Edgar Wallace

Edgar Wallace was a British writer and one of the most popular and prolific writers of the 20th century. Doubling up as a crime writer, playwright, and journalist, he wrote over 175 novels, 40 short story collections, 24 plays, and numerous articles in journals and newspapers in less than 3 decades of writing. At the height of his powers, a popular claim was that he penned a quarter of all the books read in England.

The best place to start is The Four Just Men series, the earliest of Edgar Wallace's multi-book series: it opens with The Four Just Men (1905) and runs to 5 books across 1905–1929, ending with The Three Just Men (1929). Edgar Wallace's other series stand alone, so they can be read in any order.

Edgar Wallace has 236 books catalogued in this guide, published between 1667 and 2026. 132 of them belong to 12 named series — the largest being the Commissioner Sanders series with 8 books — and 104 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.

Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. Edgar Wallace's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are The Four Just Men (1905–1929, 5 books), T.B. Smith (1910–1914, 2 books) and Commissioner Sanders (1911–1930, 8 books), plus 8 more.

This guide splits Edgar Wallace's 236 books into 12 named series and 104 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: Commissioner Sanders (8 books, 1911–1930); J.G. Reeder (7 books, 1924–1932); The Four Just Men (5 books, 1905–1929); Mystery League (5 books, 1926–2008); Elk (4 books, 1925–1930), plus 7 further series.