What do you think?
Rate this book
The Lost Ambassador; or, The Search for the Missing Delora
Edward Phillips Oppenheim (1866-1946), was an English novelist, in his lifetime a major and successful writer of genre fiction including thrillers. Featured on the cover of Time magazine in 1918, he was the self-styled "prince of storytellers. " He composed more than a hundred novels, mostly of the suspense and international intrigue nature, as well as romances, comedies, and parables of everyday life. Perhaps Oppenheim's most enduring creation is the character of General Besserley, the protagonist of General Besserley's Puzzle Box and General Besserley's New Puzzle Box (one of his last works). His work possesses a unique charm, featuring protagonists who delight in Epicurean meals, surroundings of intense luxury, and the relaxed pursuit of criminal practice, on either side of the law. His first novel was about England and Canada, called Expiation (1887); followed by such titles as The Betrayal (1904), The Avenger (1907), The Governors (1908), The Double Life of Mr. Alfred Burton (1913), An Amiable Charlatan (1915), The Black Box (1915), The Double Traitor (1915), The Cinema Murder (1917), The Box with Broken Seals (1919), The Devil's Paw (1920) and The Evil Shepherd (1922).
284 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1910
5 people are currently reading
31 people want to read
About the author
E. Phillips Oppenheim
613 books80 followersEdward Phillips Oppenheim was an English novelist, primarily known for his suspense fiction.
He was born in Leicester, the son of a leather merchant, and after attending Wyggeston Grammar School he worked in his father's business for almost 20 years, beginning there at a young age. He continued working in the business, even though he was a successful novelist, until he was 40 at which point he sold the business.
He wrote his first book 'Expiation' in 1887 and in 1898 he published 'The Mysterious Mr Sabin', which he described as "The first of my long series of stories dealing with that shadowy and mysterious world of diplomacy." Thereafter he became a prolific writer and by 1900 he had had 14 novels published.
While on a business trip to the United States in 1890 he met and married Elise Clara Hopkins of Boston and, on return to England, they lived in Evington, Leicestershire until the First World War,and had one daughter. His wife remained faithful to him throughout his life despite his frequent and highly publicised affairs, which often took place abroad and aboard his luxury yacht.
During World War I Oppenheim worked for the Ministry of Information while continuing to write his suspenseful novels.
He featured on the cover of 'Time' magazine on 12 September 1927 and he was the self-styled 'Prince of Storytellers', a title used by Robert standish for his biography of the author.
His literary success enabled him to buy a villa in France and a yacht, spending his winters in France where he regularly entertained more than 250 people at his lavish parties and where he was a well-known figure in high society.
He later purchased a house, Le Vanquiédor in St. Peter Port, in Guernsey. He lost access to the house during the Second World War when Germany occupied the Channel Islands but later regained it.
He wrote 116 novels, mainly of the suspense and international intrigue type, but including romances, comedies, and parables of everyday life, and 39 volumes of short stories, all of which earned him vast sums of money. He also wrote five novels under the pseudonymn Anthony Partridge and a volume of autobiography, 'The Pool of Memory' in 1939.
He is generally regarded as the earliest writer of spy fiction as we know it today, and invented the 'Rogue Male' school of adventure thrillers that was later exploited by John Buchan and Geoffrey Household.
Undoubtedly his most renowned work was 'The Great Impersonation' (1920), which was filmed three times, the last time as a strong piece of wartime propaganda in 1942. In that novel the plot hinges around two very similar looking gentlemen, one from Britain and the other from Germany, in the early part of the 20th century. Overall more than 30 of his works were made into films.
Perhaps his most enduring creation is the character of General Besserley, the protagonist of 'General Besserley's Puzzle Box' and 'General Besserley's New Puzzle Box'.
Much of his work possesses a unique escapist charm, featuring protagonists who delight in Epicurean meals, surroundings of intense luxury, and the relaxed pursuit of criminal practice, on either side of the law.
Gerry Wolstenholme
He was born in Leicester, the son of a leather merchant, and after attending Wyggeston Grammar School he worked in his father's business for almost 20 years, beginning there at a young age. He continued working in the business, even though he was a successful novelist, until he was 40 at which point he sold the business.
He wrote his first book 'Expiation' in 1887 and in 1898 he published 'The Mysterious Mr Sabin', which he described as "The first of my long series of stories dealing with that shadowy and mysterious world of diplomacy." Thereafter he became a prolific writer and by 1900 he had had 14 novels published.
While on a business trip to the United States in 1890 he met and married Elise Clara Hopkins of Boston and, on return to England, they lived in Evington, Leicestershire until the First World War,and had one daughter. His wife remained faithful to him throughout his life despite his frequent and highly publicised affairs, which often took place abroad and aboard his luxury yacht.
During World War I Oppenheim worked for the Ministry of Information while continuing to write his suspenseful novels.
He featured on the cover of 'Time' magazine on 12 September 1927 and he was the self-styled 'Prince of Storytellers', a title used by Robert standish for his biography of the author.
His literary success enabled him to buy a villa in France and a yacht, spending his winters in France where he regularly entertained more than 250 people at his lavish parties and where he was a well-known figure in high society.
He later purchased a house, Le Vanquiédor in St. Peter Port, in Guernsey. He lost access to the house during the Second World War when Germany occupied the Channel Islands but later regained it.
He wrote 116 novels, mainly of the suspense and international intrigue type, but including romances, comedies, and parables of everyday life, and 39 volumes of short stories, all of which earned him vast sums of money. He also wrote five novels under the pseudonymn Anthony Partridge and a volume of autobiography, 'The Pool of Memory' in 1939.
He is generally regarded as the earliest writer of spy fiction as we know it today, and invented the 'Rogue Male' school of adventure thrillers that was later exploited by John Buchan and Geoffrey Household.
Undoubtedly his most renowned work was 'The Great Impersonation' (1920), which was filmed three times, the last time as a strong piece of wartime propaganda in 1942. In that novel the plot hinges around two very similar looking gentlemen, one from Britain and the other from Germany, in the early part of the 20th century. Overall more than 30 of his works were made into films.
Perhaps his most enduring creation is the character of General Besserley, the protagonist of 'General Besserley's Puzzle Box' and 'General Besserley's New Puzzle Box'.
Much of his work possesses a unique escapist charm, featuring protagonists who delight in Epicurean meals, surroundings of intense luxury, and the relaxed pursuit of criminal practice, on either side of the law.
Gerry Wolstenholme
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 10, 2021
I really wanted to like this.
First, the good bits: for something written in 1910, it remains an exceptionally easy read. Some of the vocabulary is delightful: taximeter, autobus (occasionally contracted to 'bus, with the apostrophe), motor-bicycle.
But. I read in Wikipedia that Oppenheim never outlined his stories ahead of time, and boy does it show. So much of this book--surely over half its length--takes place in that goddamn hotel, as people move back and forth, back and forth, back and forth between the dining room and the Deloras' suite. Characters are remarkably willing to return and eat at a restaurant where they know the maitre d' (whom Oppenheim always calls the maitre d'hotel) is poisoning people; they just make sure to give said maitre d' as little access to their food as possible. The plot runs out of steam so often that it demands coincidence after coincidence after coincidence to move it forward. There's the (at least) four separate times that the narrator has to have a random run-in with crucial characters who are hiding from him in order to move events forward: once in Paris, twice on the streets of London, and once when he discovers that someone is taking a secret trip from London to Newcastle because he just randomly happens to drive past them while puttering about on the country lanes of Norfolk.
Content warning for one instance of a word that Oppenheim tosses in perfectly casually, without even intending any malice, because for him it's quite clearly the word by which one refers to black people; and for several instances of a word to refer to an adult male of Chinese origin, which I certainly encountered in both British and American sitcoms as late as the 1990s but which is now considered derogatory.
First, the good bits: for something written in 1910, it remains an exceptionally easy read. Some of the vocabulary is delightful: taximeter, autobus (occasionally contracted to 'bus, with the apostrophe), motor-bicycle.
But. I read in Wikipedia that Oppenheim never outlined his stories ahead of time, and boy does it show. So much of this book--surely over half its length--takes place in that goddamn hotel, as people move back and forth, back and forth, back and forth between the dining room and the Deloras' suite. Characters are remarkably willing to return and eat at a restaurant where they know the maitre d' (whom Oppenheim always calls the maitre d'hotel) is poisoning people; they just make sure to give said maitre d' as little access to their food as possible. The plot runs out of steam so often that it demands coincidence after coincidence after coincidence to move it forward. There's the (at least) four separate times that the narrator has to have a random run-in with crucial characters who are hiding from him in order to move events forward: once in Paris, twice on the streets of London, and once when he discovers that someone is taking a secret trip from London to Newcastle because he just randomly happens to drive past them while puttering about on the country lanes of Norfolk.
Content warning for one instance of a word that Oppenheim tosses in perfectly casually, without even intending any malice, because for him it's quite clearly the word by which one refers to black people; and for several instances of a word to refer to an adult male of Chinese origin, which I certainly encountered in both British and American sitcoms as late as the 1990s but which is now considered derogatory.
April 2, 2025
Another idle, upper-class twit seeking adventure. An interesting mystery nonetheless. Who are the good guys? Who are the bad guys?
December 11, 2022
Definitely one of my favorites! This story was amazing! I loved the way Oppenheim described the scenes, he has a way with words, similar to Charles Dickens's. I never expected the ending, it had me on the edge of my seat, waiting to see what happened next! The only part I dislike about it is that it included the N-Word in it.
Summary: *spoiler alert*
Captain Austen Rotherby is in Paris when he meets an old friend, Louis, who's a waiter. He invites Rotherby to go to a bizarre cafe, or an underworld nightclub, where rich people and dangerous people dined. Rotherby accepted since he loved adventure and went with Louis, when he entered the cafe, he found rich, fat old men sitting beside young and beautiful women. Two gorgeous women caught his attention, the lady in turquoise who wore a turquoise necklace and sat beside Monsieur Bartot, and a young lady, sitting next to Maurice Delora, her uncle. The lady in turquoise sent him a letter from the waiter, which told him to meet her at a hotel the next day. Suddenly, Rotherby saw Tapilow, the man who hurt his brother, and he has sworn to kill him, and he did. Louis took Rotherby out of the cafe quickly and to his house. These people were dangerous. Yet Rotherby loved danger. He went to the hotel to meet the lady and had sex with her. Monsieur Bartot caught them and wanted to shoot Rotherby, but he escaped. Rotherby found out these two had the plan to steal his money, they were in cahoots. When Louis found out, he ordered Rotherby to go and get on the train Louis already bought a ticket for, Rotherby found it weird that Louis had already purchased the ticket for him, but got on anyways. When he found his seat he saw Monsieur Delora and his niece, later he found out her name, Felicia. He instantly fell in love with her smile and beautiful eyes, yet he could see that she was sad. Her uncle, however, looked very sick, he was purple and kept throwing up. When they reached London, Monsieur Delora asked Rotherby to accompany Felicia to the Milan Hotel while he went to get some medicine for his illness. They arrived at the hotel but Delora hadn't arrived yet. Rotherby started to suspect that he had gone missing.
A few days pass with no sign of Mr. Delora. Rothery speaks to Felicia, she told him she received a call from her uncle who said he had arrived at the hotel and was staying in the room next to her but she must see him because he's sick. Rotherby didn't believe this and told Louis, who told him they'd enter the room and check. when they did, they found it was empty. Louis said that someone was planning to kill Delora since he's a billionaire and he came on a secret mission to London. Rotherby got excited and Louis suggested Rotherby should enter the room at night and wait to find the man planning to kill Delora. Louis prepared Rotherby's favorite alcoholic drink and told him to drink it while he waited. Louis left the room. When Rotherby entered the room at said time, he sniffed the drink and felt something was off about it, and that it smelled like a sleeping syrup. He knew Louis was up to no good. So he faked being asleep and heard Louis enter Felicia's room. Then he heard a knock at his door, it was another man whom Louis opened the door to and hit with Rotherby's special cane. Rotherby knew this was Louis's plan to make it seem as if he had killed the man. Suddenly Rotherby awoke and stopped the commotion, he let the man leave and demanded an explanation from Louis, who refused to say anything for Rotherby's protection.
Rotherby immediately left and decided to look for Delora, to find an end to this. He found out he was staying with a Chinese man in a hotel, to discuss some things. when he reached there and demanded to speak to Delora, he was roughly denied. he kept close by to track them and followed them, turns out Delora was on a secret mission to sell something for the brazil government, probably airplanes. he arrived at the hotel and found out Delora arrived already, but there were two Delora's. Maurice Delora was making himself seem like Ferdinand Delora and tricked everyone. Ferdinand was sick and couldn't do this business travel, but Maurice had no right to take the money for him. Suddenly the Chinese man arrived and said he had given Maurice a check for 200 thousand pounds.
Louis was gone, when Rotherby went to check on him in his office, the workers told him he went to the fifth floor, Rotherby hurried up there and heard a gunshot, he saw Maurice Delora dead on the floor, with only 160 thousand pounds. who took the other 40 thousand pounds? He hurried down and found Louis running away from the hotel. After a while he married Felicia, and found out Louis "got a great fortune from an uncle that died, it was 40 thousand pounds" but he knew damn well it was from Maurice.
Summary: *spoiler alert*
Captain Austen Rotherby is in Paris when he meets an old friend, Louis, who's a waiter. He invites Rotherby to go to a bizarre cafe, or an underworld nightclub, where rich people and dangerous people dined. Rotherby accepted since he loved adventure and went with Louis, when he entered the cafe, he found rich, fat old men sitting beside young and beautiful women. Two gorgeous women caught his attention, the lady in turquoise who wore a turquoise necklace and sat beside Monsieur Bartot, and a young lady, sitting next to Maurice Delora, her uncle. The lady in turquoise sent him a letter from the waiter, which told him to meet her at a hotel the next day. Suddenly, Rotherby saw Tapilow, the man who hurt his brother, and he has sworn to kill him, and he did. Louis took Rotherby out of the cafe quickly and to his house. These people were dangerous. Yet Rotherby loved danger. He went to the hotel to meet the lady and had sex with her. Monsieur Bartot caught them and wanted to shoot Rotherby, but he escaped. Rotherby found out these two had the plan to steal his money, they were in cahoots. When Louis found out, he ordered Rotherby to go and get on the train Louis already bought a ticket for, Rotherby found it weird that Louis had already purchased the ticket for him, but got on anyways. When he found his seat he saw Monsieur Delora and his niece, later he found out her name, Felicia. He instantly fell in love with her smile and beautiful eyes, yet he could see that she was sad. Her uncle, however, looked very sick, he was purple and kept throwing up. When they reached London, Monsieur Delora asked Rotherby to accompany Felicia to the Milan Hotel while he went to get some medicine for his illness. They arrived at the hotel but Delora hadn't arrived yet. Rotherby started to suspect that he had gone missing.
A few days pass with no sign of Mr. Delora. Rothery speaks to Felicia, she told him she received a call from her uncle who said he had arrived at the hotel and was staying in the room next to her but she must see him because he's sick. Rotherby didn't believe this and told Louis, who told him they'd enter the room and check. when they did, they found it was empty. Louis said that someone was planning to kill Delora since he's a billionaire and he came on a secret mission to London. Rotherby got excited and Louis suggested Rotherby should enter the room at night and wait to find the man planning to kill Delora. Louis prepared Rotherby's favorite alcoholic drink and told him to drink it while he waited. Louis left the room. When Rotherby entered the room at said time, he sniffed the drink and felt something was off about it, and that it smelled like a sleeping syrup. He knew Louis was up to no good. So he faked being asleep and heard Louis enter Felicia's room. Then he heard a knock at his door, it was another man whom Louis opened the door to and hit with Rotherby's special cane. Rotherby knew this was Louis's plan to make it seem as if he had killed the man. Suddenly Rotherby awoke and stopped the commotion, he let the man leave and demanded an explanation from Louis, who refused to say anything for Rotherby's protection.
Rotherby immediately left and decided to look for Delora, to find an end to this. He found out he was staying with a Chinese man in a hotel, to discuss some things. when he reached there and demanded to speak to Delora, he was roughly denied. he kept close by to track them and followed them, turns out Delora was on a secret mission to sell something for the brazil government, probably airplanes. he arrived at the hotel and found out Delora arrived already, but there were two Delora's. Maurice Delora was making himself seem like Ferdinand Delora and tricked everyone. Ferdinand was sick and couldn't do this business travel, but Maurice had no right to take the money for him. Suddenly the Chinese man arrived and said he had given Maurice a check for 200 thousand pounds.
Louis was gone, when Rotherby went to check on him in his office, the workers told him he went to the fifth floor, Rotherby hurried up there and heard a gunshot, he saw Maurice Delora dead on the floor, with only 160 thousand pounds. who took the other 40 thousand pounds? He hurried down and found Louis running away from the hotel. After a while he married Felicia, and found out Louis "got a great fortune from an uncle that died, it was 40 thousand pounds" but he knew damn well it was from Maurice.
January 24, 2014
Paris and London Society, 1910
International Intrigue
Captain Austen Rotherby is on a mission of revenge in Paris. Standing outside of the Opera, he surveys the haute monde as they exit:
"I took up my place just inside, close to one of the pillars, and, with an unlit cigarette still in my mouth, watched the flying chausseurs, the medley of vehicles outside, the soft flow of women in their white opera cloaks and jewels, who with their escorts came streaming down the stairs and out of the great building, to enter the waiting carriages and motor-cars drawn up in the privileged space within the enclosure, or stretching right down into the Boulevard. I stood there, watching them drive off one by one. I was borne a little nearer to the door by the rush of people, and I was able, in most cases, to hear the directions of the men as they followed their womankind into the waiting vehicles. In nearly every case their destination was one of the famous restaurants. Music begets hunger in most capitals, and the cafés of Paris are never so full as after a great night at the Opera. To-night there had been a wonderful performance. The flow of people down the stairs seemed interminable. Young women and old,--sleepy-looking beauties of the Southern type, whose dark eyes seemed half closed with a languor partly passionate, partly of pride; women of the truer French type,--brilliant, smiling, vivacious, mostly pale, seldom good-looking, always attractive. A few Germans, a fair sprinkling of Englishwomen, and a larger proportion still of Americans, whose women were the best dressed of the whole company. I was not sorry that I had returned. It was worth watching, this endless stream of varying types."
One of those who he sees is the young Felicia Delora, accompanied by her uncle Maurice. Rotherby is accosted by Louis, the Maitre D'Hotel from the Milan Hotel in London. Bored, they go to an underworld nightclub, where Rotherby settles a score.
Wheels upon wheels is the device of this novel. Back in London, Rotherby is enamored of Felicia, but her uncle disappears. Soon they are caught up in a plot to transfer armaments between foreign powers. Much of the action centers on the Milan Hotel (which is actually the Savoy, but so-named by Oppenheim in many of his novels).
Crisp, compulsive, and wonderful descriptions of pre-war London and Paris.
1910
International Intrigue
Captain Austen Rotherby is on a mission of revenge in Paris. Standing outside of the Opera, he surveys the haute monde as they exit:
"I took up my place just inside, close to one of the pillars, and, with an unlit cigarette still in my mouth, watched the flying chausseurs, the medley of vehicles outside, the soft flow of women in their white opera cloaks and jewels, who with their escorts came streaming down the stairs and out of the great building, to enter the waiting carriages and motor-cars drawn up in the privileged space within the enclosure, or stretching right down into the Boulevard. I stood there, watching them drive off one by one. I was borne a little nearer to the door by the rush of people, and I was able, in most cases, to hear the directions of the men as they followed their womankind into the waiting vehicles. In nearly every case their destination was one of the famous restaurants. Music begets hunger in most capitals, and the cafés of Paris are never so full as after a great night at the Opera. To-night there had been a wonderful performance. The flow of people down the stairs seemed interminable. Young women and old,--sleepy-looking beauties of the Southern type, whose dark eyes seemed half closed with a languor partly passionate, partly of pride; women of the truer French type,--brilliant, smiling, vivacious, mostly pale, seldom good-looking, always attractive. A few Germans, a fair sprinkling of Englishwomen, and a larger proportion still of Americans, whose women were the best dressed of the whole company. I was not sorry that I had returned. It was worth watching, this endless stream of varying types."
One of those who he sees is the young Felicia Delora, accompanied by her uncle Maurice. Rotherby is accosted by Louis, the Maitre D'Hotel from the Milan Hotel in London. Bored, they go to an underworld nightclub, where Rotherby settles a score.
Wheels upon wheels is the device of this novel. Back in London, Rotherby is enamored of Felicia, but her uncle disappears. Soon they are caught up in a plot to transfer armaments between foreign powers. Much of the action centers on the Milan Hotel (which is actually the Savoy, but so-named by Oppenheim in many of his novels).
Crisp, compulsive, and wonderful descriptions of pre-war London and Paris.
1910
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews