The Crimson Circle - The Crimson Circle is a quick, competent crime novel by Edgar Wallace about a crime organization called The Crimson Circle terrorizing London.

Tasked with the job of finding the mastermind orchestrating the organization's criminal deeds are Inspector Parr and "psychic detective" Derrick Yale, who find themselves seemingly befuddled by the plague of unsolvable extortions and murders sweeping the city. Tangled up in the investigations are the young Jack Beardsman whose own father is targeted by the criminal organization, and the mysterious young Thalia Drummond for whom Jack carries a torch.

The mystery is plotted well, the pace keeps the reader's interest, and the ultimate resolution, while slightly far-fetched, is not wholly unbelievable. Some of Wallace's crime fiction can be overly convoluted and haphazard, but The Crimson Circle is definitely one of his more well-crafted works.

Mr. Justice Maxell - Mr. Justice Maxell follows the story of two business partners, Maxell and Cartwright, one of whom becomes a judge and sentences the other to prison, the woman they both marry, and their respective cousins whom they take on as their own wards. Spanning roughly a decade, the plot hinges on multiple coincidences involving mutual acquaintances meeting one another at critical points on different continents, and maintains much of its suspense by instilling most of its main characters with shady backgrounds and dubious motivations. Any suspense achieved (mostly through factual omission) is spread thin between lengthy character-driven chapters that feel more like a soap opera than a suspense novel. Not a bad book, but a somewhat dry read without much of a payoff.