Wallace, (Richard Horatio) Edgar (1875–1932)

English writer of thrillers. His prolific output includes The Four Just Men (1905) and The Mind of Mr J G Reeder (1925); stories such as those in Sanders of the River (1911), set in Africa, and sequels; and melodramas such as The Ringer (1926), from his own novel The Gaunt Stranger (1925).

Wallace was born in London, left school at 12, and did unskilled work before joining the army. He served in South Africa from 1896–99, after which he became a journalist.

He wrote or dictated over 175 novels and volumes of stories in the space of 20 years, finding his true medium in thrillers, which he himself described as ‘pirate stories in modern dress’. Typical titles are The Man Who Knew (1919), The Angel of Terror (1922), The Crimson Circle (1922), The Green Archer (1923), The Clue of the New Pin (1923), and Room 13 (1924). At his death he had just completed part authorship of the screenplay for King Kong.