Background
Ethnicity:
William's mother was of an English origin and his father was French.
William Tufnell Le Queux was born on July 2, 1864, in London, United Kingdom.
(Handfast. “May she ever imitate the holy women of former ...)
Handfast. “May she ever imitate the holy women of former times, and may the Evil One have no share in her actions.” The nuptial blessing was droned monotonously in French by a stout rubicund priest, who wore soiled and crumpled vestments. The scene was strange and impressive. Upon a tawdry altar, in a small bare chapel, two candles flickered unsteadily. The gloomy place was utterly devoid of embellishment, with damp-stained, white-washed walls, a stone floor, dirty and uneven, and broken windows patched with paper.
https://www.amazon.com/Temptress-William-Queux-ebook/dp/B00JIVQVGE/?tag=2022091-20
1895
(Ali Ben Hafiz. The adventure was strange, the mystery ine...)
Ali Ben Hafiz. The adventure was strange, the mystery inexplicable. A blazing noontide in the month of Moharram. Away across the barren desert to the distant horizon nothing met the aching eye but a dreary waste of burning red-brown sand under a cloudless sky shining like burnished copper. Not an object relieved the wearying monotony of the waterless region forsaken by nature, not a palm, not a rock, not a knoll, not a vestige of herbage; nothing but the boundless silent expanse of that wild and wonderful wilderness, the Great Sahara, across which the sand-laden wind swept ever and anon in short stifling gusts hot as the breath from an oven.
https://www.amazon.com/Zoraida-Romance-Harem-Great-Sahara-ebook/dp/B00ARK7F9M/?tag=2022091-20
1895
(Let me gaze down the vista of the tristful past. Ah! ther...)
Let me gaze down the vista of the tristful past. Ah! there are things that cannot be uttered; there are scenes that still entrance me, and incidents so unexpected and terrible that they cause me even now to hold my breath in horror. The prologue of this extraordinary drama of London life was enacted three years ago; its astounding dénouement occurred quite recently.
https://www.amazon.com/Devils-Dice-William-Queux-ebook/dp/B07DWDF98P/?tag=2022091-20
1896
(Leopold is delighted to publish this classic book as part...)
Leopold is delighted to publish this classic book as part of our extensive Classic Library collection. Many of the books in our collection have been out of print for decades, and therefore have not been accessible to the general public. The aim of our publishing program is to facilitate rapid access to this vast reservoir of literature, and our view is that this is a significant literary work, which deserves to be brought back into print after many decades.
https://www.amazon.com/Scribes-Pharisees-Story-Literary-London/dp/B01FCB601Y/?tag=2022091-20
1898
(In this story I have dealt with an extraordinary phase of...)
In this story I have dealt with an extraordinary phase of modern life in London, which to the majority will come as a startling revelation. Some will, perhaps, declare that no such amazing state of things exists in this, the most enlightened age the world has known. To such, I can only assert that in this decadent civilisation of ours the things which I have described actually take place in secret, as certain facts in my possession indisputably show.
https://www.amazon.com/Bond-Black-William-Queux-ebook/dp/B07DWHKWTN/?tag=2022091-20
1899
(So strange, indeed, were all the circumstances, and so st...)
So strange, indeed, were all the circumstances, and so startling the adventures that befell me in my search after truth, that until to-day I have hesitated to relate the narrative, which is as extraordinary as it is unique in the history of any living man. If it were not for the fact that a certain person actively associated with this curious drama of our latter day civilisation, has recently passed to the land that lies beyond the human ken, my lips would have perforce still remained sealed.
https://www.amazon.com/White-Raiment-William-Queux-ebook/dp/B07DWDWFF7/?tag=2022091-20
1900
("What a way Mr. le Queux has of making kings and diplomat...)
"What a way Mr. le Queux has of making kings and diplomatists men of flesh and blood ! You simply cannot tear yourself away from this story ; nothing from his pen has held us more spellbound. This is one of the most startling plot developments we can remember." Daily Express. "A capital tale. It is some time since we chanced on such a good novel." Birmingham Post.
https://www.amazon.com/Royal-Blood-Story-Secret-Service/dp/1521472122/?tag=2022091-20
1900
(A mystery set in fin de siècle London. An elderly man is ...)
A mystery set in fin de siècle London. An elderly man is murdered and suspicion falls on his young widow. But then things get very complicated and lies and clues abound...
https://www.amazon.com/William-Queux-Seven-Secrets-ebook/dp/B01N3SKTTM/?tag=2022091-20
1903
(Mr. Le Queux, afraid that the old attraction of a treasur...)
Mr. Le Queux, afraid that the old attraction of a treasure-hunt would fail to draw, has added some curious embellishments. A very queer craft dating from about the time of the Armada is sighted and taken in tow by the name ‘Sea Horse.’ It has on board a still more queer mariner, who looks like a survival of the same period.
https://www.amazon.com/Tickencote-Treasure-William-Queux-ebook/dp/B07HCJD5QZ/?tag=2022091-20
1903
(Set in the first decade of the 20th century, this tale of...)
Set in the first decade of the 20th century, this tale of fraud and intrigue is told in the first person with verve by this renowned author. With other “swindlers” their activities encompass crooked roulette tables set to trap greedy gamblers and a leisure cruise on a phantom luxury yacht. The back drop ranges from the glamour of the French Riviera to the back streets of London. And who are the ladies? Which of the ladies in the plots is a true 'love interest'? Is she truly loyal or an agent of his enemies? A hard to put down read.
https://www.amazon.com/Idol-Town-William-Queux-ebook/dp/B0045Y1PQA/?tag=2022091-20
1904
(This book was converted from its physical edition to the ...)
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.
https://www.amazon.com/Closed-Book-Concerning-Secret-Borgias-ebook/dp/B00AQM61VO/?tag=2022091-20
1904
(In France, in Italy, in Russia, in Germany, in Belgium, i...)
In France, in Italy, in Russia, in Germany, in Belgium, in all corners of England, this craze Of mine has led me, through many adventures, free but captive; and, looking back now, I realise that it has been really through this little-known hobby of mine, the hobby of palaeography, that there have come some of the most suggestive and magical hours I have ever spent in a wandering, erratic life that has never been wholly free from movement, but has Often held its time of danger and its resist less, restless passion for change, romance, and adventure.
https://www.amazon.com/Hunchback-Westminster-Classic-Reprint/dp/1331373255/?tag=2022091-20
1904
(A remarkable mystery story in which valuables disappear f...)
A remarkable mystery story in which valuables disappear from locked safes; written and whispered warnings come out of nowhere and a murder is committed behind locked doors--all in a modern New York apartment. "Full of arresting situations and making a strong appeal at every stage to the instinct of curiosity."
https://www.amazon.com/House-Whispers-William-Queux-ebook/dp/B00I2YHX0G/?tag=2022091-20
1906
(“I sometimes despair of the country ever becoming alive t...)
“I sometimes despair of the country ever becoming alive to the danger of the unpreparedness of our present position until too late to prevent some fatal catastrophe.” This was the keynote of a solemn warning made in the House of Lords on July 10th of the present year by Earl Roberts. His lordship, while drawing attention to our present inadequate forces, strongly urged that action should be taken in accordance with the recommendations of the Elgin Commission that “no military system could be considered satisfactory which did not contain powers of expansion outside the limit of the regular forces of the Crown.”
https://www.amazon.com/Invasion-1910-Account-Siege-London-ebook/dp/B01GGBGP4Q/?tag=2022091-20
1906
(Concerns a Proposal of Marriage. “Then you really don’t i...)
Concerns a Proposal of Marriage. “Then you really don’t intend to marry me, Wilfrid?” “The honour of being your husband, Tibbie, I must respectfully decline,” I said. “But I’d make you a very quiet, sociable wife, you know. I can ride to hounds, cook, sew clothes for old people, and drive a motor.
https://www.amazon.com/Mysterious-Mr-Miller-William-Queux-ebook/dp/B00ACBO92M/?tag=2022091-20
1906
(A great and fast moving murder mystery, with love interes...)
A great and fast moving murder mystery, with love interests inter woven, opens in the bitterest cold of the Arctic. The fast pace takes the reader to England, especially the South-West as the plot unfolds. A “must read” from one of the greatest thriller writers of the period and famous and well informed “spy-master-writer” William Le Queux: one of his best and loved by his aficionados. The characters emerge as the plot develops; written in two parts published as one book in this e-copy.
https://www.amazon.com/Money-Spider-William-Queux-ebook/dp/B0046REN1A/?tag=2022091-20
1911
Ethnicity:
William's mother was of an English origin and his father was French.
William Tufnell Le Queux was born on July 2, 1864, in London, United Kingdom.
William was educated privately in London and at Pegli, Italy. He also studied art in Paris.
A world traveler and former consul to the Republic of San Marino, Le Queux worked as foreign editor for the London Globe from 1891 to 1893 and as a correspondent for the London Daily Mail during the Balkan War from 1912 to 1913. His first novel, Guilty Bonds (1891), is a fictional account of events observed by the journalist while working in Czarist Russia. The book was subsequently banned in that country. Le Queux was a British Secret Service agent before and during World War I and claimed to have intimate knowledge of the secret services of other countries and to have been consulted on such matters by the British government.
For The Invasion of 1910, Le Queux consulted military strategists and traveled more than ten thousand miles by car throughout England to determine its most vulnerable points. Le Queux produced a book of 550 pages, complete with maps and plans outlining the course of a possible invasion by Germany. As Le Queux wrote in the preface, the object of his forecast was to 'bring home to the British public vividly and forcibly what really would occur were an enemy suddenly to appear in our midst.
The widespread attention accorded the book was partly due to the fact that Le Queux had received help from three of the best military minds of the day: Col. Cyril Field, Major Matson, and H. W. Wilson, who wrote the naval chapters of the novel. The Invasion of 1910 has been translated into at least twenty-seven languages, including Arabic, Urdu, Syrian, Japanese, and Chinese. The total sales of various editions have amounted to nearly one million copies.
In addition to novels about international intrigue, including Bolo, the Super Spy (1918), Cipher Six (1919), and Hidden Hands (1926), Le Queux produced a number of nonfiction books that warned of Britain’s vulnerability to European invasion before World War I. Within Le Queux’s very long list of published fiction are a number of titles that Science Fiction & Fantasy Literature, 1975-1991 identified as within the science fiction genre. Le Queux’s science fiction writings, besides some marginal stories, are generally worthless, melodramatic novels.
(In France, in Italy, in Russia, in Germany, in Belgium, i...)
1904(So strange, indeed, were all the circumstances, and so st...)
1900(A remarkable mystery story in which valuables disappear f...)
1906(“I sometimes despair of the country ever becoming alive t...)
1906(Set in the first decade of the 20th century, this tale of...)
1904(In this story I have dealt with an extraordinary phase of...)
1899(A great and fast moving murder mystery, with love interes...)
1911(Leopold is delighted to publish this classic book as part...)
1898(This book was converted from its physical edition to the ...)
1904(Let me gaze down the vista of the tristful past. Ah! ther...)
1896(A mystery set in fin de siècle London. An elderly man is ...)
1903(Concerns a Proposal of Marriage. “Then you really don’t i...)
1906("What a way Mr. le Queux has of making kings and diplomat...)
1900(Ali Ben Hafiz. The adventure was strange, the mystery ine...)
1895(Handfast. “May she ever imitate the holy women of former ...)
1895(Mr. Le Queux, afraid that the old attraction of a treasur...)
1903Nearly one-quarter of his fiction consists of spy stories, most of which were written between 1890 and 1910. Until the end of the nineteenth century, Le Queux saw France as the primary threat to British security, a view that was common in military thinking at the time. In the twentieth century, Le Queux turned his attention to the threat posed by Germany.
Clubs : Devonshire; Florence, Florence.
Le Queux’s life is more interesting than anything he wrote. He traveled extensively, was aquatinted with royalty, collected an impressive number of decorations for various services from various courts. He used his position for intelligence or spying activity, claiming to have written his more than 150 potboiler - exotic, political, and spy novels - to support such patriotic amateur ventures as the discovery of a Germany spy network in England in 1906.
Quotes from others about the person
“Le Queux was an ardent student of human nature, a student who studied and wrote about some of the most fascinating and infamous criminals of his day. Although Le Queux is no longer highly regarded as an author of crime fiction, he continues to be recognized as a seminal figure in the development of the spy novel.” - Kevin Radaker