The Melody of Death

An enjoyable short work from Edgar Wallace, originally published in 1915. Few people today would recognize the name Edgar Wallace but before his death in 1933 he was a literary force to be reckoned with. He was both prolific and popular and his books reportedly sold at the rate of 5,000 a day. The Melody of Death is a novel about a young man who starts behaving strangely upon hearing a certain melody. Fearing that he may be suffering from cancer, Gilbert Standerton asks the doctor to deliver the bad news in an unusual way. In the meantime, he desperately searches for a way of providing for his bride after his death-including crime. An excellent minor plot supplies an eerie atmosphere and explains the title. Edgar Wallace provides a thrill of another sort!