Sexton Blake: Dawn of the Great War (The Teed Files #6)

Synopsis:
WAR! “My chums, at the moment of writing this I learn that the great blow has fallen. England is to war against Germany! By the time these words greet your eye, all manner of awful, indescribable things may have happened!” ~ The Skipper, The Union Jack #568, 1914

The long predicted European war had come, and Blake and Tinker were naturally quick to volunteer and serve their King and Country. This anthology collects some of their earliest exploits behind enemy lines and finds them allied with good friends and pitted against old foes.

The anthology begins with The Crimson Pearl, a pre-war tale that finds Blake in the South Pacific on an international manhunt determined to bring Black McCabe, a British criminal, to justice. However, as he closes in on his quarry his task is complicated somewhat by the unexpected appearance of Dr. Huxton Rymer and San of the Brotherhood of the Yellow Beetle, the late Wu Ling’s right hand man. The pair, it seems, are contesting the possession of the precious stone that gives the story its title. Fortunately the scales become somewhat balanced thanks to the arrival of Yvonne Cartier and her yacht the Fleur-de-Lys.

n the second tale, The Sweater’s Punishment, Mademoiselle Yvonne turns social justice crusader as she confronts a harsh, demanding employer (a sweater, in the slang of the era) over the deplorable working conditions imposed on his workers. Yvonne and her team are in fine form and the tale is reminiscent of her exploits in the Yvonne’s Vengeance series.

In the third tale, The Refugee, Blake is sent behind German lines to search for a missing British spy and a top secret package stolen from German High Command. Baron Robert de Beauremon and The Council of Eleven are also on the trail and it will take all the detective’s cunning and skill to outwit them.

In the fourth tale, The Great Cigarette Mystery, Yvonne teams up with Blake to thwart a plot against the British Tommies on the front lines.

The last tale, A Voice from the Dead, features San and the Brotherhood of the Yellow Beetle in a search for a treasure from a lost and forgotten civilization.

This is the sixth of 14 anthologies that collects G. H. Teed’s most popular works from 1913 to 1917. Each edition includes all of the original illustrations! Enjoy!