4 African Mysteries: Zoraida, The Great White Queen, The Eye of Istar & The Veiled Man

Book excerpt: "Zoraida" is a tale of a romance in the harem and the adventures in the great Sahara desert. "The Great White Queen" – Scars is a young boy who gets sent to a boy's preparatory school outside London where he befriends Omar, a strange kid from Africa. When Omar is called back home by his mother, Scars decides to join him on what he thought it would be a great adventure. "The Eye of Istar" – Zafar-Ben-A'Ziz, called by some El-Motardjim or the translator, has spent a couple of years in London. Upon his return from the land of infidels, Zafar becomes a dervish in the service of Mahdi. "The Veiled Man" is an account of the adventures and misadventures of Sidi Ahamadou, Sheikh of the Azjar Maraude. William Le Queux (1864-1927) was an Anglo-French writer who mainly wrote in the genres of mystery, thriller, and espionage, particularly in the years leading up to World War I. His best-known works are the anti-French and anti-Russian invasion fantasy "The Great War in England in 1897" and the anti-German invasion fantasy "The Invasion of 1910."