One should never wait for more than a few hours before writing up a review/synopsis of an Edgar Wallace tale. They're so convoluted one can hardly remember what happened just a few days later on. At least that's the case for those us with "mature" minds. Whatever, Wallace is always supremely entertaining, and invariably results in a Good Read.

In this case, a mysterious entity (person?) known as the Crimson Circle is about the business of extorting money from rich folks. Unless the money shows up where and when dictated, said folks will be murdered. And...they are! It seems that the head of the Crimson Circle has a host of henchmen (henchpeople?) to assist him, but none of them really knows another, nor do they know who is giving out the orders. How to unravel it all?

So, the police work away on this, partly assisted by a private detective, who effects to be a proponent of psychometry. He can hold a spoon, or something, and tell you about the person associated with the spoon, or some such.

Anyway, we have Jack Beardmore, whose father was one of the murdered. He gets involved with the investigation, which is being spearheaded by Insp. Parr. The mysterious psychometric detective, Derrick Yale, hangs around to help. They keep running into Thalia Drummond, who is reputed to be "a crook and companion of crooks". Jack is smitten by Thallia and can't believe her alleged criminal behavior.

Well, anyway, we have interesting characters, shady goings on, unearthing skulduggery from the past and so on. Eventually, all is laid bare. A good read [should be given ***+].