The Seven Secrets

Book excerpt: The Seven Secrets (1903) is a mystery novel by Anglo-French writer William Le Queux. Published at the height of Le Queux’s career as a leading author of popular thrillers, The Seven Secrets is a story of mystery, murder, and amateur sleuthing. Using his own research and experience as a journalist and adventurer, Le Queux crafts an accessible, entertaining tale for readers in search of a literary escape. Known for his works of fiction and nonfiction on the possibility of Germany invading Britain—a paranoia common in the early twentieth century—William Le Queux also wrote dozens of thrillers and adventure novels for a dedicated public audience. Although critical acclaim eluded him, popular success made him one of England’s bestselling writers. In The Seven Secrets, a young English doctor named Ralph Boyd is left in charge of his practice due to the sudden unavailability of its chief surgeon. Hoping for an uneventful evening, he receives an emergency call to a home in Kew Gardens. Quickly recognizing the address as the mansion where his fiancée Ethelwynn Mivart lives with her sister and her husband, Boyd fears the worst. When he arrives, he discovers Mr. Courtenay stabbed to death in his own bed, all the doors and windows closed and locked, every servant gone home, and his fiancée and her sister missing. The next morning, as news of the scandalous occurrence begins to spread, Doctor Boyd contacts his friend Ambler Jevons, a merchant by day and skilled detective by night whose services have been used by everyone from local police to the investigators of Scotland Yard. Together, the two amateur sleuths uncover a trail of secrets that will plunge their lives—and the lives of their loved ones—into unimaginable danger. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of William Le Queux’s The Seven Secrets is a classic mystery novel reimagined for modern readers.