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The Secret of Holm Peel and Other Strange Stories
Count de Stano: Was this enigmatic stranger victim or a resurrected demon?
Asta Croven: She faced a madman's wrath and the curse of her ancestors.
Fu Manchu: Could one young innocent escape his insidious network?
Bazarada: What mysterious purpose brought this blond Spaniard to a hidden corner of England? These intriguing characters are just a few to be found in The Secret of Holm Peel. Rohmer, world master of mysery, explores the chilling depths of human and inhuman experience, past and present, in all its alarming diversity.
Asta Croven: She faced a madman's wrath and the curse of her ancestors.
Fu Manchu: Could one young innocent escape his insidious network?
Bazarada: What mysterious purpose brought this blond Spaniard to a hidden corner of England? These intriguing characters are just a few to be found in The Secret of Holm Peel. Rohmer, world master of mysery, explores the chilling depths of human and inhuman experience, past and present, in all its alarming diversity.
191 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1970
24 people want to read
About the author
Sax Rohmer
500 books124 followersAKA Arthur Sarsfield Ward (real name); Michael Furey.
Arthur Henry Sarsfield Ward (15 February 1883 - 1 June 1959), better known as Sax Rohmer, was a prolific English novelist. He is best remembered for his series of novels featuring the master criminal Dr. Fu Manchu.
Born in Birmingham to a working class family, Rohmer initially pursued a career as a civil servant before concentrating on writing full-time.
He worked as a poet, songwriter, and comedy sketch writer in Music Hall before creating the Sax Rohmer persona and pursuing a career writing weird fiction.
Like his contemporaries Algernon Blackwood and Arthur Machen, Rohmer claimed membership to one of the factions of the qabbalistic Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Rohmer also claimed ties to the Rosicrucians, but the validity of his claims has been questioned. His physician and family friend, Dr. R. Watson Councell may have been his only legitimate connection to such organizations. It is believed that Rohmer may have exaggerated his association in order to boost his literary reputation as an occult writer.
His first published work came in 1903, when the short story The Mysterious Mummy was sold to Pearson's Weekly. He gradually transitioned from writing for Music Hall performers to concentrating on short stories and serials for magazine publication. In 1909 he married Rose Elizabeth Knox.
He published his first novel Pause! anonymously in 1910. After penning Little Tich in 1911 (as ghostwriter for the Music Hall entertainer) he issued the first Fu Manchu novel, The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchu, was serialized from October 1912 - June 1913. It was an immediate success with its fast-paced story of Denis Nayland Smith and Dr. Petrie facing the worldwide conspiracy of the 'Yellow Peril'. The Fu Manchu stories, together with his more conventional detective series characters—Paul Harley, Gaston Max, Red Kerry, Morris Klaw, and The Crime Magnet—made Rohmer one of the most successful and well-paid authors of the 1920s and 1930s.
Rohmer also wrote several novels of supernatural horror, including Brood of the Witch-Queen. Rohmer was very poor at managing his wealth, however, and made several disastrous business decisions that hampered him throughout his career. His final success came with a series of novels featuring a female variation on Fu Manchu, Sumuru.
After World War II, the Rohmers moved to New York only returning to London shortly before his death. Rohmer died in 1959 due to an outbreak of influenza ("Asian Flu").
There were thirteen books in the Fu Manchu series in all (not counting the posthumous The Wrath of Fu Manchu. The Sumuru series consist of five books.
His wife published her own mystery novel, Bianca in Black in 1954 under the pen name, Elizabeth Sax Rohmer. Some editions of the book mistakenly credit her as Rohmer's daughter. Elizabeth Sax Rohmer and Cay Van Ash, her husband's former assistant, wrote a biography of the author, Master of Villainy, published in 1972.
Arthur Henry Sarsfield Ward (15 February 1883 - 1 June 1959), better known as Sax Rohmer, was a prolific English novelist. He is best remembered for his series of novels featuring the master criminal Dr. Fu Manchu.
Born in Birmingham to a working class family, Rohmer initially pursued a career as a civil servant before concentrating on writing full-time.
He worked as a poet, songwriter, and comedy sketch writer in Music Hall before creating the Sax Rohmer persona and pursuing a career writing weird fiction.
Like his contemporaries Algernon Blackwood and Arthur Machen, Rohmer claimed membership to one of the factions of the qabbalistic Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Rohmer also claimed ties to the Rosicrucians, but the validity of his claims has been questioned. His physician and family friend, Dr. R. Watson Councell may have been his only legitimate connection to such organizations. It is believed that Rohmer may have exaggerated his association in order to boost his literary reputation as an occult writer.
His first published work came in 1903, when the short story The Mysterious Mummy was sold to Pearson's Weekly. He gradually transitioned from writing for Music Hall performers to concentrating on short stories and serials for magazine publication. In 1909 he married Rose Elizabeth Knox.
He published his first novel Pause! anonymously in 1910. After penning Little Tich in 1911 (as ghostwriter for the Music Hall entertainer) he issued the first Fu Manchu novel, The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchu, was serialized from October 1912 - June 1913. It was an immediate success with its fast-paced story of Denis Nayland Smith and Dr. Petrie facing the worldwide conspiracy of the 'Yellow Peril'. The Fu Manchu stories, together with his more conventional detective series characters—Paul Harley, Gaston Max, Red Kerry, Morris Klaw, and The Crime Magnet—made Rohmer one of the most successful and well-paid authors of the 1920s and 1930s.
Rohmer also wrote several novels of supernatural horror, including Brood of the Witch-Queen. Rohmer was very poor at managing his wealth, however, and made several disastrous business decisions that hampered him throughout his career. His final success came with a series of novels featuring a female variation on Fu Manchu, Sumuru.
After World War II, the Rohmers moved to New York only returning to London shortly before his death. Rohmer died in 1959 due to an outbreak of influenza ("Asian Flu").
There were thirteen books in the Fu Manchu series in all (not counting the posthumous The Wrath of Fu Manchu. The Sumuru series consist of five books.
His wife published her own mystery novel, Bianca in Black in 1954 under the pen name, Elizabeth Sax Rohmer. Some editions of the book mistakenly credit her as Rohmer's daughter. Elizabeth Sax Rohmer and Cay Van Ash, her husband's former assistant, wrote a biography of the author, Master of Villainy, published in 1972.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 17, 2015
Sax Rohmer was a famous popular adventure writer in the first half of the last century, most known for creating the series of Fu Manchu adventures. I think of him as being similar to Leslie Charteris, Dennis Wheatley, and, to a lesser extent perhaps, to Sabatini and Talbot Mundy. One thing that's interesting to note about the Fu Manchu series is that it's the only such series I can think of that that's known by the name of the villain rather than the hero; no one would talk about the Moriarty series by Doyle, only the Holmes stories. The Secret of Holm Peel collects eight of Rohmer's short fiction works, only one of which is a Fu Manchu, The Eyes of Fu Manchu, which is a good one. The book unfortunately doesn't attribute the year and place of original publication, but I looked up a few and they seem to be fairly well scattered along his career. Some, such as the titular story and A House Possessed are terribly Gothic, some are rather straight-forward adventures, and Brother Wing Commander is an attempt at a gentler, slicker tone. Altogether I'd say it's a pretty good introduction to Rohmer.
March 8, 2016
Unlike the straight pulpy stories of Rohmer's Fu-Manchu novels, this short story collection (which also includes a Fu-Manchu tale) has more of a Gothic feel to most of its content, even venturing into Gothic Romance.
March 27, 2020
A mixture of stories including a ghost story, some murder mysteries, some horror, some action adventure, a love story, and Dr. Fu-Manchu. Some are good, some just fair. "Bazarada" is the best, with an interesting mysterious stranger and a bit of sword fighting. Others are pretty good, with owls and monkeys and Bonny Prince Charlie. "Brother Wing Commanders" is a tear-jerker that finishes off the collection very well indeed. Sadly, "The Eyes of Fu-Manchu" is not a very satisfying Fu-Manchu tale, being too short and only barely covering the regular Fu-Manchu ideas. It's like an outline for a longer work.
A decent and varied collection of Rohmer's style.
A decent and varied collection of Rohmer's style.
November 4, 2018
An anthology of gothic horror and mysteries from the creator of "Fu Manchu." Rohmer's tales are challenging, often confusing but highly original in setting and story. His style won't suit all but this collection of 8 stories illustrates the wide variety of stories he could create.
"The Secret of Holm Peel" "The Owl Hoots Twice" "A House Possessed" "The Eyes of Fu Manchu"
"The Mystery of the Marsh Hole" "Bazarada" "For the Love of Mistress Mary"
"The Secret of Holm Peel" "The Owl Hoots Twice" "A House Possessed" "The Eyes of Fu Manchu"
"The Mystery of the Marsh Hole" "Bazarada" "For the Love of Mistress Mary"
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews