The Melody of Death

A 1915 short story by Edgar Wallace, ‘The Melody of Death’ is a thrilling crime story. A mysterious melody causes a young man to descend into mania whenever he hears the tune. Newly married, he is convinced that death is coming for him, and wants to make sure that his new wife will be well provided for following his demise. A fast-paced page-turner, this is an exhilarating and dramatic tale from the famous author.

Edgar Wallace (1875 – 1932) was an English author, journalist, and poet. Born into poverty in London, Wallace left school at 12 and joined the army at the age of 21, where he worked for the Press Corps as a war correspondent for Reuters and The Daily Mail during the Second Boer War. Following the war, Wallace turned to writing for his income, writing numerous stories for serialisation in newspapers and magazines. Hugely prolific, Wallace wrote over 170 novels and over 900 short stories over the course of his career. In later life Wallace moved to Hollywood where he worked as a scriptwriter, and it was here that he died unexpectedly in 1932 whilst working on a draft of what was to become perhaps his most famous work, ‘King Kong’.