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The Black Box
Originally published in 1917, The Black Box follows expert criminologist Sanford Quest, as he and his colleagues attempt to bring a suspected killer to justice. The book contains a series of loosely connected stories driven by the captivating hero. Sanford Quest puts his detective skills to the test to solve an intricate murder mystery. He uses science, gadgets, and his superior deduction skills to narrow the list of suspects. This takes him on a globetrotting adventure that spans the United States, Europe and Africa. The Black Box is a multilayered story with twists at every turn. Quest is an eccentric lead who takes readers on an unforgettable ride. The Black Box introduces an extraordinary hero who plays by his own rules. Sanford Quest is an intriguing character whose reputation precedes him. E. Phillips Oppenheim creates an engaging protagonist similar to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes. With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of The Black Box is both modern and readable.
258 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1915
About the author
E. Phillips Oppenheim
592 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
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
January 8, 2021
This book was phenomenal. It contained small chapters of stories with the lessons of each story (''black box'') at the end of it.
This book struck a deep chord within me. I will embody many of the lessons from it going forward.
It was beautiful to read about Marquett's journey and growth with all the lessons he got on the way.
It goes to show that any individual that grew up disenfranchised can apply oneself and make all of their dreams come true.
The ambition and fearlessness this book will imbue in you (especially if you started of in life on the back foot) is immeasurable. Anything is truly possible and it all starts in the mind.
key takeaways: ''I am going to be who I truly am, because I am remarkable --> and, I will strive every moment to show the greatest part of who I am''
This book struck a deep chord within me. I will embody many of the lessons from it going forward.
It was beautiful to read about Marquett's journey and growth with all the lessons he got on the way.
It goes to show that any individual that grew up disenfranchised can apply oneself and make all of their dreams come true.
The ambition and fearlessness this book will imbue in you (especially if you started of in life on the back foot) is immeasurable. Anything is truly possible and it all starts in the mind.
key takeaways: ''I am going to be who I truly am, because I am remarkable --> and, I will strive every moment to show the greatest part of who I am''
August 27, 2019
Boy oh boy this is bad.
Sanford Quest is an extraordinary detective who, like Sherlock Holmes, only takes the unusual cases. He uses a mixture of science and pseudoscience to crack cases, from hypnotism, to miniature explosives and sundry gadgets such as a pocket wireless and a 'phototelesme' which somehow allows him to see through a telephone to spy on whomever calls him up.
Oppenheim can't explain how that dingus works and I can't explain how he wrote this astonishingly awful train wreck of a novel and put his own name on the cover. He was no Conan Doyle but having previously read a handful of his novels I considered him to be a cut above the stupifying likes of Sapper and Fergus Hume. Not on this showing.
Far from being a master detective Quest turned out to be a blithering idiot who couldn't spot a clue if it tapped him on the funny bone with a rubber mallet. What stood in for a plot involved Quest and his equally stupid colleagues chasing the prime suspect, the valet of one Professor Ashleigh, hither and thither across New York, London, Egypt and Mexico.
While they blunder their way from continent to continent, capturing Craig the valet on numerous occasions only to let him escape again and again down to their own rank stupidity, a shadowy criminal mastermind keeps taunting them by leaving childish notes in a black boxes placed right under their very noses.
Adding to all this inanity is the fleeting appearance of an apeman who may just be the missing link (don't ask), and a prison break courtesy of a spot of cross-dressing. During one episode late on the keystone criminologists were in a camp with some cowboys (again, don't ask) when they racially abused a Chinaman for no reason.
Sherlock needn't have lost any sleep or hit the cocaine, Sandford Quest proved to be no sort of rival. He even as much as admits his own failings:
"Two cases on hand and nothing doing with either of them. Criminologist, indeed ! I guess I'd better go over to England and take a job at Scotland Yard. That's about what I'm fit for."
He would have been more at home in the Sûreté with Inspector Clousceau.
Sanford Quest is an extraordinary detective who, like Sherlock Holmes, only takes the unusual cases. He uses a mixture of science and pseudoscience to crack cases, from hypnotism, to miniature explosives and sundry gadgets such as a pocket wireless and a 'phototelesme' which somehow allows him to see through a telephone to spy on whomever calls him up.
Oppenheim can't explain how that dingus works and I can't explain how he wrote this astonishingly awful train wreck of a novel and put his own name on the cover. He was no Conan Doyle but having previously read a handful of his novels I considered him to be a cut above the stupifying likes of Sapper and Fergus Hume. Not on this showing.
Far from being a master detective Quest turned out to be a blithering idiot who couldn't spot a clue if it tapped him on the funny bone with a rubber mallet. What stood in for a plot involved Quest and his equally stupid colleagues chasing the prime suspect, the valet of one Professor Ashleigh, hither and thither across New York, London, Egypt and Mexico.
While they blunder their way from continent to continent, capturing Craig the valet on numerous occasions only to let him escape again and again down to their own rank stupidity, a shadowy criminal mastermind keeps taunting them by leaving childish notes in a black boxes placed right under their very noses.
Adding to all this inanity is the fleeting appearance of an apeman who may just be the missing link (don't ask), and a prison break courtesy of a spot of cross-dressing. During one episode late on the keystone criminologists were in a camp with some cowboys (again, don't ask) when they racially abused a Chinaman for no reason.
Sherlock needn't have lost any sleep or hit the cocaine, Sandford Quest proved to be no sort of rival. He even as much as admits his own failings:
"Two cases on hand and nothing doing with either of them. Criminologist, indeed ! I guess I'd better go over to England and take a job at Scotland Yard. That's about what I'm fit for."
He would have been more at home in the Sûreté with Inspector Clousceau.
August 18, 2025
I am reading the complete works of E. Philips Oppenheimer. I had come across him by chance and adored him. I read the Great Impersonator first. For me he is a 4 or 5 star writer. But not this. It’s as if he wrote it in his teens.
August 5, 2023
The Black Box is a mystery novel written by Edward Phillips Oppenheim in 1915. Oppenheim was an English novelist, a prolific writer of best-selling genre fiction, featuring glamorous characters, international intrigue and fast action. Notably easy to read, they were viewed as popular entertainments. He was featured on the cover of Time magazine in 1927. Oppenheim produced more than 100 novels between 1887 and 1943. I've read one, I wonder if I can find any more, this was fun. Silly, but fun. It was also a 1915 American drama film serial directed by Otis Turner. This serial is considered to be lost. The film was written in part by E. Phillips Oppenheim, I wonder who wrote the other part. The story was published in 1915 as a novel and as a newspaper serial. Both published editions were illustrated by photographic stills taken from the movie serial. In the novel version, about 30 stills from the movie are preserved. I'm not giving you 30 stills but I'll give you a few.
In 1913, John Buchan, launching his career as a suspense novelist, called Oppenheim "my master in fiction" and "the greatest Jewish writer since Isaiah". I have to think about that for awhile. As early as that year, his publishers were bringing out new editions of some of his earlier works to meet, in the words of one trade publication, "the insatiable demand of the public for more stories by him". It added: "Readers of the author's recent books will find these first stories of life sketches full of interest, their very crudeness being positively amusing in light of his present finished craftsmanship." How did I never hear of this guy before?
He described his method in 1922: "I create one more or less interesting personality, try to think of some dramatic situation in which he or she might be placed, and use that as the opening of a nebulous chain of events." He never used an outline: "My characters would resent it." When he needed villains for his diplomatic and political intrigues he drew on Prussian militarists and anarchists, enough for one reviewer to lament "the baldness of his propaganda". For example, in A People's Man (1915), a socialist discovers that his movement is secretly run by German spies.
A 1927 review in The New York Times said he "numbers his admirers in the hundreds of thousands and has one or more of his books on a prominent shelf in almost every home one enters". I wonder if that was true.
Reviews for his work treated them as entertainments with only a slight relationship to the mystery genre. In 1933, a review of Crooks in the Sunshine explained that "Mr. Oppenheim's crooks are so polished that they have no difficulty in moving in the very best society.... There is very little mystery in this book, but there is dress-suit crime galore." In 1936, a review of A Magnificent Hoax, his one hundredth novel, said:
"The hoax is on the reader, who is led, through nearly 300 pages, only to find that nothing very terrible has happened. The explanation takes a bit of believing, but since it extricates several very nice people from what looks like a nasty mess, one is willing to let that pass." The Shy Plutocrat, published early in World War II, was "a good tale to take your mind off your worries". Readers came to expect familiar themes, "the peculiar Oppenheim blend of dispatch-box atmosphere, femmes fatales, double traitors, and a tight plot". In mid-career, The Great Impersonation (1920) was called "his best work". Well, I can't tell you what his best work was, but I can tell you about the very unusual book called, The Black Box.
This book is incredibly silly, but I still had fun reading it. We begin with possibly the dumbest parents ever. Lord and Lady Ashleigh have a beautiful daughter, Ella a very beautiful twenty two year old. Ella isn't interested in invitations, gossip, dances, all the stuff young women love, she loves her music, the only part of life which absolutely appeals to her, and she tells her mother she won't be really happy until she settles down to study hard. And so one day at breakfast her father is given this telegram:
“To Lord Ashleigh, Hamblin House, Dorset, England.
“I find a magnificent programme arranged for at Metropolitan Opera House this year. Have taken box for your daughter, engaged the best professor in the world, and secured an apartment at the Leeland, our most select and comfortable residential hotel. Understand your brother is still in South America, returning early spring, but will do our best to make your daughter’s year of study as pleasant as possible. Advise her sail on Saturday by Mauretania.”
I see no reason why music will be better studied in New York than in England, but it must be. Now this is where the dumb parents come in. First, they allow her to go but she must take two people with her, her maid, Lenora, and as a bodyguard the butler, Macdougal. If he has a first name I don't know it. Ella doesn't like him though, so just that should be enough to find a better bodyguard, but it is Macdougal. But also, they are giving her to take along the famous Ashleigh diamonds.
“If you think so now,” he remarked, “I do not know what you will say to me presently. What I am doing now, Ella, I am doing with your mother’s sanction, and you must associate her with the gift which I am going to place in your keeping.”
The hand was slowly withdrawn from his pocket. He laid upon the table a very familiar morocco case, stamped with a coronet. Even before he touched the spring and the top flew open, Ella knew what was coming.
“Our diamonds!” she exclaimed. “The Ashleigh diamonds!”
The necklace lay exposed to view, the wonderful stones flashing in the subdued light. Ella gazed at it, speechless.
“In New York,” Lord Ashleigh continued, “it is the custom to wear jewellery in public more, even, than in this country. The family pearls, which I myself should have thought more suitable, went, as you know, to your elder sister upon her marriage. I am not rich enough to invest large sums of money in the purchase of precious stones, yet, on the other hand, your mother and I feel that if you are to wear jewels at all, we should like you to wear something of historic value, jewels which are associated with the history of your own house. Allow me!”
He leaned forward. With long, capable fingers he fastened the necklace around his daughter’s neck. It fell upon her bosom, sparkling, a little circular stream of fire against the background of her smooth, white skin. Ella could scarcely speak. Her fingers caressed the jewels.
“It is our farewell present to you,” Lord Ashleigh declared. “I need not beg you to take care of them. I do not wish to dwell upon their value. Money means, naturally, little to you, and when I tell you that a firm in London offered me sixty thousand pounds for them for an American client, I only mention it so that you may understand that they are likely to be appreciated in the country to which you are going.”
Yes, let's send our young daughter to America with sixty thousand pounds worth of diamonds with a butler and a maid. And make sure she wears them whenever she goes out. What do you think is going to happen? But I suppose we had to send Ella with the diamonds because if we hadn't there wouldn't have been an awful crime and they wouldn't have had to call in Sanford Quest to solve it, and if we didn't have Sanford Quest all the other crimes that follow this one would go unsolved, and there are a lot more to come.
Such as a theft of an anthropoid ape skeleton brought to New York from I can't remember where by Professor Ashleigh. Yes, another family member of the Ashleigh family, this time he is Lord Ashleigh's brother. He moved to America years and years ago and started running around the globe bringing such things back to New York. His home is described as:
He hurried across the bare landing and into an apartment which seemed to be half museum, half library. There were skeletons leaning in unexpected corners, strange charts upon the walls, a wilderness of books and pamphlets in all manner of unexpected places, mingled with quaintly-carved curios, gods from West African temples, implements of savage warfare, butterfly nets. It was a room which Lord Ashleigh was never able to enter without a shudder.
And if Sanford Quest hadn't made the acquaintance of Lord Ashleigh and his brother, he wouldn't have been there when Mrs. Rheinholdt's diamonds were stolen, or when the Salvation Army girl was murdered in his office, or.....you get the idea. This book takes us everywhere, America, Mexico, England, Egypt, there's even a half human/half ape person (I guess), in the book for awhile. Then there are the convenient inventions that only he has or would know what to do with if they did have them. He has these secret little things he can throw against walls in a little shack he is locked in which explode and knock the walls down without killing himself. He can see people he is talking to on the phone, that one really has me confused since the person isn't holding the phone out for him to look at him, he's holding it to his ear, I don't know. And not only have we chased the same bad guy all over the planet, but we've caught him all over the planet, but he just escapes again and the chase continues. This book sounds dumber the longer I write about it so I'll stop because I really did have fun reading it. I'm just not sure why.
In 1913, John Buchan, launching his career as a suspense novelist, called Oppenheim "my master in fiction" and "the greatest Jewish writer since Isaiah". I have to think about that for awhile. As early as that year, his publishers were bringing out new editions of some of his earlier works to meet, in the words of one trade publication, "the insatiable demand of the public for more stories by him". It added: "Readers of the author's recent books will find these first stories of life sketches full of interest, their very crudeness being positively amusing in light of his present finished craftsmanship." How did I never hear of this guy before?
He described his method in 1922: "I create one more or less interesting personality, try to think of some dramatic situation in which he or she might be placed, and use that as the opening of a nebulous chain of events." He never used an outline: "My characters would resent it." When he needed villains for his diplomatic and political intrigues he drew on Prussian militarists and anarchists, enough for one reviewer to lament "the baldness of his propaganda". For example, in A People's Man (1915), a socialist discovers that his movement is secretly run by German spies.
A 1927 review in The New York Times said he "numbers his admirers in the hundreds of thousands and has one or more of his books on a prominent shelf in almost every home one enters". I wonder if that was true.
Reviews for his work treated them as entertainments with only a slight relationship to the mystery genre. In 1933, a review of Crooks in the Sunshine explained that "Mr. Oppenheim's crooks are so polished that they have no difficulty in moving in the very best society.... There is very little mystery in this book, but there is dress-suit crime galore." In 1936, a review of A Magnificent Hoax, his one hundredth novel, said:
"The hoax is on the reader, who is led, through nearly 300 pages, only to find that nothing very terrible has happened. The explanation takes a bit of believing, but since it extricates several very nice people from what looks like a nasty mess, one is willing to let that pass." The Shy Plutocrat, published early in World War II, was "a good tale to take your mind off your worries". Readers came to expect familiar themes, "the peculiar Oppenheim blend of dispatch-box atmosphere, femmes fatales, double traitors, and a tight plot". In mid-career, The Great Impersonation (1920) was called "his best work". Well, I can't tell you what his best work was, but I can tell you about the very unusual book called, The Black Box.
This book is incredibly silly, but I still had fun reading it. We begin with possibly the dumbest parents ever. Lord and Lady Ashleigh have a beautiful daughter, Ella a very beautiful twenty two year old. Ella isn't interested in invitations, gossip, dances, all the stuff young women love, she loves her music, the only part of life which absolutely appeals to her, and she tells her mother she won't be really happy until she settles down to study hard. And so one day at breakfast her father is given this telegram:
“To Lord Ashleigh, Hamblin House, Dorset, England.
“I find a magnificent programme arranged for at Metropolitan Opera House this year. Have taken box for your daughter, engaged the best professor in the world, and secured an apartment at the Leeland, our most select and comfortable residential hotel. Understand your brother is still in South America, returning early spring, but will do our best to make your daughter’s year of study as pleasant as possible. Advise her sail on Saturday by Mauretania.”
I see no reason why music will be better studied in New York than in England, but it must be. Now this is where the dumb parents come in. First, they allow her to go but she must take two people with her, her maid, Lenora, and as a bodyguard the butler, Macdougal. If he has a first name I don't know it. Ella doesn't like him though, so just that should be enough to find a better bodyguard, but it is Macdougal. But also, they are giving her to take along the famous Ashleigh diamonds.
“If you think so now,” he remarked, “I do not know what you will say to me presently. What I am doing now, Ella, I am doing with your mother’s sanction, and you must associate her with the gift which I am going to place in your keeping.”
The hand was slowly withdrawn from his pocket. He laid upon the table a very familiar morocco case, stamped with a coronet. Even before he touched the spring and the top flew open, Ella knew what was coming.
“Our diamonds!” she exclaimed. “The Ashleigh diamonds!”
The necklace lay exposed to view, the wonderful stones flashing in the subdued light. Ella gazed at it, speechless.
“In New York,” Lord Ashleigh continued, “it is the custom to wear jewellery in public more, even, than in this country. The family pearls, which I myself should have thought more suitable, went, as you know, to your elder sister upon her marriage. I am not rich enough to invest large sums of money in the purchase of precious stones, yet, on the other hand, your mother and I feel that if you are to wear jewels at all, we should like you to wear something of historic value, jewels which are associated with the history of your own house. Allow me!”
He leaned forward. With long, capable fingers he fastened the necklace around his daughter’s neck. It fell upon her bosom, sparkling, a little circular stream of fire against the background of her smooth, white skin. Ella could scarcely speak. Her fingers caressed the jewels.
“It is our farewell present to you,” Lord Ashleigh declared. “I need not beg you to take care of them. I do not wish to dwell upon their value. Money means, naturally, little to you, and when I tell you that a firm in London offered me sixty thousand pounds for them for an American client, I only mention it so that you may understand that they are likely to be appreciated in the country to which you are going.”
Yes, let's send our young daughter to America with sixty thousand pounds worth of diamonds with a butler and a maid. And make sure she wears them whenever she goes out. What do you think is going to happen? But I suppose we had to send Ella with the diamonds because if we hadn't there wouldn't have been an awful crime and they wouldn't have had to call in Sanford Quest to solve it, and if we didn't have Sanford Quest all the other crimes that follow this one would go unsolved, and there are a lot more to come.
Such as a theft of an anthropoid ape skeleton brought to New York from I can't remember where by Professor Ashleigh. Yes, another family member of the Ashleigh family, this time he is Lord Ashleigh's brother. He moved to America years and years ago and started running around the globe bringing such things back to New York. His home is described as:
He hurried across the bare landing and into an apartment which seemed to be half museum, half library. There were skeletons leaning in unexpected corners, strange charts upon the walls, a wilderness of books and pamphlets in all manner of unexpected places, mingled with quaintly-carved curios, gods from West African temples, implements of savage warfare, butterfly nets. It was a room which Lord Ashleigh was never able to enter without a shudder.
And if Sanford Quest hadn't made the acquaintance of Lord Ashleigh and his brother, he wouldn't have been there when Mrs. Rheinholdt's diamonds were stolen, or when the Salvation Army girl was murdered in his office, or.....you get the idea. This book takes us everywhere, America, Mexico, England, Egypt, there's even a half human/half ape person (I guess), in the book for awhile. Then there are the convenient inventions that only he has or would know what to do with if they did have them. He has these secret little things he can throw against walls in a little shack he is locked in which explode and knock the walls down without killing himself. He can see people he is talking to on the phone, that one really has me confused since the person isn't holding the phone out for him to look at him, he's holding it to his ear, I don't know. And not only have we chased the same bad guy all over the planet, but we've caught him all over the planet, but he just escapes again and the chase continues. This book sounds dumber the longer I write about it so I'll stop because I really did have fun reading it. I'm just not sure why.
May 31, 2021
I only picked this up because I've been on a silent film binge lately, and this book is a novelization of a now lost film serial from 1915. The version I read had a number of stills from the serial and together with the book its the only surviving material. The mystery is unsatisfyingly simple and the book is, not unexpectedly, sexist, racist and classist to varying degrees. The story was probably better served as a moving picture rather than a novel, and judging from the stills the serial seems to have been visually rather decent.
April 6, 2026
One of Oppenheim's early mystery novels, The Black Box (1915), is a gruesome, cliffhanger-style work of pulp fiction—perfect for the magazine serials of its day. Each two-part adventure involves a deadly antagonist, a jewel theft, a kidnapping, or even arson and murder in the first half.
Sanford Quest, the "Master Criminologist," is no mere gumshoe; he battles the underworld with the cutting-edge sorcery of the early 20th century. Armed with a "pocket wireless" and a laboratory teeming with private chemists and mysterious electrical contraptions, Quest shows us in the second half how he solves the crime and captures the criminal. Yet, even his "scientific detective work" is tested when the villain escapes from "unbreakable" dungeons, prison cells, and secret hideouts. This neatly turns the tables on the Master Criminologist, leaving him trapped in buildings consumed by arson or cabins wired with dynamite—but you get the idea.
It is great fun to read, especially the ending, when the mastermind behind the gangs of thieves and kidnappers who run the white slave racket is revealed to be none other than—well, you’ll have to enjoy that for yourself.
Sanford Quest, the "Master Criminologist," is no mere gumshoe; he battles the underworld with the cutting-edge sorcery of the early 20th century. Armed with a "pocket wireless" and a laboratory teeming with private chemists and mysterious electrical contraptions, Quest shows us in the second half how he solves the crime and captures the criminal. Yet, even his "scientific detective work" is tested when the villain escapes from "unbreakable" dungeons, prison cells, and secret hideouts. This neatly turns the tables on the Master Criminologist, leaving him trapped in buildings consumed by arson or cabins wired with dynamite—but you get the idea.
It is great fun to read, especially the ending, when the mastermind behind the gangs of thieves and kidnappers who run the white slave racket is revealed to be none other than—well, you’ll have to enjoy that for yourself.
January 2, 2024
The environment truly shapes who we become.
If you take a small angel and place it in the ghetto, without parents, to survive it will have to adjust to its environment.
In this book, Marguett recollects some personal stories from his childhood and youth that shaped who will become. Each story ends with a Black box summary about the lesson learned from those stories. Most of the stories contain the harsh reality that taught Marquett how to survive.
They say if you truly know a person if you stand in their shoes, you will probably make the same mistakes. So if you truly know the author, you can see why they are the way they are.
The author is fairly intelligent, and I hope that intelligence is used for the benefit of many and not only himself. It seems that he has amassed a cult following and I hope these people follow the right leader, and not a well-spoken cult leader who leeches out of his audience.
And I hope that this Black Box doesn't become something we have to open when the Burton plane comes crashing down to Earth.
If you take a small angel and place it in the ghetto, without parents, to survive it will have to adjust to its environment.
In this book, Marguett recollects some personal stories from his childhood and youth that shaped who will become. Each story ends with a Black box summary about the lesson learned from those stories. Most of the stories contain the harsh reality that taught Marquett how to survive.
They say if you truly know a person if you stand in their shoes, you will probably make the same mistakes. So if you truly know the author, you can see why they are the way they are.
The author is fairly intelligent, and I hope that intelligence is used for the benefit of many and not only himself. It seems that he has amassed a cult following and I hope these people follow the right leader, and not a well-spoken cult leader who leeches out of his audience.
And I hope that this Black Box doesn't become something we have to open when the Burton plane comes crashing down to Earth.
February 14, 2021
The story and uprising life of Marquett Burton is astonishing. To be able to rise through the hood and prevail in one of the top universities in the United States and succeed in life is one worth of praise. The stories told in the book is interesting. However, this book is not a perfect 5 yet. I can tell Marquett tried to write this book to contain many similes and metaphor as if the book was a fiction, but it just did not work for me. Also, there are many grammatical and spelling errors, at times it is hard to read. Hiring an editor to fix all these issues will lift the book to be a bestseller, that is inevitable .
July 15, 2021
For the youthful males who might need some harsh truths about the nature of life – as things can get very superficial and substance-less in the world we live in today – this book will be a useful guide. The author takes us through his journey growing up in poverty and around crime, despite all the unfortunate circumstances revolving around his upbringing and childhood, he manages to use all the negativity as fuel, the author employs and interesting style, although it often can become too novel-ish in the narration, nonetheless I found the book to be helpful and insightful personally. It might be a polarising piece of work, but nonetheless beneficial in my opinion.
December 27, 2022
Being able to read and understand the circumstances in which Marquett grew up and the man he has been able to become shows us that no matter the environment you are born into you can be a master of your destiny.
Additionally, this book provides us with what can be considered a common childhood story in the American black community that has been riddled with crime and poverty due to the injustices they have suffered throughout history.
Let's hope for a better future
Additionally, this book provides us with what can be considered a common childhood story in the American black community that has been riddled with crime and poverty due to the injustices they have suffered throughout history.
Let's hope for a better future
January 15, 2024
Introspective Observations
This book provides the reader with a chance to relate to the author if they lived a similar lifestyle, but it also allows for one to think back on their life and build their own black box. In building a black box from their own experiences, the reader also has the opportunity to pull data from the author's black box and utilize it as well. I enjoyed this book. It's the first book I've actually read in a long time. Masterful.
This book provides the reader with a chance to relate to the author if they lived a similar lifestyle, but it also allows for one to think back on their life and build their own black box. In building a black box from their own experiences, the reader also has the opportunity to pull data from the author's black box and utilize it as well. I enjoyed this book. It's the first book I've actually read in a long time. Masterful.
April 6, 2022
Wow
I was shocked on how good this book is. Marquett really gives great insight on how to navigate a lot of issues that life throws at you. It is more of a book of reflection and learning to me. It gives you a way to create your own way to learn and reflect on different experiences so you can do the exercise for your own life. Highly recommended
I was shocked on how good this book is. Marquett really gives great insight on how to navigate a lot of issues that life throws at you. It is more of a book of reflection and learning to me. It gives you a way to create your own way to learn and reflect on different experiences so you can do the exercise for your own life. Highly recommended
June 7, 2022
Marquett has penmanship like none other. How can he write so well? Idfk. But his experiences are phenomenal. They really educate without sacrificing entertainment value. He keeps your attention. I appreciate that.
His life is like many others but what he’s been able to do with his short anecdotes can do more fore you than 1,000 books. Don’t sleep on this work. Thank you Marquett!
His life is like many others but what he’s been able to do with his short anecdotes can do more fore you than 1,000 books. Don’t sleep on this work. Thank you Marquett!
February 9, 2021
Truly enjoyed this book
I started reading it and I could not put it down. It making me think about my life and my calling.I have to thank YouTube yanie for putting me on to this book.
I started reading it and I could not put it down. It making me think about my life and my calling.I have to thank YouTube yanie for putting me on to this book.
February 20, 2026
I read through to the end so you wouldn't have to. I love Oppenheim's stories but I suspect this one was an early effort because it stunk. Trust me - this one is bad! A string of unbelievable adventures which were more like silly padding.
September 12, 2020
Pricelessly valuable!
I finished the book in two days and could not put it down at all! Highly recommend it as it's invaluable.
I finished the book in two days and could not put it down at all! Highly recommend it as it's invaluable.
January 7, 2021
Love it
Great book on life lessons being given in an entertaining manner . He’s also very articulate in the way he speaks .
Great book on life lessons being given in an entertaining manner . He’s also very articulate in the way he speaks .
January 29, 2021
Book review
Really awesome book I’m glad I got this game
I really like how it’s straight to the point
Peace to the saints
Really awesome book I’m glad I got this game
I really like how it’s straight to the point
Peace to the saints
August 14, 2021
Meaningful life lessons from a piimmmmmmmmmpppppppppp!
October 31, 2021
I never re-read books, but this one I will read over and over again!!
July 9, 2022
Real
A lot of important lessons from Marquett’s life I now can implement into my own. This book is has great value. 👍
A lot of important lessons from Marquett’s life I now can implement into my own. This book is has great value. 👍
December 30, 2025
I feel every story
Great words I couldn't have said things better myself. Many chapters really resonated something in me I felt many of the stories.
Great words I couldn't have said things better myself. Many chapters really resonated something in me I felt many of the stories.
Read
February 10, 2026Not published in 1915.
August 11, 2026
Great Introspective Story. Inspiring.
10/10
I recommend this book especially to all black men regardless of class and/or status. Inspiring story for myself. Must Read
10/10
I recommend this book especially to all black men regardless of class and/or status. Inspiring story for myself. Must Read
August 26, 2014
Ah, the imagination of early 20th century writers... well, at least this one. In 1915 he was probably regarded as the James Patterson of his day... today... not so much.
I started this just out of curiosity as a writer and for something simple to read that would just keep me occupied. It did that. The whole story is so ridiculous and farfetched I find it very hard to believe this was a bestselling author... but history says differently. He wrote and sold hundreds of stories and made lots of money off them.
To be fair, it was a simpler time. People were far less well traveled and the average reader had little to no scientific knowledge. The criminal element was dealt with quickly and rather summarily. So, I can see the appeal for a very naive population at the turn of the century. Intelligent they may have been but they were lacking all the advances yet to come that would turn society on its head. World war, with all it's advances in medicine and technology, was still ahead. They were not exposed yet to the excessive violent criminal element waiting in the wings just a few decades away that would bring criminal activity to the front pages of papers around the world. The horrors of radical islam were no where to be found.
If you're a student of writing, read it for no other reason than to learn. If you're looking for laughs and don't mind the foolish storyline, go ahead. If you're looking for a good story with lots of excitement... don't bother.
It was so terrible, I couldn't finish it. I did stick it until about half way.
I plan to look up some of the ones he wrote that were made into movies and see if there is any improvement.
I started this just out of curiosity as a writer and for something simple to read that would just keep me occupied. It did that. The whole story is so ridiculous and farfetched I find it very hard to believe this was a bestselling author... but history says differently. He wrote and sold hundreds of stories and made lots of money off them.
To be fair, it was a simpler time. People were far less well traveled and the average reader had little to no scientific knowledge. The criminal element was dealt with quickly and rather summarily. So, I can see the appeal for a very naive population at the turn of the century. Intelligent they may have been but they were lacking all the advances yet to come that would turn society on its head. World war, with all it's advances in medicine and technology, was still ahead. They were not exposed yet to the excessive violent criminal element waiting in the wings just a few decades away that would bring criminal activity to the front pages of papers around the world. The horrors of radical islam were no where to be found.
If you're a student of writing, read it for no other reason than to learn. If you're looking for laughs and don't mind the foolish storyline, go ahead. If you're looking for a good story with lots of excitement... don't bother.
It was so terrible, I couldn't finish it. I did stick it until about half way.
I plan to look up some of the ones he wrote that were made into movies and see if there is any improvement.
October 23, 2015
This story is really daft but I'm a little embarrassed to say that I quite enjoyed it. Virtually nothing in it could have happened in real life and it was fairly obvious from the off who was the villain.
Sanford Quest, the detective, is just too good to be true and was way ahead of his time. He had walkie-talkie radio in 1915!! He could hypnotise people against their will, even down the phone . He had a gadget that could read people's minds and show what had happened on a mirror. I did say it was daft.
However, it romps along all round the world and was the sort of book I would have absolutely loved when I was about 12 years old. There are loads of murders, camel chases across the desert, cowboys, train crashes, attacks by lions, bush fires and so much more comic book stuff.
Good escapist nonsense from a hugely successful and prolific British author who made a fortune from his work.
Sanford Quest, the detective, is just too good to be true and was way ahead of his time. He had walkie-talkie radio in 1915!! He could hypnotise people against their will, even down the phone . He had a gadget that could read people's minds and show what had happened on a mirror. I did say it was daft.
However, it romps along all round the world and was the sort of book I would have absolutely loved when I was about 12 years old. There are loads of murders, camel chases across the desert, cowboys, train crashes, attacks by lions, bush fires and so much more comic book stuff.
Good escapist nonsense from a hugely successful and prolific British author who made a fortune from his work.
March 3, 2018
It was an interesting book but quite different from any other book that I have read by E. Philips Oppenheim.
It reminded me in some ways of a Jules Verne book. It was science fiction. The lead character was able to do some
impossible things like reading people's minds and making them do things by the power of his mind. Despite the
impossibility of many of the things done, it was a clever plot and get the reader interested until the end.
Give it a try.
It reminded me in some ways of a Jules Verne book. It was science fiction. The lead character was able to do some
impossible things like reading people's minds and making them do things by the power of his mind. Despite the
impossibility of many of the things done, it was a clever plot and get the reader interested until the end.
Give it a try.
October 4, 2011
Never was a best seller, never will be...won't be made into a movie either
December 29, 2012
Totally far fetched adventure story from early last century, with evil foreign characters around the world
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