In the Editor’s Confidence
From Maclean’s
Magazine, September 15 1932
THE STORY is being told of an American tourist
who, on visiting Abbey Craig in Scotland, enquired of his guide the
significance of the national monument that stands there. The guide drew himself
up proudly and said, “It’s in honor of Wallace, who drove the English out of
Scotland.” “Good old Edgar,” said the tourist.
Nine out of ten readers will smile at this
without prodding. Which demonstrates how widely known the late Edgar Wallace
was. And now the book reviewers are offering their opinions as to who will
succeed him as Master of Thrillers. We have before us several British reviews
which favor Luke Allan for the title. At this point mysterious music is heard,
the lights go out, a woman shrieks, a wild laugh curdles our blood and the
curtain rises, revealing, on page seven, the first installment of "The
Fourth Dagger,” Mr. Allan’s latest detective hair-raiser.
Mark you, this isn't all. Snatching the false
whiskers off Luke Allan’s chin, you are literally dumbfounded to learn that he
is really Lacey Amy, a Canadian, who was born at Sydenham, a village north of
Kingston, Ontario, and who at this very moment is hidden away in Toronto
working on his umpteenth novel. Being the son of a Methodist minister, Amy was
educated all over the province, ending up at Guelph Collegiate Institute and
Victoria College, his leading honor course being athletics. His first writing
venture was with the MacLean Publishing Company, as editor of Dry Goods Review (Adv.) but there is
nothing dry about “The Fourth Dagger.” Later he bought a newspaper in Medicine
Hat. There he absorbed the atmosphere for his earlier western stories, and
returned to the East to write them. In 1916 he went to London to do special
correspondence for Canadian dailies. His next move was to France as Canadian
war correspondent, the only correspondent permitted to search for
"color" with the British Army. At the close of the war he returned to
fiction. Since then he has produced fifteen books under the name of “Luke Allan,” in addition to several bearing
his own name and a third name known only to his agent. With his wife he is
a chronic traveller. Since 1923 they have lived in twenty different countries,
with regular spells back home.
As for “The Fourth Dagger," knowing who
killed Aaron Netherwood and how he was killed, we can go off on our vacation
with a self-complacent air that is going to be very annoying to people who for
some weeks must be absolutely baffled. Mr. Dinsmore, who illustrated the story,
shares the secret, of course. But we’ve got him on an island.
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