The Black Gang

Bulldog Drummond is a British detective, created by H. C. McNeile and published under his pen name "Sapper". After an unsuccessful one-off appearance as a policeman in The Strand Magazine, the character was reworked by McNeile into a gentleman adventurer for his 1920 novel Bulldog Drummond. McNeile went on to write ten Drummond novels, four short stories, four stage plays and a screenplay before his death in 1937. The stories were continued by his friend Gerard Fairlie between 1938 and 1954; further books were published in the 1960s and one in 1983.

Herman Cyril McNeile, MC (28 September 1888 – 14 August 1937), commonly known as Cyril McNeile and publishing under the name H. C. McNeile or the pseudonym Sapper, was a British soldier and author. Drawing on his experiences in the trenches during the First World War, he started writing short stories and getting them published in the Daily Mail. As serving officers in the British Army were not permitted to publish under their own names, he was given the pen name "Sapper" by Lord Northcliffe, the owner of the Daily Mail; the nickname was based on that of his corps, the Royal Engineers.

Edward Blackton stares across the crystal waters of Lake Geneva, dreaming of a score big enough to transform him from mere criminal genius to world-dominating mastermind. His recent audience with two panicked representatives of an international diamond cartel may be his big chance. A British professor has perfected the cheap manufacture of precious stones, endangering the very existence of the diamond industry. To safeguard the cartel’s millions, Blackton will make the professor see reason—or send him to his grave.


Genre: Mystery