The Wicked Marquis

As tenants and estate owners, the lives of the Marquis of Mandeleys and the Vont family have been intertwined for generations. The relationship has turned sour in recent years, following the Marquis' interest in current tenant Richard Vont’s daughter Marcia. Taking her to America, the Marquis set her on a path to a successful career as a writer, but Vont remains suspicious of his intentions and is hurt at being abandoned by his daughter. Bitter and lonely, he has devoted his life to destroying the Marquis and now plots his downfall. An intriguing story of jealousy, love, and revenge from author E. Phillips Oppenheim.

E. Phillips Oppenheim (1866-1946) was a hugely prolific and highly popular British author of novels and short stories. Born in Tottenham, London, Oppenheim left school as a teenager and worked for his leather-merchant father for 20 years prior to launching his literary career. Oppenheim published five novels under the pseudonym ‘Anthony Partridge’ before establishing his reputation as a writer under his own name. An internationally successful author, Oppenheim’s stories revolved mainly around glamourous characters, luxurious settings, and themes of espionage, suspense, and crime. He is widely regarded as one of the earliest pioneers of the thriller and spy-fiction genre as it is recognised today. Oppenheim’s incredible literary success meant that his own life soon began to mirror that of his opulent characters. He held lavish, Gatsby-style parties at his French Villa and was rumoured to have had frequent love affairs aboard his luxury yacht. Oppenheim’s success earned him the cover of Time magazine in 1927. Some of his most well-known novels include ‘The Great Impersonation’, ‘The Long Arm of Mannister’ and ‘The Moving Finger’.