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The Grassleyes Mystery
Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Hesperides Press are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.
- GenresMystery
336 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1940
About the author
E. Phillips Oppenheim
647 books79 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 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 31, 2026
A mystery thriller from the prolific and wonderfully-named Oppenheim. There are some interesting elements here: conniving lawyers, exotic sisters, strange oriental servants, a secret herb garden and an apparent murder. The victim had decreed that her will was not to be read for a month after her death. The whole thing did not quite hang together without the aid of some unlikely coincidences, but it was an undemanding fun read.
December 21, 2023
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This was a strange little entertainment! I have enjoyed the espionage novels of E. Phillips Oppenheim such as The Last Train Out and The Great Impersonation but this had a very different tone ~ quite unlike anything I have read before. Over his career he has written over 135 novels and collections - Wikipedia lists this title as a short story collection, but with the book in my hand I can say for certain it is a novel that plays out continuously. It was written in 1940, the same year as The Last Train Out, making it one of the last titles he wrote at age 73.
David Garnet arrives on the French Riviera, looking to let a bungalow in Nice and is directed to the Grassleyes Manoir by an estate agent. The property around the grand home contains secluded bungalows with quaint names like The Three Cypresses and The Lamps Of Fire. When he is announced to the owner by the Burmese butler, he enters the room to find Lady Grassleyes sitting at a desk, apparently deceased. So begins an odd mystery as she is removed by the doctors who cannot decide on a manner of death. It's not a question of who-did-it, but the detectives and lawyers gather tenants of Grassleyes anyway and announce her will is to be opened in 30 days. Among the tenants are a famous opera singer and her love-sick sister, a recovering drug addict, a grouchy Englishman, and Jane the young niece of Lady Grassleyes. Quickly David and Jane form an alliance to figure out what happened, begin to fall in love, and are then shocked when Lady Grassleyes disappears from the clinic! It sounds more exciting than it is, as the group seem nonplussed and spend the next few weeks lunching and relaxing over cocktails. Indeed, she is not thought of too much! Complicating matters is the estate agent Spenser who is eager to sell the property out from under Jane, and the arrival of the Marquis and Marquise de Fallanges whose wealth and sophistication charm everyone (so why are they paranoid about the presence of Detective Inspector Suresne?). Near the end of the 30 days, things pick up as the Marquis holds a lavish party on his yacht, the likes of which Nice has never seen. Perhaps the will and family jewels will be stolen that night? Perhaps David and Jane will engage to marry? Perhaps the evil schemers will be dispatched? Perhaps Lady Grassleyes' body will turn up? Whatever happens, there will be cocktails served and shocking behaviour laughed off as so much delightful entertainment.
I would say it's a light mystery with few clues, some of them leading nowhere, some of them blatantly obvious. I had the impression it was a bit of fluff, but thinking back on it now, I rather like it. I found a hardcover copy (no dust jacket, a little foxing around the page edges) for $5. and being an Oppenheim fan, there was no question. I feel like I am rescuing them sometimes as these are the kind of books that are disappearing, perhaps not popular enough to be available in Kindle stores. Maybe not the best book I've read, but enjoyable and so interesting to read what high society was like in Nice in 1940. And he named the Marquise 'Victorine', which I thought very nice.
Several Oppeneheim books are available as free eBooks online including The Grassleyes Mystery for your enjoyment.
An entertaining little curio.
This was a strange little entertainment! I have enjoyed the espionage novels of E. Phillips Oppenheim such as The Last Train Out and The Great Impersonation but this had a very different tone ~ quite unlike anything I have read before. Over his career he has written over 135 novels and collections - Wikipedia lists this title as a short story collection, but with the book in my hand I can say for certain it is a novel that plays out continuously. It was written in 1940, the same year as The Last Train Out, making it one of the last titles he wrote at age 73.
David Garnet arrives on the French Riviera, looking to let a bungalow in Nice and is directed to the Grassleyes Manoir by an estate agent. The property around the grand home contains secluded bungalows with quaint names like The Three Cypresses and The Lamps Of Fire. When he is announced to the owner by the Burmese butler, he enters the room to find Lady Grassleyes sitting at a desk, apparently deceased. So begins an odd mystery as she is removed by the doctors who cannot decide on a manner of death. It's not a question of who-did-it, but the detectives and lawyers gather tenants of Grassleyes anyway and announce her will is to be opened in 30 days. Among the tenants are a famous opera singer and her love-sick sister, a recovering drug addict, a grouchy Englishman, and Jane the young niece of Lady Grassleyes. Quickly David and Jane form an alliance to figure out what happened, begin to fall in love, and are then shocked when Lady Grassleyes disappears from the clinic! It sounds more exciting than it is, as the group seem nonplussed and spend the next few weeks lunching and relaxing over cocktails. Indeed, she is not thought of too much! Complicating matters is the estate agent Spenser who is eager to sell the property out from under Jane, and the arrival of the Marquis and Marquise de Fallanges whose wealth and sophistication charm everyone (so why are they paranoid about the presence of Detective Inspector Suresne?). Near the end of the 30 days, things pick up as the Marquis holds a lavish party on his yacht, the likes of which Nice has never seen. Perhaps the will and family jewels will be stolen that night? Perhaps David and Jane will engage to marry? Perhaps the evil schemers will be dispatched? Perhaps Lady Grassleyes' body will turn up? Whatever happens, there will be cocktails served and shocking behaviour laughed off as so much delightful entertainment.
I would say it's a light mystery with few clues, some of them leading nowhere, some of them blatantly obvious. I had the impression it was a bit of fluff, but thinking back on it now, I rather like it. I found a hardcover copy (no dust jacket, a little foxing around the page edges) for $5. and being an Oppenheim fan, there was no question. I feel like I am rescuing them sometimes as these are the kind of books that are disappearing, perhaps not popular enough to be available in Kindle stores. Maybe not the best book I've read, but enjoyable and so interesting to read what high society was like in Nice in 1940. And he named the Marquise 'Victorine', which I thought very nice.
Several Oppeneheim books are available as free eBooks online including The Grassleyes Mystery for your enjoyment.
An entertaining little curio.
October 14, 2023
A cute mystery. There are a lot of quirky people. David and Jane quickly fall in love. I liked the twist at the end.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews