000			02789cam a22003493u 4500
001			78508
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005			20260610134824.0
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007			cr n
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010			_a30019826
040			_aUtSlPG
041		7	_aen _2iso639-1
050		4	_aPR
100	1		_aWallace, Edgar, _d1875-1932
245	1	4	_aThe hand of power
250			_aFirst edition.
264		1	_aSalt Lake City, UT : _bProject Gutenberg, _c2026
300			_a1 online resource : _bmultiple file formats
336			_atext _btxt _2rdacontent
337			_acomputer _bc _2rdamedia
338			_aonline resource _bcr _2rdacarrier
500			_aRelease date is 2026-04-20
508			_aan anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer
520			_a"The hand of power" by Edgar Wallace is a crime thriller novel written in the early 20th century. It follows young actress Betty Carew and the sinister Dr. Joshua Laffin, whose cryptic manipulations pull in Lord Clive Lowbridge, publicity man Bill Holbrook, and a hesitant Sub‑Inspector Bullott, all shadowed by a secretive fraternal order, the Proud Sons of Ragousa. A bizarre shop‑window stunt—Betty seated at a desk beside a jade vase holding a single red rose—serves as the lure for a larger, hidden plot. The opening of the novel sets a tense mood on storm‑swept Dartmoor, where cowled figures halt Laffin’s car, a bell tolls in the dark, and menace lingers. Fifteen months on, Laffin coldly coerces Betty into the public “desk” display and tasks tied to a mysterious message, while her ally Clive Lowbridge and the brash Bill Holbrook circle the edges of a scheme they cannot yet read. Captain Harvey Hale, a disgraced sea‑captain, is recruited by a shadowy agent, steered toward Devon roads, and told to join the Proud Sons. Betty’s theatre job collapses after a clash with La Florette, and Laffin blackmails her by invoking her tragic past, warning her to forget the Dartmoor encounter and a gold buckle she once saw. Meanwhile, Holbrook spots a Ragousan parade, meets a wordy burglar, Toby Marsh, who hints at a “Twenty‑Third Degree” and calls Betty the “Golden Voice of the Absolute,” and shares the lead with No‑Arrest Bullott. Soon after, Laffin reports a peculiar burglary, and Betty begins the humiliating window display as crowds gather and Holbrook circulates a coy press item that ignores the desk and spotlights the red‑haired girl. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
534			_pOriginally published: _cNew York: The Mystery League, Inc., 1930
653			_aDetective and mystery stories
653			_aEngland -- Fiction
856	4		_uhttps://www.google.com/books/edition/_/bskTAAAAQAAJ
856	4	0	_uhttps://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/78508
999			_c119226 _d119226