Sexton Blake: The Claire Delisle Files

Synopsis:
“Her fascination was extraordinary; her powers over even the strongest of masculine personalities almost uncanny, while her unquestioned beauty had been the cause of driving more than one poor fool of a man to headlong ruin.” The Raven’s Prey, 1921

Mademoiselle Claire Delisle, the beautiful adventuress and criminal mastermind debuted in The Golden Casket in 1921. She was an immediate hit and appeared in several issues of the Union Jack throughout the spring and summer. In all she appeared in six tales, the last of which, The Valley of Fear, is a milestone of sorts in the Blake saga for it is the last adventure in which Sexton Blake teams up with friend and rival detective Nelson Lee.

Francis Addington Symonds began writing Blake tales in 1921. He wrote 15 tales in all, his last tale, The Man from Australia, was published in 1927. His most memorable characters include Claire Delisle, The Raven, Dr. Queed, and Vedax the Dwarf. In 1922 he became the founding editor of The Champion, a weekly boys’ story paper published by the Amalgamated Press. He would later also edit Rocket, Pluck, and Young Britain. Aside from his Blake tales, Symonds is most remembered for the Panther Grayle detective stories he co-wrote with Alfred Edgar, and his award-winning Murder of Me (1946) an account of a murder told from the victim’s perspective.

This anthology collects all six tales in the Claire Delisle saga: The Golden Casket, The Raven’s Prey, The Case of the Chinese Hypnotist, The Affair of the Exiled Princess, The Raven and the Ruby and The Valley of Fear. Enjoy!