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The Romance of Elaine
The Romance of Elaine
A Detective Novel
Sequel to the 'Exploits of Elaine'
Book Excerpt
to enjoy even the foretaste of Bennett's spoils which he had forced from him after his weird transformation into his real self, the Clutching Hand, when the Chinaman had given him the poisoned draught that had put him into his long sleep.
He had obtained the paper showing where the treasure amassed by the Clutching Hand was hidden, but Wu Fang, his master, had come.
Wu had immediately established himself in the most sumptuous of apartments, hidden behind the squalid exterior of the ordinary tenement building in Chinatown.
The night following his arrival, Wu Fang was reclining on a divan, when his servant announced that Long Sin was at the door.
As Long Sin entered, it was evident that, cunning and shrewd though he was himself, Wu was indeed his master. He approached in fear and awe, cringing low.
"Have you brought the map with you?" asked Wu.
Long Sin bowed low again, and drew from under his coat the paper which he had obtained from Bennett. For a moment the two, mast
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The success of the film serial the exploits of Elaine (turned into a bad novel by Reeve) let to two more serials--THE FURTHER EXPLOITS OF ELAINE AND THE ROMANCE OF ELAINE. These two serials were combined by Reeve into this novel
The FURTHER EXPLOITS concerned the efforts of two subordinates of "The clutching hand" to recover the loot taken by their boss before his death. This part is covered in four chapters in the book. This part is more readable than THE EXPLOITS OF ELAINE, because Reeve manages to get the cliff-hanger elements into the story without pretending that the reader will be kept is suspense, and he ignores a red herring from the serial (the possibility that the Clutching Hand has returned from the dead. The only major bluner by Reeve in this part of the story is the transition to the second story. He begins chapter ive with Kennedy, near death at the end of chapter four with the villains making further plans, sitting in his labratory with the model of a new torpedo he has invented. This is, Jameson explains, after the death of one of the villains and the capture of the other. But thoses events are not narrated until the end of Chapter five
Thelarger part of the book is taken up with preventing a German spy, Marius Del Mar, from stealing the model of Kennedy's torpedo. Kennedy as a character, however, largely disappears from the story. This is because Kennedy in this book is not a scientific detective but a master of disguise who shows up as various characters to thwart Del Mar and then disappears again. The end of the book shows that Del Mar knows he is being thwarted by Kennedy, but Jameson never seems to have a clue.
Bye the way, the "romance" of the book is beteen Elaine and Craig Kennedy. In the film version she is in love with the clueless Jameson.
This is not such a wretchedly bad book as THE EXPLOITS OF ELAINE, but it is not much better
The remainder of the book
The FURTHER EXPLOITS concerned the efforts of two subordinates of "The clutching hand" to recover the loot taken by their boss before his death. This part is covered in four chapters in the book. This part is more readable than THE EXPLOITS OF ELAINE, because Reeve manages to get the cliff-hanger elements into the story without pretending that the reader will be kept is suspense, and he ignores a red herring from the serial (the possibility that the Clutching Hand has returned from the dead. The only major bluner by Reeve in this part of the story is the transition to the second story. He begins chapter ive with Kennedy, near death at the end of chapter four with the villains making further plans, sitting in his labratory with the model of a new torpedo he has invented. This is, Jameson explains, after the death of one of the villains and the capture of the other. But thoses events are not narrated until the end of Chapter five
Thelarger part of the book is taken up with preventing a German spy, Marius Del Mar, from stealing the model of Kennedy's torpedo. Kennedy as a character, however, largely disappears from the story. This is because Kennedy in this book is not a scientific detective but a master of disguise who shows up as various characters to thwart Del Mar and then disappears again. The end of the book shows that Del Mar knows he is being thwarted by Kennedy, but Jameson never seems to have a clue.
Bye the way, the "romance" of the book is beteen Elaine and Craig Kennedy. In the film version she is in love with the clueless Jameson.
This is not such a wretchedly bad book as THE EXPLOITS OF ELAINE, but it is not much better
The remainder of the book
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