Edgar Wallace, the original writer of King Kong and hundreds of vintage crime, science fiction and adventure novels, created The Avenger as a page-turning thriller about the mysterious death of Francis Elmer, a dark secret and a movie set. The discovery of a mysterious note signed ‘The Head Hunter’ lights up the chase for the murderer and a further series of disappearances brings the urbane detective, Captain Mike Brixan, to hunt for the hunter in a desperate race against time. A classic crime thriller from a master movie storyteller who was a multi-million copy selling author in his time. AUTHOR: Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace (1875 1932) was an extraordinarily prolific crime writer, journalist and playwright, with over 170 novels and nearly a thousand short stories to his name. Born in Greenwich in impoverished circumstances and with a limited education, he eventually found his niche in the press corps where he honed his writing skills as a war correspondent during the Second Boer War. Returning to London in debt, he wrote detective stories to pay his way and set up Tallis Press, which published the thriller The Four Just Men (1905). The Press was a financial failure but Wallace’s continued journalism led to renewed confidence in his writing and he signed with Hodder and Stoughton in 1921, ushering in his most prolific period
in 1928, it was estimated that one in four books being read in the UK was written by him. He moved to Hollywood in 1931 and wrote the initial screenplay for King Kong, for which he is best known, but over 160 films have been made out of his work and with over 50 million copies sold his legacy stretches far and wide.