Edgar Wallace

The Duke in the Suburbs Edgar Wallace

The Duke in the Suburbs is a 1909 novel by the British writer Edgar Wallace. Unusually for Wallace, best known for his heavy thrillers, it is a comedy about a Duke who goes to live in a street in the suburbs and the impact he has on the pretentious middle-class residents. It has been described as Wodehousian in style. The Duke de Montvillier and George Hankey, who discovered silver in Los Madges, have moved into Kymott Crescent. Alicia Terrill, widow and relation of Sir Harry Tanner, finds the Duke a distinctly unpleasant neighbour. Sir Harry's son is sent to intervene. Unannounced, Sir Harry arrives with a stranger. 'The coming of Big Bill Slewer, ripe for murder and with the hatred he had accumulated during his five years' imprisonment', has played splendidly into his hands.