Reviewed by Rachel A Hyde, MyShelf.com
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House of Stratus is an exciting new name in British publishing.  They combine all the virtues of a traditional printed book with modern technology with their print-on-demand books.  For the price of an ordinary paperback you can choose from an ever-growing list of classic names like Kipling and Monserrat, out-of-print favorites like Rafael Sabatini, Norah Lofts and Edgar Wallace and newer names like Sam Llewellyn, Dudley Pope and Claire Raynor.  They are handsome large-format volumes and flop open for easyreading.

Edgar Wallace is better known for his detective stories, most notably The Four Just Men but he also wrote a series of five delightful novels featuring the capable Sanders, District Commissioner for the Congo, his long-suffering assistant Captain Hamilton and the irrepressible Lieutenant Tibbetts, alias Bones who must surely be one of the best comic creations in literature outside of Dickens.  Together they cope with witch doctors, irate VIPs, tribal warfare and their nemesis the crafty Chief Bosambo of the Ochori. Their adventures are by turns comic, tragic and exciting and are based on Wallace's own experiences as a Daily Mail reporter investigating atrocities in the Belgian Congo during the early part of the 20th century.

If you are wondering whether this is going to be a racist novel then rest assured it isn't.   Wallace has created characters that are good and bad, clever and stupid and all shades in between regardless of their color and despite the humor he paints a realistic picture of what life was like on the Congo in those days.  Try it and see; you won't be disappointed as this is that rare thing, a truly comic series of books that is a joy to read.
 
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