognises Blake and drugs him. In the early hours of the following morning Tinker awakes to find the house on fire. He rescues the unconscious Blake and the servants but cannot find any trace of the Priestley family, who appear to have been taken away by the two villains in the Grey Panther. Blake and Tinker return to London and visit the Colombian embassy where news has come through from South America; it seems that two years ago Erdurm had been found injured but was not dead. Emergency surgery had saved his life and upon recovery he had become a reformed character. Blake theorises that Galante has most likely taken shelter in Abbey Towers, the currently vacant home of Dr Huxton Rymer. Disguising himself as that most dangerous of crooks — and concealing Tinker's features behind another disguise — he and his assistant drive to Rymer's estate to tackle the villains. Galante is overpowered and Blake gives her forty-eight hours to get out of the country, Amontado is delivered to the embassy where he is arrested for crimes committed in Colombia, and the Priestley family is rescued.

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ Some inexplicable ingredients here. Why were the villains drugging the baby? It is never explained. And why on Earth did Sexton Blake allow Marie Galante to go free?

Notes: None at present.

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Notes: Story features Sir Richard Losely and Lobangu.

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Notes: Story features Leon Kestrel.

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Notes: Blake and Tinker attend the last of Lord Cloome’s traditional Christmas parties, after which the old aristocrat will be forced to sell Cloome Chase, his financially stricken estate. Colonel Machmont is the prospective buyer, and Cloome would like him to marry his daughter, Diana, so the manor stays in the family. The young woman, however, is in love with the far less wealthy (but much more suitable) Reginald Hammerton. On, Christmas Eve, the guests see the famous Cloome ghost, which has the appearance of a burning Crusader, in the manor’s grounds. To Blake’s astonishment, the ghost leaps to the top of a high wall, runs along it, jumps onto the roof, dances around the chimney-pots, leaps into the air, and vanishes. Blake tells Tinker that only one man is capable of such stunts: Waldo the Wonder-Man! That night, after the guests have retired to their rooms, the detectives set out to investigate. They discover a secret passage, which leads to a room where Waldo is waiting for them. They try to tackle him but he suddenly emits sparks and bolts of electricity. He touches them both and they are electrocuted and rendered unconscious. The next morning, their absence is noted by Lord Cloome and a search party is formed. Blake and Tinker recover and find themselves in a deep pit. Blake manages to climb out just as the rescue party arrives. The following day, Christmas Day, Tinker asks why a particular portrait is turned to the wall, with its back facing outwards, and Lord Cloome snaps at him to stay away from it. Marchmont tells Cloome that he can’t possibly stand in Reginald and Diana’s way and, gloomily realising that the estate is going to slip out of his family’s hands, Cloome allows Reginald to announce their engagement. Marchmont then discovers a secret room filled with jewels—the long lost Cloome heirlooms! When they are revealed to Lord Cloome, he turns the portrait to reveal an image of his presumed deceased son, who he’d long blamed for stealing the heirlooms when, in fact, he’d only hidden them as a prank. Waldo appears in the guise of the flaming spectre and declares that his work is done. He then vanishes into a secret passage. Blake pursues him, catches him, and exposes the fact that, all along, as well as being the ghost, Waldo has masqueraded as someone else, one of the party guests. The Wonder-Man confesses that he’s not cut out to be a crook and couldn’t go through with stealing the heirlooms, which he’d learned about in America from Lord Cloome’s son, who is, in fact, still alive. Waldo slips out of his electrical suit and is introduced by Blake to Cloome. He is then allowed to go free. He departs with a final gift: he has brought the lost son home from America.

Trivia: This is the 1923 Christmas issue.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Notes: None at present.

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