An African Millionaire
by Grant Allen
317 pages, 6x9, Trade Paperback or Trade Cloth, illustrated. Grant Allen (1848–1899) was one of the most prolific writers of
the Victorian era. Born in Ontario, he lived in both the U.S. and France.
Later, following graduation from Oxford, Allen served a stint at an ill-fated
college in Jamaica, after which he returned to England. Allen was close friends
with and sometime collaborator of A. Conan Doyle (Hilda Wade). His
free-thinking novel, The Woman Who Did, notoriously featured a
protagonist who refused to marry her lover because of her belief in the
unfairness of marriage law (the novel was dedicated to Allen’s wife). His
novels Miss Cayley’s Adventures and the aforementioned Hilda Wade
feature two of the earliest female detectives. Grant’s most enduring character, however, is "Colonel Clay,"
the gentleman rogue and thief who steals repeatedly from the corrupt "African
millionaire," a victim who is repeatedly led astray by the clever Colonel while
fueled by his own greed. A delightful early entry in the British "rogue"
gallery of gentlemen crooks, appearing two years before the introduction of the
much more famous character, "Raffles," the creation of E. W. Hornung.
From our Yellowback Mystery
Series
Trade Paper ISBN: 0-918736-16-1 $14.95