Dr. van Heerden had conceived as his life's ambition the punishment of the Allied Powers for their victory over Germany by destroying simultaneously all their wheat harvest by means of a poison, of which he alone had the secret, called the Green Rust. How this scheme was frustrated just in the nick of time makes as thrilling a story of mystery, intrigue and action as any that Mr. Edgar Wallace has even given us.
furnished the flats plainly, but comfortably, and had let them to tenants who might be described as solvent, but honest. Krooman Chambers had gradually rehabilitated itself in the eyes of the neighbourhood.
Dr. van Heerden had had his surgery in the building for six years. During the war he was temporarily under suspicion for sympathies with the enemy, but no proof was adduced of his enmity and, though he had undoubtedly been born on the wrong side of the Border at Cranenburg, which is the Prussian frontier station on the Rotterdam-Cologne line, his name was undoubtedly van Heerden, which was Dutch. Change the "van" to "von," said the carping critics, and he was a Hun, and undoubtedly Germany was full of von Heerens and von Heerdens.
The doctor lived down criticism, lived down suspicion, and got together a remunerative practice. He had the largest flat in the building, one room of which was fitted up as a laboratory, for he had a passion for research. The mysterious murder of John Millinborn ha
good premise not particularly well-executed
What exactly is this Green Rust? The answer in all its details made my jaw drop. Realistic dialogue between characters. Best of Wallace yet.
A little melodramatic and far-fetched but I guess that's why some of us read these types of novels.
