Sexton Blake: Rymer at Large (The Teed Files #12)

Synopsis:
“A vivid personality created so perfectly by one of our best Blake authors, that the great Doctor always seemed to have been a real living person.” ~Josie Packman, Blakiana Editor, Collectors' Digest, 1973

A brilliant surgeon. A master criminal. Dr. Huxton Rymer matched wits with Sexton Blake for over 20 years. Trained in Vienna, Rymer was renowned for his surgical skill, his services sought by royalty and commoners alike. Then, one day, he disappeared, abandoning it all for a life of crime.

Readers of the Teed files have followed Rymer’s career across the globe, witnessing his elaborate schemes—only to see them thwarted by the great detective. Rymer’s solo tales, however, reveal a different side of him. In these stories, Rymer often triumphs, drawing readers to cheer for this masterful and unscrupulous rogue. It’s no wonder he was Teed’s favourite character.

This volume begins with The Two Mysteries, a tale that opens in a field hospital in France during the Great War. Here, Rymer appears to have reawakened his desire to help his fellow men, channeling all his surgical skill into aiding the French Army. Those noble feelings, however, do not last long. When an opportunity arises to enrich himself, he contacts Baron de Beauremon and devises a cunning scheme. It all works quite well—until, of course, chance brings Sexton Blake into the fray.

The rest of the tales in the volume comprise Rymer’s rare non-Blake appearances, collected here for the very first time. Commissioned for Pluck in 1915, Rymer’s solo adventures quickly grew in popularity, leading to weekly appearances by 1916. When Pluck folded, his exploits continued in The Boys’ Realm, until a paper shortage during the Great War caused that publication to fold as well.

Rounding out the volume are three encounters with Blake’s friend and ally, Nelson Lee. In The Black Pearl, Rymer meets the detective for the very first time. The final two tales, A Dangerous Partnership and The Missing Professor, also feature Lee’s greatest female foe, The Black Wolf.

This is the twelfth of several anthologies that collects George Hamilton Teed’s most popular works from 1913 to 1917. Each edition includes all of the original illustrations! Enjoy!