The Clue of the New Pin

by Edgar Wallace

Jesse Trasmere is a miser with a deep distrust of the bank. He has made a fortune in China, but keeps it hoarded in his prison-like house. Although his nephew, Rex Lander, receives a generous allowance from his uncle, it is not enough for his extravagant lifestyle. One day Trasmere breaks with routine and informs his valet, Walters, that he is going out of town for a while to avoid an acquaintance from his past. So how does this explain Trasmere's body later found in a locked vault?

Genres: Mystery, Crime, Fiction, Thriller, Golden Age Mystery, British Literature, Classics

200 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1923

About the author

Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace (1875-1932) was a prolific British crime writer, journalist and playwright, who wrote 175 novels, 24 plays, and countless articles in newspapers and journals.

Over 160 films have been made of his novels, more than any other author. In the 1920s, one of Wallace's publishers claimed that a quarter of all books read in England were written by him.

He is most famous today as the co-creator of "King Kong", writing the early screenplay and story for the movie, as well as a short story "King Kong" (1933) credited to him and Draycott Dell. He was known for the J. G. Reeder detective stories, The Four Just Men, the Ringer, and for creating the Green Archer character during his lifetime.

Reviews

[James Hold · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Clue of the New Pin, by Edgar Wallace, 1923 --- Somebody is after something. We don't know what other than it appears to be in a Chinese box. Along the way there's a murder. We don't know why. Tab spends his time being burgled, shot at, shackled, and bricked up behind a wall. Ursula knows what it's all about but won't say anything. We never learn why she's reticent. Also Detective Carver knows the identity of the murderer but won't tell anyone. Let's see, what else? Oh, right. There's a pin. Somehow it works in effecting a locked room mystery. It's never spelled out just how the pin functions. The villain begins to demonstrate and Tab goes, 'Oh, now I get it' and that's all we get. Maybe Wallace thought it'd be obvious to the reader but it went over my head. I think Wallace started this without a plot in mind, hoping something would develop as he went on. It all makes up for an overly-padded tale. The story is not totally worthless. It contains a beautiful quote on natural religion:

"I am a believer in God," he said, "in 'x,' in something beyond definition. Churches and sects, religions of all kinds are monopolies. God is like the water that flows down the mountainside and fills the brooks and the rivers. There come certain men who bottle the waters, some in ugly bottles, some in beautiful bottles, and these bottles they sell, saying that 'only this water will quench your thirst.' That it does quench thirst we will not deny, but the water is often a little stale and flat and the sparkle has gone out of it. You can drink better from the hollow of your hands kneeling by a brook. In China we bottle it with mystic writings and flavor it with cinnamon and spices. Here it is bottled without any regard to the water, but with punctilious care as to the shape of the bottle. I go always to the brook."

[Bev · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jesse Trasmere was a hard, miserly old man. He had made most of his money in China, but had also done some profitable deals once he returned to England. He was a man of his word and a stickler for detail. If you entered into a bargain with him, you could be sure he'd keep his end up--but you better be sure you read the fine print on what he expected of you because he couldn't abide welchers. And when he exacted payment from those failed to meet their end of the bargain it was paid in blood. Literally. His nephew, Rex Lander, received a generous allowance--but not a penny more. If Rex couldn't live within his means, then he should maybe put in an honest day's work--like his uncle had to do.

He didn't trust banks and had a special vault built into his house--a vault with only one key and no one, not even the original lock makers knew which key worked because he had ordered numerous locks and told no one which one he had installed. Everyday he would spend time in the vault doing who knows what--counting his coins, gloating over his stored millions? No one knew. Not for lack of trying. His butler was a nosy sort--tried all sorts of ways to find out his master's secrets, but he hadn't succeeded yet.

Trasmere's life is a very regular one with visits to his vault at particular times, visits to collect his portion of various investments--such as part of the takings at Yeh Ling's Golden Roof restaurant, locking his butler into his room at 10:30 each night. He never takes trips or leaves the house for long. But when he gets word that a man by the name of Wellington Brown is coming to London, he tells Walters (the butler) that he will be out of town for a while and he will be at home to no one who calls before he leaves. Brown shows up early, has an altercation with Walters, and then Walters leaves the house in a hurry just as Rex Landers shows up to try once more to talk his uncle into a little advance on his allowance...And then Trasmere's body is found shot to death in his vault. The door is locked and the only key is sitting in the middle of the table in front of him. How did the killer get out with the door locked? That is the puzzle that Inspector Carver and his friend Tab Holland, reporter and unofficial assistant, must unravel if they are to prove anyone's guilt. And who might the guilty party be? Rex--impatient for his inheritance? Walters, who left in a rush and is now MIA? Maybe Wellington Brown actually met with Trasmere after all and exacted some unknown revenge? Or maybe the pretty actress Ursula Ardfern is involved somehow? And what about the Chinese men a neighbor's servant has seen hanging about?

If I remember correctly (always an iffy proposition with my sieve-like memory), this was the second locked room/impossible crime novel I ever read (the first was The Mystery of Hunting's End by Eberhart) and I was amazed at the solution. Now that I have more impossible crimes under my reading belt, it's not quite the jaw-dropper it was then, but it had been long enough since I read this one (35-ish years...) that I still didn't pick up the significance of certain clues. I did, however, figure out whodunnit even if I didn't quite know how. But, then, I don't think Wallace's goal was to keep the culprit such a deep, dark secret. There is some effort at red herrings, but they don't distract very convincingly. I think he was more interested in the locked room puzzle and the thrills and adventure of the wrap-up. Overall, a nicely done locked room puzzle from early in the genre with a lovely bit of adventure and suspense at the end.

First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting portions of review. Thanks.

[Raquel Santos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mais um policial impecável e cheio de suspense dos vampiros gigantes.
Desta feita, o autor é que origem Inglesa, apesar de se passar na América.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

A clever locked-room mystery, though not so clever that I didn't guess something close to the solution. I completely did not guess the murderer, though. And for Edgar Wallace, the romance is fairly well developed, in the sense that the couple spend a good amount of time together (though mostly offscreen) both before and after getting engaged, and the woman isn't completely wet and passive.

In fact, it's a strong mystery thriller, with lots of action, but not so much that the protagonists (an unusually intelligent policeman and a newspaper reporter) don't get to reflect on events and on life in general. There's a Chinese man in it, and though an offensive epithet is used by a number of characters including the reporter, he has some depth to him and is not just a stereotype or a bunch of Orientalist tropes. Also, Wallace doesn't take the easy path that a lot of his contemporaries would have more or less automatically taken and make the Chinese man the villain.

It's solid work, enjoyable both as a mystery and as a novel.

[Rocio Voncina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Titulo: El secreto del alfiler
Autor: Edgar Wallace
Año publicado: 1923
Motivo de lectura: Disney-a-thon
Lectura / Relectura: Lectura
Fisico / Electronico: Electronico
Mi edicion: -
Puntuacion: 2.5/5

Era un libro que prometia, pero por momentos lo encontre aburrido.
La construccion de los personajes es practicamente nula (ya que conocemos la historia de un solo personaje en profundidad), el resto de los personajes solamente tenemos acceso a saber sobre el presente y como interactuan entre ellos. Saber el pasado de los personajes es importante, ya que eso (en mi opinion) le da profundidad a la historia.
La prosa realmente no es rebuscada, lo cual hace que la lectura sea amena, pero al no haber desarrollo de los personajes deja gusto a poco.
No considero a Wallace un mal escritor, fue mi primera experiencia con el autor, pero si senti que a la obra le faltaron aspectos de construccion/estructura que habrian sido importantes.
Y como conclusion, me di cuenta quien era el asesino desde el inicio, y eso fue lo que me desalento mucho la lectura.

[John Hardy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've read many of EW's books as my father was a huge fan. This isn't one of his best. The style is easy to recognise. There's a pretty good development of dark atmosphere - we won't expect any humour. The characters are barely more than names - if anything, the villain is the best fleshed out. Wallace's villains usually have no redeeming qualities, as is the case here, and because of that, he is killed. The killer proves to be as nasty as the victim, although under a thin veneer. The hero is young, handsome, brave, and maybe a bit of an innocent. The kind of hunk, in fact, who will probably fall for the gorgeous actress. What role does she really play in this story? The police detective is absurd, taking few precautions, and roping in the hero as an investigator, even though he was at thescene of the crime. The story plods along, with a cliched attempt at a thrilling ending, not well done.
Rating 2.4.

[David Evans · Rating 3 out of 5]

Only three stars but well worth the read. Apparently Edgar Wallace used to dictate his stories rapidly on to wax discs which doesn’t seem to allow much scope for editing. He was more prolific and speedy than even Enid Blyton so it’s amazing to me that this tale manages to be so consistently coherent and witty with sympathetic characterisation, mysterious Chinamen, drunken opium addicts, spendthrift nephews, self important witnesses, an agreeable hero, enigmatic love interest and a lugubrious but bright detective.
It’s a locked room murder mystery in which the crime is repeated twice during the investigation and explained during the suspenseful denouement.

[Robert Hepple · Rating 3 out of 5]

First published in 1923, 'The Clue of the New Pin' is a murder mystery involving a murder in a locked room, people withholding crucial information for no reason, and a convoluted daft plot. A Chinese character is described in terms of mild racism at times, but in sympathetic terms for most of the time. Interesting at times, and quite fast to read.

[Lucas Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

A neat little locked-room mystery, let down from a fourth star by racist caricatures and shameless orientalism (though there are some attempts to subvert it in the second half).

[Katrin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A classic whodunnit. Just the way I like them.

[Jan Moens · Rating 4 out of 5]

7/10
Leuk, maar wat verouderd.

[Miss Marple · Rating 1 out of 5]

One of the worst loveless written crime books ever. Unbelievable it´s a classic *sigh*
You can tell right from the very beginnig on who the murderer were. Because there is only one character with the motive. That´s why you get really annoyed by the character´s illogical speculations who the murderer could be (Oh, come on, how on earth could someone be suspected to be the unknown, black dressed murderer, if he (and other witnesses) are in the same time in the same room with the murderer? ).
It´s the second book I already read by this author and it´s already the second time he´s repeating himself - there is again this foreign man, who figures out to be the young ladies mysterious (dead thought) father, who dies again right before the "happy" reunion. And there is again a naive love story, with a young, not so clever lady (she knows the identity of the murderer, does not sympathize with him, but still does not tell the police, so that he has the chance to kill her lover...), with a traaagic past falling in love with a young man, who got to save and of course marry her at the end.
*sigh* There can be only one Agatha Christie.
If you would read an Agatha Christie´s book and there would be large, blinking arrows above the murderers heads, it still would be more dificult to find out who the murderer were, than by this author.
It was such a waste of time to read it.

[Redqueen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am currently rejoicing in Project Gutenberg & other free ebook sites, which are allowing me to read some of the classics of early mystery novels. Wallace was hugely successful in his time (he was born in 1875) and set the standard for the thriller mystery format. The books are naturally not at all politically correct, but are surprisingly readable. The attitudes which make me cringe are all from characters you are not supposed to like, making me think Wallace was fairly liberal for his time. The stories are delightful period pieces & almost always manage to surprise me at least once. Some things are more obvious than would be true in a modern story, & almost all have a sub-plot of romance. This particular book has a clever locked-room element. If you'd like to read clever stories, many now +100 years old, I can recommend Edgar Wallace.

[Suni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Giallo inglese vecchia scuola (anni '20) con il classico rompicapo del cadavere trovato in una stanza chiusa dall'interno e senza finestre.
Fumo di Londra misto a pennellate esotiche per via dei fitti rapporti che il morto (ricchissimo e anziano uomo d'affari) intratteneva con la comunità cinese.
4 stelline perché mi piace il genere.

[Pamela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Edgar Wallace was the Erle Stanley Garner of his time (early 1900s). The guy churned out books at an amazing rate. Equally amazing is that although some of them are better than others, none of them that I have read so far are stinkers.

This was no exception. Not great literature, but a fine and dandy way to relax after a heavier read.

[Joan · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you only read one by Edgar Wallace, read this one. The main female character is strong and resourceful, the main male character loves and respects her for it, the aspiring executive is skewered, the Chinese characters are excellent human beings, and there's lots of humor.

[Mara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Il classico giallo di inizio novecento con un crimine commesso in una stanza chiusa dall' interno. Molto old style.

[Marco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solito scorrevole giallo avventuroso, con strani personaggi esotici e straordinari. Finale scontato e troppo semplice da intuire fin quasi dall'inizio.<br />Lettura estiva.

[Marcello · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un bel giallo coinvolgente, scritto e congegnato perfettamente - difficile fare meglio con un noir.

[Maria Carmo · Rating 4 out of 5]

An Author I did not know, a novel full of rhythm and with a mysterious plot... Although written in the first part of the twentieth century, the novel remains interesting and easy to read (not using too many expressions that might make it difficult to understand or to read).

Maria Carmo,

Lisbon 17 April 2017.