|
|
| 1919 1920 1921 | |
|
Publishing: In October, UNION JACK increases size from 20 to 24 pages, introduces a colour cover and a new price of 2d. The first Blake story by W. W. Sayer (better known as Pierre Quiroule) is published. William Walter Sayer was born in 1892. His first tales featured Detective-Inspector Will Spearing (without Sexton Blake) and appeared in PLUCK. After his war service, Sayer became a full-time writer and wrote his debut Blake novel, in which he introduced Granite Grant. In his next, he created Mademoiselle Julie and, from then on, the two secret agents would appear together in a great many hugely popular tales. He gave up writing Sexton Blake stories in 1930 but he may be the most reprinted author in the series, as his tales were continually republished right up to 1986. W. W. Sayer died in 1982. | |
 |
DETECTIVE LIBRARY · Issue 30 · 21/2/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE ADVENTURE OF THE FIVE BLUE BOTTLES by Anon. (E. J. Murray) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: None at present. Unrated |
 |
DETECTIVE LIBRARY · Issue 31 · 28/2/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d AT THE VOLCANO'S BRINK by Anon. (E. J. Murray) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Your Editor's Page (ed.); The death Chair by Anon. Notes: None at present. Unrated |
 |
DETECTIVE LIBRARY · Issue 32 · 6/3/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE BOYS OF KINGSMERE COLLEGE: THE TRUST-BREAKER by Anon. (Stanley Gordon Shaw) · Illustrator: A. Jones Other content: Nelson Lee in the Potteries by Anon.; The Editor's Weekly Letter to His Chums (ed.) Notes: None at present. Unrated |
 |
DETECTIVE LIBRARY · Issue 33 · 13/3/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE BOYS OF KINGSMERE COLLEGE: THE MASTER OF THE FIFTH by Anon. (Stanley Gordon Shaw) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Your Editor's Page (ed.); The Affair of the £10,000 Platinum Theft by Anon. Notes: None at present. Unrated |
 |
DETECTIVE LIBRARY · Issue 34 · 20/3/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE BOYS OF KINGSMERE COLLEGE: THE MADNESS OF BAGLEY MINOR by Anon. (Stanley Gordon Shaw) · Illustrator: Arthur Jones Other content: The Editor's Weekly Letter to His Chums (ed.); The Golden Football Casket by Anon. Notes: None at present. Unrated |
 |
DETECTIVE LIBRARY · Issue 35 · 27/3/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE BOYS OF KINGSMERE COLLEGE: THE 'MORSE' CODE by Anon. (Stanley Gordon Shaw) · Illustrator: Arthur Jones Other content: Nipper at St. Ninian's by Anon.; Nelson Lee in Lancashire by Anon. Notes: None at present. Unrated |
 |
DETECTIVE LIBRARY · Issue 36 · 3/4/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE BOYS OF KINGSMERE COLLEGE: WHO SHALL BE CAPTAIN? by Anon. (Stanley Gordon Shaw) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Nipper at St. Ninian's by Anon.; Nipper's Coup! by Anon. Notes: None at present. Unrated |
 |
DETECTIVE LIBRARY · Issue 37 · 10/4/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE BOYS OF KINGSMERE COLLEGE: SAVED BY HIS FLAG by Anon. (Stanley Gordon Shaw) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Nipper at St. Ninian's by Anon.; The Editor's Weekly Letter to His Chums (ed.); Jim the Penman's Paris Coupby Anon. Notes: None at present. Unrated |
|
DETECTIVE LIBRARY · Issue 38 · 17/4/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE BOYS OF KINGSMERE COLLEGE: TINKER ARRESTED! by Anon. (Stanley Gordon Shaw) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: None at present. Unrated |
|
DETECTIVE LIBRARY · Issue 39 · 24/4/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE BOYS OF KINGSMERE COLLEGE: THE GREAT BARRING-OUT by Anon. (Stanley Gordon Shaw) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: None at present. Unrated |
 |
DETECTIVE LIBRARY · Issue 40 · 1/5/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE BOYS OF KINGSMERE COLLEGE: THE SCHOOLBOY FILM ACTORS by Anon. (Stanley Gordon Shaw) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Concerning the Aerial View of the Kingsmere District (article); The Severed Finger by Anon.; Nipper at St. Ninian's by Anon. Notes: None at present. Unrated |
 |
DETECTIVE LIBRARY · Issue 41 · 8/5/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE BOYS OF KINGSMERE COLLEGE: NEW BOYS AT KINGSMERE by Anon. (Stanley Gordon Shaw) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: The Editor's Weekly Letter to His Chums (ed.); The Fifth Notch by Anon.; Nipper at St. Ninian's by Anon. Notes: None at present. Unrated |
|
DETECTIVE LIBRARY · Issue 42 · 15/5/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE BOYS OF KINGSMERE COLLEGE: EDUCATING HODGE by Anon. (Stanley Gordon Shaw) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: None at present. Unrated |
|
DETECTIVE LIBRARY · Issue 43 · 22/5/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE BOYS OF KINGSMERE COLLEGE: THE END OF THE TRUST by Anon. (Stanley Gordon Shaw) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: None at present. Unrated |
|
DETECTIVE LIBRARY · Issue 44 · 29/5/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE BOYS OF KINGSMERE COLLEGE: A ONE-LEGGED HERO by Anon. (Stanley Gordon Shaw) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: None at present. Unrated |
|
DETECTIVE LIBRARY · Issue 45 · 5/6/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE BOYS OF KINGSMERE COLLEGE: PERCY'S NIGHT OUT by Anon. (Stanley Gordon Shaw) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: None at present. Unrated |
|
DETECTIVE LIBRARY · Issue 46 · 12/6/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE BOYS OF KINGSMERE COLLEGE: A PLAGUE OF POETS by Anon. (Stanley Gordon Shaw) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: None at present. Unrated |
 |
DETECTIVE LIBRARY · Issue 47 · 19/6/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE BOYS OF KINGSMERE COLLEGE: LIKE FATHER LIKE SON by Anon. (Stanley Gordon Shaw) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: The Two Signets by Anon.; Nipper at St. Ninian's by Anon. Notes: None at present. Unrated |
|
DETECTIVE LIBRARY · Issue 48 · 26/6/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE BOYS OF KINGSMERE COLLEGE: KINGSMERE'S REBELLION by Anon. (Stanley Gordon Shaw) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: None at present. Unrated |
|
DETECTIVE LIBRARY · Issue 49 · 3/7/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE BOYS OF KINGSMERE COLLEGE: THE SCHOOL ON STRIKE by Anon. (Stanley Gordon Shaw) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: None at present. Unrated |
|
DETECTIVE LIBRARY · Issue 50 · 10/7/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE BOYS OF KINGSMERE COLLEGE: GOODBYE TO KINGSMERE by Anon. (Stanley Gordon Shaw) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: This was the final issue of DETECTIVE LIBRARY. The following week it was amalgamated with NUGGET WEEKLY Unrated |
|
NUGGET LIBRARY · Issue 24 · Apr. 1920 · Amalgamated Press · 3d THE GREEN GEM by Anon. (Unknown) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: The Panic Plunderers by Unknown Notes: This is a short story supporting the main feature. Unrated |
|
NUGGET WEEKLY · Issue 1 · 17/7/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE CRESCENT OF DREAD: THE CRESCENT OF DREAD (Part 1) by Anon. (Edwy Searles Brooks) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: None at present. Unrated |
|
NUGGET WEEKLY · Issue 2 · 24/7/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE CRESCENT OF DREAD: THE RAID ON CARTERS BANK (Part 2) by Anon. (Edwy Searles Brooks) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: None at present. Unrated |
|
NUGGET WEEKLY · Issue 3 · 31/7/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE CRESCENT OF DREAD: CD38 OR A BID FOR POWER (Part 3) by Anon. (Edwy Searles Brooks) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: None at present. Unrated |
 |
NUGGET WEEKLY · Issue 4 · 7/8/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE CRESCENT OF DREAD: CHECK TO THE CRESCENT (Part 4) by Anon. (Edwy Searles Brooks) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: You and I (ed.); Montelier's Lost Game by Anon.; How Robin Hood Despoiled the King by Anon.; Robin Hood (ed.); The Honour of St. Frank's by Anon. Notes: None at present. Unrated |
|
NUGGET WEEKLY · Issue 5 · 14/8/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE CRESCENT OF DREAD: ON THE WINGS OF THE AIR (Part 5) by Anon. (Edwy Searles Brooks) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: None at present. Unrated |
 |
NUGGET WEEKLY · Issue 6 · 21/8/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE CRESCENT OF DREAD: THE WINNING HAND (Part 6) by Anon. (Edwy Searles Brooks) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: You and I (ed.); The Desertion of Lone Bull by Anon.; The King's Hireling by Anon.; The Story of the Deadwood Coach (ed.); The Honour of St. Frank's by Anon. Notes: None at present. Unrated |
|
NUGGET WEEKLY · Issue 7 · 28/8/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE CRESCENT OF DREAD: THE GREY PHANTOM OF BEECHWOOD (Part 7) by Anon. (Edwy Searles Brooks) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: None at present. Unrated |
|
NUGGET WEEKLY · Issue 9 · 11/9/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE FAKIR'S SECRET (Part 1) by Anon. · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: This serial was later adapted as a non-Blake tale (he was replaced by Nelson Lee) of the same title which appeared in THE BOYS' FRIEND LIBRARY second series issue 511 (1936). Unrated |
|
NUGGET WEEKLY · Issue 10 · 18/9/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE FAKIR'S SECRET (Part 2) by Anon. · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: None at present. Unrated |
 |
NUGGET WEEKLY · Issue 11 · 25/9/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE FAKIR'S SECRET (Part 3) by Anon. · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: The Kidnapped Showmen by Anon.; Buffalo Bill As I Knew Him by James Granger; The Mummers of Nottingham Fair by Anon.; The Defeat of Zingrave by Anon. (Edwy Searles Brooks); You and I (ed.) Notes: None at present. Unrated |
|
NUGGET WEEKLY · Issue 12 · 2/10/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE FAKIR'S SECRET (Part 4) by Anon. · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: None at present. Unrated |
|
NUGGET WEEKLY · Issue 13 · 9/10/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE FAKIR'S SECRET (Part 5) by Anon. · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: None at present. Unrated |
|
NUGGET WEEKLY · Issue 14 · 16/10/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE FAKIR'S SECRET (Part 6) by Anon. · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: None at present. Unrated |
|
NUGGET WEEKLY · Issue 15 · 23/10/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE FAKIR'S SECRET (Part 7) by Anon. · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: None at present. Unrated |
|
NUGGET WEEKLY · Issue 16 · 30/10/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE FAKIR'S SECRET (Part 8) by Anon. · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: None at present. Unrated |
 |
NUGGET WEEKLY · Issue 17 · 6/11/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE FAKIR'S SECRET (Part 9) by Anon. · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: The Tomahawk Of Death by Anon.; A Cellar Night by Anon.; The Green Triangle by Edwy Searles Brooks. Notes: None at present. Unrated |
 |
NUGGET WEEKLY · Issue 18 · 13/11/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE FAKIR'S SECRET (Part 10) by Anon. · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: The Treachery of Grey Cloud by Anon.; You and I (ed.); The Glover's Prentices by Anon.; Nelson Lee Versus the Green Triangle by Edwy Searles Brooks. Notes: None at present. Unrated |
|
NUGGET WEEKLY · Issue 19 · 20/11/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE FAKIR'S SECRET (Part 11) by Anon. · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: None at present. Unrated |
|
NUGGET WEEKLY · Issue 20 · 27/11/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE FAKIR'S SECRET (Part 12) by Anon. · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: None at present. Unrated |
 |
THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 1st series · Issue 108 · Jan. 1920 · Amalgamated Press · 4d THE HEAD HUNTER'S SECRET by Anon. (Andrew Murray) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: 'A Romance of England and the South Sea Islands.' This was later adapted as a non-Blake story entitled SOUTH SEA LOOT with the detective being replaced by Nelson Lee (THE NELSON LEE LIBRARY second new series issue 136, 1932). Unrated |
 |
THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 1st series · Issue 109 · Jan. 1920 · Amalgamated Press · 4d LINK BY LINK by Anon. (John W. Bobin) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: Story features George Marsden Plummer. Unrated |
 |
THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 1st series · Issue 110 · Jan. 1920 · Amalgamated Press · 4d THE CASE OF THE KING'S SPY by Anon. (W. W. Sayer) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: None Notes: The King's Spy, James "Granite" Grant, is pondering whether to delay his wedding to actress Laura Valentine until his next mission is completed when he is knocked out by two men, Dykes and Crick, and delivered to Baron Rodanoff. His clothes are removed and given to a man — his spitting image —. who then impersonates him, pretending to be amnesiac. A government minister commissions Sexton Blake to find out how the memory loss happened. The detective visits Miss Valentine and is spotted by Dykes and Crick. They report his involvement to the Baron. Blake quickly realises that 'Grant' is an imposter. That night, Dykes and Crick fall out over money and Dykes murders his partner. The next day, Miss Valentine introduces Blake to an acquaintance: Baron Rodanoff. The detective has already gathered evidence which suggests the Baron's involvement in the affair and the two men are immediately wary of each other. After their meeting, Rodanoff tries to move Grant to a new location — a house in a remote village named Denesford — but the prisoner escapes and manages to telephone his fiancé before being recaptured. Tinker, meanwhile, has followed the trail to Denesford and watches the house. During the night, the Baron's pet baboon escapes from the premises and is chased by a number of his men. A frightened Tinker tries to get away but falls into a deep pot-hole. He wanders lost in underground tunnels until hearing the baboon approaching. Blake, meanwhile, concerned about his assistant's absence, uses Pedro to track Tinker to the brink of the pit. He lowers the hound down by rope then follows and tracks Tinker to where the lad has collapsed. Pedro encounters the baboon and kills it in a terrific fight. When the trio retrace their steps they find the rope gone, removed by Rodanoff. By following the ape's scent, they eventually find a route out of the tunnels. After returning to London, Blake organises a raid on the Denesford house with Inspector Bradley. Dykes is arrested and Granite Grant rescued. Baron Rodanoff returns to Russia to fight another day. The tale ends with Grant happily married and considering settling down. Trivia: Granite Grant is described as having a dark, short-clipped beard and back-combed hair. Rating: 
|
 |
THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 1st series · Issue 111 · Jan. 1920 · Amalgamated Press · 4d THE JEWELS OF WU LING by Anon. (Jack Lewis) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: A Chinaman named Wu Ling (this is a completely different character to the Wu Ling who is president of the Brotherhood of the Yellow Beetle and who, incidentally, hasn't been heard of since the first issue of the SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY back in 1915) comes under suspicion when his wife, a white woman, is shot by a man whom Sexton Blake identifies as Leon Kestrel. Money seems to have changed hands and Wu Ling is obviously far more than the simple laundryman he seems. However, he remains tight-lipped about the crime, leaving Blake and Detective-inspector Harker puzzled. Blake takes matters into his own hands and virtually kidnaps Wu Ling in order to question him. The Oriental tells his story; how he had stolen a diamond from a mine in South Africa only to be cheated out of it by Kestrel, who paid him a fraction of its worth; how Kestrel killed his wife; and how he, Wu Ling, has vowed revenge. Taking pity on the man, Blake sets him free asking only that he be informed should Wu Ling track down Kestrel. Wu Ling does, indeed, catch up with the criminal, intending to kill him. Kestrel, however, has gained power over Wu Ling, so that when Tinker, who has followed Kestrel to his lair, joins Sexton Blake in an attack on the criminal mastermind, the two detectives are surprised to find their prey being protected by Wu Ling. Kestrel, it turns out, has kidnapped, the Chinaman's child. Blake disguises himself as Wu Ling, meets with his arch foe, and tricks him into revealing the whereabouts of the child. He thoroughly frightens and humiliates Kestrel but, unfortunately, cannot prevent a last-minute escape. Notes: According to this tale, Mrs Bardell's late husband had a career in the Police Force and was 6' 1" in height. Sexton Blake is described as having a 'slightly bald head and iron-grey hair'. Despite the fact that much of this tale is rather slow and dull, the scene where Blake takes great delight in terrifying and humiliating Kestrel is tremendous. Rating: 
|
 |
THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 1st series · Issue 112 · Feb. 1920 · Amalgamated Press · 4d THE CHANGELING by Anon. (Andrew Murray) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: None Notes: 'An Exciting Story of Detective Adventure in England, China and Tibet'. Part one is recounted by Hon. John Lawless, part two by Tinker. Unrated |
 |
THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 1st series · Issue 113 · Feb. 1920 · Amalgamated Press · 4d THE CASE OF THE BOGUS INGOTS by Anon. (William J. Bayfield) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: None Notes: 'A Narrative of a Remarkable Invention, and a Grim Fight to Prevent the World being Flooded with False Gold.' Unrated |
 |
THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 1st series · Issue 114 · Feb. 1920 · Amalgamated Press · 4d THE HAND THAT HID IN DARKNESS by Anon. (William Murray Graydon) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: 'A Sensational Mystery that will for ever lie Buried in the Silence of the Grave.' Unrated |
 |
THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 1st series · Issue 115 · Feb. 1920 · Amalgamated Press · 4d THE AFFAIR OF THE WORLD'S CHAMPION by Anon. (Jack Lewis) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: 'A Splendid Detective Adventure in which the Centre of Sexton Blake's Professional Interest is on One of Two Men Fighting for the World's Boxing Championship.' Features Leon Kestrel. Unrated |
 |
THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 1st series · Issue 116 · Mar. 1920 · Amalgamated Press · 4d BLOOD-BROTHERHOOD by Anon. (Andrew Murray) · Illustrator: Arthur Jones Other content: None Notes: 'A Thrilling and Unique Detective Story introducing Instances of Curious and Mysterious Indian Magic.' This tale is recounted in first-person by Hon. John Lawless. Unrated |
 |
THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 1st series · Issue 117 · Mar. 1920 · Amalgamated Press · 4d THE AVENGING SEVEN; OR, THE MYSTERY OF THE CINEMA by Anon. (Leonard H. Brooks) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: Leonard H. Brooks was the brother of Edwy Searles Brooks and many, possibly even most, of his stories were actually written by his more famous brother. He died of gas poisoning in 1950. Unrated |
 |
THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 1st series · Issue 118 · Mar. 1920 · Amalgamated Press · 4d THE TRAIL UNDER THE SEA; OR, THE CASE OF THE MISSING EXPLORER by Anon. (Reginald H. Poole) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: Story features Dr. Lepperman. Unrated |
 |
THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 1st series · Issue 119 · Mar. 1920 · Amalgamated Press · 4d THE CASE OF THE JAPANESE DETECTIVE by Anon. (Trevor Wignall) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: In his autobiography, this author revealed that he was paid £60 each for the two Blake stories he wrote this year. Unrated |
|
THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 1st series · Issue 120 · April 1920 · Amalgamated Press · 4d THE ADMIRAL'S SECRET by Anon. (Andrew Murray) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: None at present. Unrated |
 |
THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 1st series · Issue 121 · April 1920 · Amalgamated Press · 4d TWICE WRONGED! by Anon. (John W. Bobin) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: Story features Markham Dean. Unrated |
 |
THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 1st series · Issue 122 · April 1920 · Amalgamated Press · 4d SHADOWED LIVES! OR, THE CRIME OF THE COPPER KING by Anon. (William Murray Graydon) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: None Notes: Story features Basil Wicketshaw. Unrated |
 |
THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 1st series · Issue 123 · April 1920 · Amalgamated Press · 4d THE LINCOLNS INN TRAGEDY by Anon. (William J. Bayfield) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: None at present. Unrated |
|
THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 1st series · Issue 124 · May 1920 · Amalgamated Press · 4d THE MYSTERY OF THE THOUSAND PEAKS by Anon. (Andrew Murray) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: 'A Manchurian Romance' featuring Hon. John Lawless. This was later twice adapted for non-Blake stories, the first time with Blake being replaced by Ferrers Locke in THE TEMPLE OF FEAR (THE BOYS' FRIEND LIBRARY second series issue 316, 1931), and the second time with Blake being replaced by Nelson Lee in THE PRISONER OF THE TEMPLE (THE NELSON LEE LIBRARY second new series issue 134, 1932). Unrated |
 |
THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 1st series · Issue 125 · May 1920 · Amalgamated Press · 4d THE CASE OF THE STRANGE WIRELESS MESSAGE by Anon. (W. W. Sayer) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: 'Telling how a strange call for help came to Sexton Blake. Introducing Granite Grant, the Secret Service man.' Unrated |
 |
THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 1st series · Issue 126 · May 1920 · Amalgamated Press · 4d THE GREAT DIAMOND BLUFF by Anon. (John W. Bobin) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: Story features Hamilton Fayne. Unrated |
|
THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 1st series · Issue 127 · May 1920 · Amalgamated Press · 4d THE AFFAIR OF THE ORIENTAL DOCTOR by Anon. (Jack Lewis) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: Story features Leon Kestrel. This was later adapted as a non-Blake story entitled THE HOUSE OF HORROR with Blake replaced by Nelson Lee (THE NELSON LEE LIBRARY second new series issue 137, 1932). Unrated |
 |
THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 1st series · Issue 128 · June 1920 · Amalgamated Press · 4d THE PALZER EXPERIMENT by Anon. (Andrew Murray) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: 'The Story of the Secret of Life, introducing Sexton Blake, Tinker, and the Hon. John Lawless.' Unrated |
|
THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 1st series · Issue 129 · June 1920 · Amalgamated Press · 4d THE CASE OF THE NAMELESS MAN by Anon. (Oliver Merland) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: Story features Topper. Unrated |
|
THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 1st series · Issue 130 · June 1920 · Amalgamated Press · 4d AFRICAN GOLD; OR, THE KAFFIR'S SECRET by Anon. (William Murray Graydon) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: 'Introducing that Battle-worn Zulu Warrior, Shumpogaas, the Staunch Friend of Sexton Blake in the Past.' (See SEXTON BLAKE IN THE CONGO, BOYS' FRIEND issue 294 through to 313, 1907). Also features Basil Wicketshaw. Unrated |
|
THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 1st series · Issue 131 · June 1920 · Amalgamated Press · 4d THE AFFAIR OF THE BLACKFRIARS FINANCIER by Anon. (Leonard H. Brooks) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: None at present. Unrated |
|
THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 1st series · Issue 132 · July 1920 · Amalgamated Press · 4d THE MAN FROM KURA KURA by Anon. (Andrew Murray) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: 'A Magnificent Detective Tale of Stirring Adventures in England and Central Africa, including Sexton Blake, Tinker, and the Hon. John Lawless.' This story was later adapted as a non-Blake tale (he was replaced by Ferrers Locke) and appeared as THE PERIL PIT in THE BOYS' FRIEND LIBRARY second series issue 300 (1931). Unrated |
|
THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 1st series · Issue 133 · July 1920 · Amalgamated Press · 4d THE ONLY SON by Anon. (John W. Bobin) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: 'A Gripping Detective Novel of a Mother and a Son, with a well-written Episode in a Brigand's Stronghold.' Unrated |
|
THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 1st series · Issue 134 · July 1920 · Amalgamated Press · 4d THE KING'S SECRET by Anon. (Reginald H. Poole) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: Story features Dr. Lepperman and Eldrid Kurtin. Unrated |
 |
THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 1st series · Issue 135 · July 1920 · Amalgamated Press · 4d THE MYSTERY OF THE TURKISH AGREEMENT by Anon. (W. W. Sayer) · Illustrator: Arthur Jones Other content: None Notes: A man breaks into the Veuxpillo Art Gallery in London and replaces a painting with a faked version. Before he can leave another man arrives, kills him, and makes off with the genuine canvas. The body is discovered — and left — by Granite Grant. Sexton Blake is called to the crime scene. He finds and identifies Grant's fingerprints. He also notices a woman observing his movements and instructs Tinker to follow her. The youngster does so, little realising that it's Mlle. Julie. She spots that he's on her track and arranges for him to be captured and held prisoner. Blake, meanwhile, has realised that the painting is a forgery. When he places it in the hands of an expert it is stolen by Mlle. Julie, who thinks it is the genuine article. She is disappointed to find that it does not have what she's looking for concealed in its frame: a cipher. Tinker manages to get a message to Blake who comes and rescues him. The detective finds a telephone number and code word which he uses. He is given a time and place to meet the 'chief'... who turns out to be Sir Vrymer Fane, head of the Secret Service. Sir Vrymer reveals that the man killed in the gallery was Gustave Fulk, and that he had stolen a cipher through which documents relating to the London/Paris agreement on the Turkish question could be deciphered. A man — the murderer — working for a Turk named Kalib Pasha, is believed to have possession of the cipher. Granite Grant, for the English, and Mlle. Julie, for the French, are pursuing this man... and now so is Sexton Blake. The trail takes them all to Algeria and a mosque called Ak-el-baran. Here all the participants gather and, through trickery, Tinker gains possession of the real painting. A struggle ensues and the building catches fire. Blake is caught up in the inferno and only just escapes thanks to the timely arrival of Pedro. Finally, the two secret agents and Blake meet together and Tinker hands over the painting upon the back of which is the secret they have all been hunting. Trivia: We are given a nice picture of the inside of Blake's home: 'All Blake's curios and relics, his documents and papers, his pipes and tobacco-jars—the pictures on the wall, the antlers, the tanned-hide shields, the rusty, antiquated weapons, the boxing-gloves and foils...' Rating:
|
 |
THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 1st series · Issue 136 · Aug. 1920 · Amalgamated Press · 4d THE SHEIKH'S SON by Anon. (Andrew Murray) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: 'A Thrilling and Original Detective Story of Adventure in England and Syria, introducing Sexton Blake, Tinker, and the Hon. John Lawless.' This was later adapted as a non-Blake story entitled DESERT FOES with Blake replaced by Nelson Lee (NELSON LEE LIBRARY second new series issue 147, 1932). Unrated |
|
THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 1st series · Issue 137 · Aug. 1920 · Amalgamated Press · 4d THE TWIST IN THE TRAIL; OR, THE IRISH CONSTABULARY MYSTERY by Anon. (William J. Bayfield) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: 'A Stirring Detective Narrative, introducing Sexton Blake and Tinker in Exciting Adventures in the mountains of Kerry and by the lakes of Killarney.' Unrated |
 |
THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 1st series · Issue 138 · Aug. 1920 · Amalgamated Press · 4d THE BLACK STREAK; OR, THE CASE OF THE SPANISH SENORITA by Anon. (William Murray Graydon) · Illustrator: Unknown THE CASE OF THE DISTRICT MESSENGER BOY by Anon. Other content: None Notes: 'An Enthralling Adventure of Sexton Blake and Tinker in England and Spain.' Unrated |
 |
THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 1st series · Issue 139 · Aug. 1920 · Amalgamated Press · 4d THE KESTREL'S CLAW by Anon. (Jack Lewis) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: 'A Dramatic Tale of a Mysterious Sequence of Theatre Robberies, which Draw Sexton Blake once again on the Trail of Leon Kestrel, the Master-Mummer.' Unrated |
|
THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 1st series · Issue 140 · Sept. 1920 · Amalgamated Press · 4d THE BEACH COMBER by Anon. (Andrew Murray) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: 'A Story of Detective Adventure at home and in the South Sea Islands' featuring Hon. John Lawless. Unrated |
|
THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 1st series · Issue 141 · Sept. 1920 · Amalgamated Press · 4d THE MYSTERY OF THE LIVING SHADOW by Anon. (W. W. Sayer) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: 'An Unique and Thrilling Story of a clever camouflage, introducing "Granite" Grant, the famous King's Spy, and the famous Detective of Baker Street, London, W.' Also features Mlle. Julie. This was reprinted as THE LIVING SHADOW in THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY second series issue 451 (1934). Unrated |
|
THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 1st series · Issue 142 · Sept. 1920 · Amalgamated Press · 4d OUT OF REACH OF THE LAW by Anon. (John W. Bobin) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: Story features George Marsden Plummer and the Council of Nine. Unrated |
|
THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 1st series · Issue 143 · Sept. 1920 · Amalgamated Press · 4d THE HOUSE WITH THE RED BLINDS by Anon. (Trevor Wignall) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: See note under SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY issue 119. Unrated |
|
THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 1st series · Issue 144 · Oct. 1920 · Amalgamated Press · 4d THE SECRET OF THE HUNGER DESERT by Anon. (Andrew Murray) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: Story features Hon. John Lawless. This was later adapted as a non-Blake story entitled THE TREASURE OF THE HUNGER DESERT with Blake replaced by Nelson Lee (THE NELSON LEE LIBRARY second new series issue 149, 1932). Unrated |
 |
THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 1st series · Issue 145 · Oct. 1920 · Amalgamated Press · 4d THE MARBLE-ARCH MYSTERY by Anon. (William J. Bayfield) · Illustrator: Arthur Jones THE FOOTMAN FROM FRANCE by Anon. (William Murray Graydon) · Illustrator: None Other content: None Trivia: THE FOOTMAN FROM FRANCE is reprinted from THE BOYS' REALM issue 230. Notes: None at present. Unrated |
|
THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 1st series · Issue 146 · Oct. 1920 · Amalgamated Press · 4d THE VENGEANCE OF THREE by Anon. (William Murray Graydon) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: Story features Basil Wiketshaw. Unrated |
|
THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 1st series · Issue 147 · Oct. 1920 · Amalgamated Press · 4d THE MYSTERY OF THE X.O.4. by Anon. (Jack Lewis) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: Story features Leon Kestrel. Unrated |
|
THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 1st series · Issue 148 · Nov. 1920 · Amalgamated Press · 4d IN THE MIDNIGHT EXPRESS by Anon. (Andrew Murray) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: Story features Professor Kew and Hon. John Lawless. Unrated |
|
THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 1st series · Issue 149 · Nov. 1920 · Amalgamated Press · 4d THE HOME OF HIS CHILDREN by Anon. (William J. Bayfield) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: None at present. Unrated |
|
THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 1st series · Issue 150 · Nov. 1920 · Amalgamated Press · 4d HIS SON'S HONOUR by Anon. (John W. Bobin) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: Story features Aubrey Dexter. Unrated |
 |
THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 1st series · Issue 151 · Nov. 1920 · Amalgamated Press · 4d THE MYSTERY BOX by Anon. (W. W. Sayer) · Illustrator: Arthur Jones Other content: None Notes: In 1890, Prince Bismarck's private secretary stores a box filled with his employer's memoirs in the vaults of Goyle's Bank, London. He puts the bank receipt in a flask which he throws into the Thames. He is never seen again. Thirty years later, the flask is found by a river worker who takes it to Sexton Blake. A German agent named Stromburg has a brief tussle with the detective before raiding the bank and stealing the memoirs. By intercepting a letter from Lord Vavasour to Stromburg's employer, Count Dorflisch, Blake learns what the box in the bank vault had contained. Vavasour's letter concerns a forthcoming meeting between him and Dorflisch. When this occurs at Vavasour's home, Mylton Towers, Dorflisch reveals that the memoirs contain damning facts about Vavasour's father. His attempted blackmail is cut short though; Vavasour leaves the room for a moment and when he returns he finds a man dead on the floor and Dorflisch gone. But even worse, he discovers that important government papers pertaining to Persia have been stolen from his desk. A disguised Sexton Blake arrives on the scene to investigate and sees that the dead man is Stromburg. Meanwhile, Sir Vyrmer Fane, head of the Secret Service, sends Granite Grant to find out what has become of the Persian documents. Mademoiselle Julie also appears on the scene. Between them, they identify the real killer, reclaim Vavasour's lost papers and recover the Bismarck memoirs. Trivia: The author states that Sexton Blake was a mere schoolboy back in 1890. This, of course, cannot be accurate, since the detective's first recorded case was published in 1893. The current story was reprinted under the same title in THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY 2nd series issue 432 (1934) and again as SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY 5th series novel 28 with the title THE CASE OF THE BISMARK MEMOIRS (1966). My copy seems to have belonged to whichever editor it was who chose to re-issue the story and has many notes in the margins and words and phrases struck through in pen — words and phrases which did not appear in the later reprints. Rating: This is enjoyable but hard to swallow — too many people are running around the crime scene while the police do nothing but watch.
|
 |
THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 1st series · Issue 152 · Dec. 1920 · Amalgamated Press · 4d THE PRISON BREAKERS by Anon. (Reginald H. Poole) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: Story features Dr. Lepperman. Unrated |
 |
THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 1st series · Issue 153 · Dec. 1920 · Amalgamated Press · 4d THE SECRET OF THE GLACIER by Anon. (Andrew Murray) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: Story features Trouble Nantucket. Unrated |
 |
THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 1st series · Issue 154 · Dec. 1920 · Amalgamated Press · 4d BY THE TERMS OF THE WILL by Anon. (William Murray Graydon) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: Story features Laban Creed. Unrated |
 |
THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 1st series · Issue 155 · Dec. 1920 · Amalgamated Press · 4d THE FALSE ALIBI by Anon. (Jack Lewis) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: None Notes: Story features The Kestrel Syndicate. Unrated |
 |
UNION JACK · New series · Issue 847 · 3/1/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE LEAGUE OF THE COBBLERS' LAST by Anon. (George N. Philips) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: The Cinema-Athlete by Walter Edwards Notes: John Dane, the owner of a large department store, has become the target of the League of the Cobbler's Last. Some time ago he had accidentally killed a business rival. A man named Grey has been instructed by Zenith the Albino to secure a position in the store. He does so by threatening to expose Dane's secret. In desperation, Dane confesses to his fiance, Moira, who advises him to seek help from Sexton Blake. The detective frightens the blackmailer away but, having seen him use the secret mark of the League, he suspects that Grey's presence in the store has been for some other purpose. And indeed it has: during his time there, the small-time villain gained details of the safe and its contents. The Baker Street detective, knowing when the safe will be most full and therefore most likely to be robbed, lays a trap accompanied by Detective-Inspector Coutts, Tinker and Pedro. Sure enough, Zenith and his gang break through a wall from the next-door building and begin cracking the safe. Blake leads an attack and the criminals are rounded up. Zenith, though, gets away, audaciously leaving a note declaring that he will finish the job the following day. The next morning Blake hears that Dane has moved the store's valuables from the safe to his own home in St. John's Wood. Following a lead, the investigator looks into the background of Mr Grey. While he is doing so, the League of the Last, disguised as a film-making unit, robs Dane. With his business now on the point of bankruptcy and Mr Grey recommencing his blackmail, John Dane is on the point of fleeing the country when Sexton Blake intervenes. The detective, aided by Moira's father, corners Grey and exposes him as the man Dane supposedly shot dead. The store owner is innocent of murder and Grey, his disguise pierced, is found guilty of blackmail. Finally, Blake manages to recover much of the stolen loot... but of Zenith, there is no sign. Trivia: In case you didn't know (I didn't!), a cobblers' last is an iron cast around which shoes are moulded. Rating:  A slight but entertaining tale. But why is Zenith's gang named The League of the Cobblers' Last? This is never explained.
|
 |
UNION JACK · New series · Issue 848 · 10/1/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d KESTREL'S GREAT BLUFF by Anon. (Jack Lewis) · Illustrator: Val Reading Other content: The Four Shadows by Anon. Notes: Story features Leon Kestrel. Unrated |
 |
UNION JACK · New series · Issue 849 · 17/1/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d TINKER'S LONE HAND by Anon. (Cecil Hayter) · Illustrator: Val Reading Other content: The Four Shadows by Anon. Notes: On page 7 Blake makes a reference to Marston Hume. This is the only mention of Hume outside of the PENNY PICTORIAL where his encounters with (and eventual defeat by) Sexton Blake were recorded. Unrated |
|
UNION JACK · New series · Issue 850 · 24/1/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE CASE OF THE CRIMINAL SCIENTIST by Anon. (W. W. Sayer) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: The author's first Blake story. Unrated |
 |
UNION JACK · New series · Issue 851 · 31/1/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE FOREST OF GHOSTS by Anon. (Cecil Hayter) · Illustrator: E. E. Briscoe Other content: The Four Shadows by Anon. Notes: This is a short and simple story that begins in the thick of the action with Sexton Blake in darkest Africa looking down the barrel of a pistol. It’s an unusual and gripping start to the tale but it actually feels like a couple of early chapters are missing. The detective is on an expedition to find lost ruins but it’s only later that we learn the reasons for the journey: a former client has been killed but before he died he sent Blake a map describing an ancient Roman city in which a fortune of gold and jewels can be found. Blake has been en route for some time with the client’s killer hot on his tail. This villain, Strives, is determined to lay claim to the treasure and, to help him, has hired the services of the Manoorie, a vicious tribe of cannibals. Blake is also assisted - by Sir Richard Losely and Lobangu. The two safaris venture into unknown land where they encounter the Forest of Ghosts. This is an area where all the trees are dead and festooned with moss, where no birds sing and everything is silent. Here, one of the bearers is crushed to death by a huge creature resembling an armadillo. It’s a dinosaur! Blake shoots it and the natives devour the corpse. Apparently it tastes like crocodile tail. After temporarily shaking off Strivers and his cannibals, Blake reaches the ruins and discovers the gold. But his explorations are interrupted when a herd of dinosaurs enters the city. Fortunately, the beasts are distracted by the arrival of the pursuing party and poor old Strivers gets his head bitten off. Blake and co. wait until the herd disperses with the coming of daylight then build canoes and escape back to civilisation. Yup, it’s as simplistic as that. Rating:  Strictly a pot-boiler, this is a quick and mildly entertaining read but, with the exception of a very good opening paragraph, it has little else to recommend it. The forest of the title should have a haunting atmosphere but the author was obviously in a hurry. The descriptions don’t do it justice and there’s no real sense of the mysterious or of oppression and danger. In fact, nothing in this tale is dwelt upon long enough to bring it to life. As for the tribesmen, the pigeon English they speak (and which is used by Blake and Losely when addressing them) is truly appalling: ‘Blake strode into the midst of the bearers, a light cane in his hand. “What name this fool palaver?” he said angrily. “You make dem monkey noises, you lib for trouble one time, my word!” And he emphasised his remarks by a cut or two at the nearest bare backs.’
|
 |
UNION JACK · New series · Issue 852 · 7/2/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d DOUBLE-CROSSED by Anon. (Andrew Murray) · Illustrator: C. H. B. Other content: The Four Shadows by Anon. Notes: Story features Trouble Nantucket. Unrated |
 |
UNION JACK · New series · Issue 853 · 14/2/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE CASE OF THE VANISHED AUSTRALIAN by Anon. (William Murray Graydon) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: The Four Shadows by Anon. Notes: None at present. Unrated |
|
UNION JACK · New series · Issue 854 · 21/2/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE END OF THE TRAIL by Anon. (Robert Murray Graydon) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: None at present. Unrated |
 |
UNION JACK · New series · Issue 855 · 28/2/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE CASE OF THE RIVAL PROMOTERS; OR, PLUMMER'S "BUCKET SHOP" by Anon. (J. W. Bobin) · Illustrator: H. M. Lewis Other content: Unknown Notes: Story features George Marsden Plummer. Unrated |
 |
UNION JACK · New series · Issue 856 · 6/3/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE BEGGARS' HOTEL by Anon. (George N. Philips) · Illustrator: E. E. Briscoe Other content: The Four Shadows by Anon.; A Word From The Skipper (ed.) Notes: Zenith the Albino and his cohort Jim the Penman obtain an example of handwriting from the manager of Potter's Bank. With this, they intend to forge a letter giving them access, in the guise of carpenters, to Mortlake bank, which they plan to rob. Unfortunately, events go awry when Jim's rough handling causes the death of the manager. The two criminals depart and, by chance, a young man named Elphinstone, who is the manager of the Mortlake branch, stumbles upon the murder scene and is accused of the crime. Sexton Blake and Detective-Inspector Coutts investigate and, while they are doing so, the Mortlake Bank is robbed. Blake sees the connection between the two events and ascertains that Zenith and the Penman are involved. The Albino tricks the detective into a rendezvous at a lodging house known as The Beggars' Hotel and there ambushes him. During a tremendous fight, Zenith receives a gunshot wound to the shoulder but ultimately his men overpower Blake. However, Tinker, suspecting that something is wrong, has followed his guv'nor and now steps in to rescue him. The criminals scatter and escape but there are enough clues remaining for Blake to to able to run down and arrest Jim the Penman. Elphinstone is declared innocent. Trivia: It is confirmed for the first time that Zenith's gang, The League of the Cobblers' Last, is part of the Criminals' Confederation. Tinker goes to the cinema with Nipper (Nelson Lee's assistant) during this story. George N. Philips was one of the few Blake authors to frequently reference other authors' characters in such a fashion. Rating: 
|
|
UNION JACK · New series · Issue 857 · 13/3/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE MYSTERY OF THE S. S. OLYMPIC by Anon. (Robert Murray Graydon) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: This was based on the silent movie THE FURTHER EXPLOITS OF SEXTON BLAKE - THE MYSTERY OF THE S.S. OLYMPIC. Unrated |
 |
UNION JACK · New series · Issue 858 · 20/3/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE INFORMER by Anon. (Robert Murray Graydon) · Illustrator: Val Reading Other content: The Four Shadows by Anon. Notes: After a series of setbacks at the hands of Sexton Blake, the Criminals' Confederation has recovered and is now prospering from a secret location somewhere in London. Despite his best efforts, Blake has been unable to find a single clue to the nefarious organisation's new headquarters. After yet another fruitless day, he returns to Baker Street only to find himself confronted by an armed crook. The man — Simon Martin — says he's willing to reveal the Confederation's whereabouts in return for a pardon, a reward, police protection and passage to a secret location overseas. Blake agrees to this but before Martin can utter another word, Mr Reece appears and shoots him. Blake is unable to catch the master criminal but all is not lost; Martin is wearing a bullet-proof vest. A call to Detective-Inspector Coutts brings that worthy gentleman to Blake's door with a squadron of constables in tow. They bundle Martin into a police van and drive towards Scotland Yard. En route, a lorry crashes into them and drives away. Blake is knocked unconscious. An ambulance arrives and Martin is given medicine before Blake is placed in the vehicle and driven away. Martin collapses — poisoned! The ambulance was driven by Confederation men and now Sexton Blake is their captive! Meanwhile, in the Argent Hotel, which is under new management, Dirk Dolland encounters Mademoiselle Yvonne, who is waiting to meet Blake. When the detective doesn't show up, Dolland goes to Baker Street and meets Tinker. While they both wonder where Blake is, Yvonne is kidnapped. She finds herself at Blake's side in the hands of Mr John Smith, Sir Philip Champion and Mr Reece. They are informed that Martin is on the brink of death. If he betrays the Confederation, they will be killed. If he dies without speaking, they will live — but as prisoners. Word reaches Smith that Martin has passed away... without saying a word. Trivia: Sexton Blake keeps a framed photograph on his desk of Inspector Coutts taken on the day he had accepted an O.B.E. We learn a few more details about Sexton Blake's home, too: an alley leads from Baker Street down the side of the house to the back. A high wall with a gate leads into the paved back yard, in which is Pedro's kennel. A shed is against the house beneath Blake's bedroom window (seems rather risky!) and a back door leads into the kitchen. The ground floor is up one level. Blake's study has a curtained alcove on the right of the fireplace behind which are kept sundry books, an old globe and other clutter. Blake's bedroom opens directly onto the study. This story was rehashed in UNION JACK issue 1,508 THE SQUEALER (1932). Rating:
|
|
UNION JACK · New series · Issue 859 · 27/3/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE MYSTERY OF THE GNARLED OAK by Anon. (Edward Searles Brooks) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: Sexton Blake teams up with Nelson Lee in this issue. Unrated |
 |
UNION JACK · New series · Issue 860 · 3/4/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE HIDDEN HEADQUARTERS by Anon. (Robert Murray Graydon) · Illustrator: Val Reading Other content: A Word from the Skipper (ed.); The Four Shadows by Anon. Notes: Three days have passed since Sexton Blake and Mademoiselle Yvonne were taken prisoner by the Criminals' Confederation (see THE INFORMER, UNION JACK issue 858) and, so far, Tinker, Detective-Inspector Coutts and Dirk Dolland have found no clue to their whereabouts or to the location of the organisation's secret headquarters in London. In those headquarters, locked in a cell, Blake manages to slip a small note into a roll of bread. Uneaten, the roll eventually finds its way into the hands of a tramp who upon reading that there's a five pound reward for delivering it to Tinker, takes it to Baker Street. Coutts, Dolland and Tinker are delighted at this evidence that Blake is still alive, though the detective was unable to give them a clue to his whereabouts. Tinker, though, questions the tramp and learns that he was given the roll at the back entrance of the Hotel Argent. Meanwhile, Blake manages to escape from his cell and out of the Confederation's headquarters via the sewers. After being attacked by rats and almost drowned, he is swept into the Thames, where he is rescued by the police. He proceeds to Baker Street and meets up with his friends. They inform him that his message seems to have originated at the Argent. A telegram arrives from John Smith inviting Blake to dine there. Proceeding to the hotel, Blake & Co find Mademoiselle Yvonne seated at a dining table with Sir Philip Champion, Mr. Reece and John Smith. After an exchange of words the lights go out for thirty seconds. When they come back on, the criminals and Yvonne have vanished. Blake finds that their table stands on a concealed trapdoor and realises that the Confederation's headquarters is beneath the hotel. He has the manager arrested but can't prevent him from pressing an alarm button. The Confederation members flee through the sewers and escape with Yvonne still in their custody. Trivia: This was rehashed in UNION JACK issue 1,508 THE SQUEALER (1932). Rating:
|
 |
UNION JACK · New series · Issue 861 · 10/4/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE STRANGE CASE OF THE CLYDE EMERALDS by Anon. (A. C. Murray) · Illustrator: Harry Lane Other content: None Notes: None at present. Unrated |
 |
UNION JACK · New series · Issue 862 · 17/4/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d TINKER'S BIG CASE by Anon. (Edward Searles Brooks) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: The Four Shadows by Anon. Notes: This story is recounted by Tinker. Unrated |
|
UNION JACK · New series · Issue 863 · 24/4/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE CARGO STEALERS by Anon. (Andrew Murray) · Illustrator: H. M. Lewis Other content: None Notes: Sexton Blake is asked to look into a spate of cargo robberies along the Thames. Aboard a steamer, he and the river police disturb a gang of crooks who flee into the darkness. One man, Ben Webley, is captured. He insists that he is nothing to do with the gang but refuses to say why he sneaked aboard. Next day, Webley's niece, Nancy, visits the detective and says that he went to the vessel on her behalf to fetch a note from her admirer, an American sailor named Pete Radley. However, the letter from Radley asking him to do this turns out to be a forgery. Webley, it seems, has been set up. After Blake spots a known criminal named Ethel Matrol lurking near Nancy's tobacco shop, he discovers that her associates, Dave Brunting and Tandy, are being released from prison. He arranges to have them detained and he and Tinker disguise themselves as the two crooks. Ethel makes contact and they find themselves among a twenty-strong gang of thieves in an old river-facing warehouse. The lights are turned out and the gang leader arrives. He is a short thick-set man known as The Owl due to the fact that his eyes glow and he can see perfectly well in the dark. He calls Blake into his private chamber and the two men don diving suits, pass through an air-lock, and walk out onto the bed of the Thames. Blake is led to a metal cylinder located beneath a cargo ship. He realises that the thieves tow this out to the ships, fill it with stolen cargo, and then sink it to be recovered later. Following The Owl's instructions, he afixes a chain to it. He and the gang-leader return to the air-lock and The Owl signals for the container to be winched in. Meanwhile, his gang have been tipped off that Brunting and Tandy are not who they seem. Tinker is captured but Blake makes a break for it and fetches police reinforcements. While they are raiding the warehouse and rounding up the gang, Tinker escapes and follows The Owl as he flees the scene. The crook drives to an office but, from there, eludes the young detective. Tinker does, however, learn that his real name might be Signor Bartello. Trivia: Tinker was taught the art of escapology by a famous music-hall artiste. Rating: 
|
|
UNION JACK · New series · Issue 864 · 1/5/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE DANCE OF DISASTER by Anon. (Jack Lewis) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: Story features Leon Kestrel. Unrated |
 |
UNION JACK · New series · Issue 865 · 8/5/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE CLUE OF THE GREEN STAIN by Anon. (Edward Searles Brooks) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: This story features Waldo the Wonder Man and is narrated throughout by Tinker. Unrated |
 |
UNION JACK · New series · Issue 866 · 15/5/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE MARLEY FARM MYSTERY; OR, THE OPIUM SMUGGLERS by Anon. (Cecil Hayter) · Illustrator: Val Reading Other content: The Four Shadows by Anon. Notes: Story features Sir Richard Losely and Lobangu. Unrated |
|
UNION JACK · New series · Issue 867 · 22/5/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE FIVE CLUES by Anon. (George N. Philips) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: Story features Zenith the Albino. Unrated |
 |
UNION JACK · New series · Issue 868 · 29/5/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE NEW PRESIDENT by Anon. (Robert Murray Graydon) · Illustrator: Val Reading Other content: Curtis of the Fifth by Anon. (probably Edwy Searles Brooks). Notes: While the police clear out and search the Argent Hotel — formerly the headquarters of the Criminals' Confederation — Sexton Blake, Dirk Dolland and Detective-Inspector Coutts show the Home Secretary around. During the tour, they encounter a disguised Confederation man who seems to be searching for something. He escapes and, after a fruitless chase, Blake returns to Baker Street. Later, he is visited by Coutts who tells him that the Home Secretary and Sir Henry Fairfax, head of Scotland Yard, have both been kidnapped by the nefarious organisation. The detective receives a letter from John Smith, President of the Confederation, in which a compact is proposed: the two men will be returned safely provided one of Smith's men is allowed to enter the hotel unhampered and unwatched for ten minutes. An accompanying letter from the Home Secretary bids Blake accept the deal, so he does. After the Confederation man has made his visit, Blake investigates and find that something was retrieved from a secret compartment in a piece of furniture. When Coutts tries to open it, there is a massive explosion which, miraculously, everyone survives unscathed. Meanwhile, a meeting of the Confederation is called and Mr. Reece gains support for his proposal to kill Blake & Co. once and for all. This runs counter to the wishes of John Smith and Sir Philip Champion and marks Reece's ascendency within the organisation. Now operating under the name the Tip Top Film Company, the Confederation sends a man to Baker Street who proposes that Blake and his friends should portray themselves in a film about their fight against the criminal gang. It will be, they are told, a wonderful item of propaganda against the Confederation. This argument persuades them and soon Blake, Dolland, Tinker and Coutts find themselves tied to pillars in a film studio to enact an action scene. However, when Mademoiselle Yvonne is brought out and tied up with them, Blake realises that they've fallen into a trap. Reece sets fire to the studio and the Confederation men depart, leaving the detective and his friends to burn to death. Pedro comes to the rescue, chewing through his master's bonds. They all escape the blaze but fail to recapture Reece and his cohorts, who sail away on a yacht. Trivia: This was rehashed in UNION JACK issue 1,513 CROOKS DIVIDED (1932). Rating: 
|
 |
UNION JACK · New series · Issue 869 · 5/6/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d DIRK DOLLAND'S DILEMMA; OR, NO.14 STAMFORD ROW by Anon. (Robert Murray Graydon) · Illustrator: Val Reading Other content: Curtis of the Fifth by Anon. (probably Edwy Searles Brooks). Notes: Detective-Inspector Coutts visits Baker Street to inform Sexton Blake that the yacht belonging to the Criminals' Confederation has sunk in a storm. Pieces of wreckage have been discovered on the Belgian coast and among them have been found, apparently, the bodies of John Smith, Sir Philip Champion and Mr. Reece. Coutts has with him photographs flown over from Belgium; they show the corpses of the three criminals. Coutts leaves for the continent to examine the bodies. Meanwhile, Dolland goes home and finds a letter, delivered the day before, which invites him to help retrieve — and take a share in — a large amount of stolen loot. He suspects that this might be a hidden cache left by the Confederation and kicks himself that he's missed the appointment with its mystery writer. Shoving the letter into his coat pocket he goes to his club. When he leaves, he finds that his hat and coat have been accidently given to someone else. He traces this person to 14 Stamford Row and finds the man in the house slumped across his desk, seemingly dead. Moments later, though, the man revives and tells Dolland to call the police. Dolland leaves the house but remembers that there was a telephone in it and so returns. He finds that the man has vanished. A search reveals that he was the person responsible for the letter and Dolland suddenly realises that he might have walked into a trap. He hastily leaves the house just as a taxi cab draws up. Inside it, Dolland sees John Smith! The taxi speeds away and Dolland goes to Baker Street and tells Sexton Blake the full story. Blake identifies the house-owner as Denver-Maughan, a shady criminal lawyer. However, having received a telegram from Coutts which confirms that the three dead bodies are definitely Smith, Champion and Reece — all now buried — the detective refuses to believe that it was Smith that Dolland saw. Things get worse for Dolland; Detective-Inspector Teach arrives and arrests him on a charge of attempted murder. A safe-deposit room has been broken into and Dolland's hat was found at the scene. The deposit box broken into, it turns out, belonged to Denver-Maughan. Blake takes the investigation back to 14 Stamford Row where he finds John Smith and immediately handcuffs him. Smith explains that Reece is now president of the Criminals' Confederation and that Denver-Maughan had been the organisation's treasurer. The deposit box had contained the Confederations' loot, which they have now reclaimed. Blake reflects that while Smith is at last captured, the Confederation will become much more ruthless with Reece at its head. Trivia: Its not explained how the three corpses were so convincingly those of Smith, Champion and Reece. This story was rehashed in UNION JACK issue 1,513 CROOKS DIVIDED (1932). Rating:
|
 |
UNION JACK · New series · Issue 870 · 12/6/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE MYSTERY OF THE 9.12 EXPRESS by Anon. (Edward Searles Brooks) · Illustrator: Harry Lane Other content: Curtis of the Fifth by Anon. Notes: Sexton Blake teams up with Nelson Lee in this issue. Unrated |
 |
UNION JACK · New series · Issue 871 · 19/6/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE CASE OF THE FOUR STATUES by Anon. (George N. Philips) · Illustrator: E. E. Briscoe Other content: Curtis of the Fifth by Anon. (Edwy Searles Brooks). Notes: George Jacob Smith receives a death sentence for the murder of the artist Sir John Grad, for whom he was a butler. Sir John had been killed in a room containing four life-sized statues. The only way in or out of the room is via a corridor in which the butler had been seen at the time of the crime. Elsie West, his fiance, calls for aid from Sexton Blake, insisting that her intended is innocent. The detective, while investigating the artist's empty house, interrupts a burglar who, after a terrific fight, gets away without recovering what he had come for. Blake is able to identify the man as a model named Shrai who had posed for Sir John. He visits the man's lodgings where he encounters Zenith the Albino and Oaklahoma Sam. After being captured, he is driven away in a mock amulance and taken to an iron foundry where The League of the Cobbler's Last have gathered. While he awaits his fate, Pedro, who followed the ambulance, arrives and is told to fetch Tinker. Zenith orders Blake to be put to death beneath a giant press. At the very last moment before the detective's execution, Tinker, Detective-Inspector Coutts and a squad of policemen crash into the factory aboard a small goods train and a battle ensues. Many of the gang are rounded up but Zenith gets away. Learning that the albino will be attending a masked ball that evening, Blake, Coutts and Tinker also make an appearance. Once again, though, Zenith eludes them. The Baker Street detective once again visits the home of Sir John and here he finds Shai who, in attempting to tackle Blake, is crushed when one of the statues falls on him. He confesses to the murder of the artist. George Jacob Smith is set free from prison. Rating:
|
 |
UNION JACK · New series · Issue 872 · 26/6/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE CLUE OF THE GOLDEN HAIR by Anon. (H. Gregory Hill) · Illustrator: Sid Pride Other content: Curtis of the Fifth by Anon. (Edwy Searles Brooks). Notes: None at present. Unrated |
 |
UNION JACK · New series · Issue 873 · 3/7/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE MAN WHO DIED by Anon. (Robert Murray Graydon) · Illustrator: Val Reading Other content: Curtis of the Fifth by Anon. (probably Edwy Searles Brooks). Notes: This is part of the Criminals' Confederation story arc and it features Mr. Reece. It was rehashed in UNION JACK issue 1,518 THE SHADOW (1932). Unrated |
 |
UNION JACK · New series · Issue 874 · 10/7/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE CHESSINGTON TOWERS MYSTERY; OR, THE CASE OF THE EXILED SONS by Anon. (Edward Searles Brooks) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: None at present. Unrated |
 |
UNION JACK · New series · Issue 875 · 17/7/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE DEATH-SPIDER by Anon. (George N. Philips) · Illustrator: E. E. Briscoe Other content: Curtis of the Fifth by Anon. Notes: Blake and Tinker are holidaying in Hampton on the Thames. One morning they find a dead rabbit drained of its blood. Detective-Inspector Coutts arrives and reports that a man has been pulled from the river, having died a similar death to the rabbit's. Blake is visited by a young man named Willington-Smale. His uncle, a professor who lives on a houseboat, has forbidden him to marry his ward, Nora Grierson — Blake surmises that this is because the old man is misappropriating her trusteeship funds. Willington-Smale tells him that one night he found himself paralysed and noticed a haze in his room. Blake examines his wrist and finds a puncture wound. Later, during a crooked gambling party thrown by the uncle, Blake poses as the young man's valet and foils a plot to kidnap Miss Greirson. He then sabotages the means through which the gamblers are being cheated. The whole operation, he deduces, is being run by the League of the Cobblers' Last, that branch of The Criminals' Confederation overseen by Zenith the Albino. The professor is obviously an accomplice of this villainous organisation. Clues suggest that the recent deaths have been caused by a giant venomous spider. Next morning, Blake is overcome by a paralysis and the death-spider, exuding a deadly miasma, appears and bites his wrist. Tinker arrives just in time and, after flicking the spider aside, applies a torniquet to his Guv'nor's arm. The professor is less lucky; just after telephoning Zenith to ask for assistance, he is killed by the spider which is then crushed by Blake. Tinker sets off to fetch the police. Meanwhile Zenith arrives and captures Blake, binding him to a chair and leaving him alone aboard the houseboat with a timebomb ticking away. It explodes, setting the boat alight and, as it sinks, Blake sinks with it — only to be rescued by Tinker once again. They race after Zenith. The trail leads to a riverside factory which the police successfully raid before lying in wait for the albino. When he arrives and is cornered, he pulls a bomb from his cloak and threatens to set it off. They back away from him and he flees, leaving the bomb behind. Upon closer inspection, it proves to be a box of choclates! Trivia: There's a nice passage in this tale in which Blake contemplates the fact that Tinker is 'destined for greatness' and will, ultimately, be the man to beat all the master criminals. Rating:
|
|
UNION JACK · New series · Issue 876 · 24/7/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE SHADOW by Anon. (Robert Murray Graydon) · Illustrator: Unknown Other content: Unknown Notes: This is part of the Criminals' Confederation story arc. It was rehashed under the same title in UNION JACK issue 1,518 (1932). Unrated |
 |
UNION JACK · New series · Issue 877 · 31/7/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE JEWEL OF MURALPOOR; OR, THE MYSTERY OF BOX NO.6 by Anon. (Andrew Murray) · Illustrator: Harry Lane Other content: Curtis of the Fifth by Anon. (probably Edwy Searles Brooks) Notes: Story features The Owl. Unrated |
 |
UNION JACK · New series · Issue 878 · 7/8/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE ISLAND OF DEATH by Anon. (Cecil Hayter) · Illustrator: E. E. Briscoe Other content: Curtis of the Fifth by Anon. (probably Edwy Searles Brooks) Notes: Story features Sir Richard Losely and Lobangu. Unrated |
 |
UNION JACK · New series · Issue 879 · 14/8/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE CLUE OF THE DEATH'S-HEAD MOTH by Anon. (H. Gregory Hill) · Illustrator: Harry Lane Other content: Curtis of the Fifth by Anon. (Edwy Searles Brooks) Notes: None at present. Unrated |
 |
UNION JACK · New series · Issue 880 · 21/8/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE MAN IN THE SMOKED GLASSES by Anon. (Andrew Murray) · Illustrator: Willis Reading Other content: Unknown Notes: Story features The Owl. Unrated |
 |
UNION JACK · New series · Issue 881 · 28/8/1920 · Amalgamated Press · 1½d THE COLOUR LINE by Anon. (R. C. Armour) · Illustrator: C. H. Blake Other content: The Fighting Scot by Walter Edwards Notes: None at present. Unrate |