Edgar Wallace (1875–1932) was an English writer, playwright, screenwriter, and journalist. A contemporary of Arthur Conan Doyle, he surpassed his creator of the very same Sherlock Holmes in popularity at the time. Edgar Wallace is one of the best-known English authors of the detective genre.
The novel is written in the meticulous manner characteristic of English authors: a scrupulous investigation of motives and the methods used to uncover a crime.