William Le Queux

**William Tufnell Le Queux** (født 2. juli 1864 i London i England, død 13. oktober 1927 i Knokke i Vest-Flandern i Belgia) var en engelsk journalist, forfatter og diplomat av fransk avstamming.

## Liv og virke
### Bakgrunn
Le Queux var sønn av en fransk tekstilhandler fra London og hans britiske hustru. Han tilbragte skoletiden i England og studerte deretter kunst, blant annet under Ignace Spiridon (1860–1900). Etter en god slutteksamen foretok Le Queux en Grand Tour, som tok ham – for det meste til fots – gjennom Tyskland, Italia og Frankrike.

### Journalist, forfatter
Høsten 1898 var han tilbake i London og der grunnla han tidsskriftene *Gossip* og *Picadilly*, som imidlertid gikk inn etter en kort tid. Fra 1891 rapporterte Le Queux som krigskorrespondent fra første balkankrig og som politisk journalist fra parlamentet for avisen *The Globe*. Denne oppgaven oppgav han i 1893, og viet seg da fullt ut sin egen litterære virksomhet.

Fra utbruddet av første verdenskrig beskjeftiget Le Queux seg intensivt med det nye massemediet *[[radio]]en* og dens muligheter. Fra 1924 tok han i denne forbindelse del i en rekke eksperimenter; blant annet assisterte han John Logie Beard under hans forsøk i de sveitsiske fjellene. Le Queux ble medlem av Institute of Radio Engineers og man valgte ham også til den første president av *Hastings, St. Leonard's and District Roadio Society*.

I en alder av 63 år døde William Le Queux i Knokke (Belgia) og ble begravet der.

### Forfatterskap
Le Queux' forfatterskap var allsidig, fra kriminalromaner og thrillere til mysteriefortellinger og spionromaner, og saklitteratur som til dels utløste heftige diskusjoner. Flere av hans verker ble til i samarbeid med hans forlegger Alfred Harmsworth. Mange av Le Queux' fortellinger utkom først som føljetonger i forskjellige boulevardaviser før de (ofte i bearbeidet form) ble utgitt på nytt i bokform. En av hans mest kjente romaner var *The Invasion of 1910*.

## Verker i utvalg
### Romaner
* *Guilty Bonds* (1891)
* *Strange Tales of a Nihilist* (1892)
* *[[The Great War in England in 1897]]* (1894)
* *Zoraida* (1894)
* *Guilty* (1895)
* *The Temptress* (1895)
* *The Great White Queen. A Tale Of Treasure And Treason* (1896)
* *A Secret Service, being Strange Tales of a Nihilist* (1892) [reprint of *Strange Tales*]
* *A Secret Sin, or, A Madonna of the Music Halls)* (1897)
* *Devil's Dice* (1897)
* *Whoso Findeth a Wife* (1897)
* *The Eye of Istar; a Romance of the Land of No Return* (1897) as *The Eye of Ishtar* (US)
* *Scribes and Pharisees; A Story of Literary London* (1898)
* *If Sinners Entice Thee* (1898)
* *The Bond of Black* (1899)
* *The Day of Temptation* (1899)
* *The Veiled Man* (1899) stories
* *England’s Peril* (1899)
* *The Wiles of the Wicked* (1900)
* *An Eye for an Eye* (1900)
* *In White Raiment* (1900)
* *Of Royal Blood* (1900)
* *Her Majesty's Minister* (1901)
* *The Sign of the Seven Sins* (1901)
* *The Gamblers* (1901)
* *The Court of Honour* (1901)
* *The Under -Secretary* (1902)
* *The Unnamed: A Romance of Modern Italy* (1902)
* *On the “Polar Star” in the Arctic Sea* (1903)
* *The Tickencote Treasure: Being the Story of A Silent Man, A Sealed Script and A Singular Secret* (1903)
* *The Seven Secrets* (1903)
* *Three Glass Eyes* (1903)
* *As We Forgive Them* (1904)
* *The Sign of the Stranger* (1904)
* *The Man from Downing Street* (1904)
* *The Hunchback of Westminster* (1904)
* *The Idol of the Town* (1904)
* *The Red Hat* (1904)
* *Sins of the City* (1905)
* *The Valley of the Shadow* (1905)
* *[[The Czar's Spy|The Czar's Spy: The Mystery of a Silent Love]]* (1905)
* *Behind the Throne* (1905)
* *Who Giveth This Woman?* (1905)
* *The Spider’s Eye* (1905)
* *The Mask* (1905)
* *The Mystery of a Motor-Car* (1906)
* *The Pauper of Park Lane* (1906)
* *The Woman at Kensington* (1906)
* *[[The Invasion of 1910]]* (1906) with H. W. Wilson
* *The Mysterious Mr Miller* (1906)
* *The House of the Wicked* (1906)
* *Whatsoever a Man Soweth* (1906)
* *Whosoever Loveth: Being the Secret of a Lady's Maid* (1907)
* *The Great Plot* (1907)
* *The Woman in the Way* (1907)
* *The Secret of the Square* (1907)
* *The Great Court Scandal* (1907)
* *The Crooked Way* (1908)
* *The Looker-On* (1908)
* *Stolen Sweets* (1908)
* *The House of Whispers* (1909)
* *The Red Room* (1909)
* *Fatal Thirteen* (1909)
* *Lying Lips* (1910)
* *The Unknown Tomorrow* (1910)
* *Hushed Up!: A Mystery of London* (1911)
* *The Money Spider* (1911)
* *An Eye for an Eye* (1911)
* *Revelations of the Secret Service* (1911) stories
* *The Indiscretions Of A Lady's Maid, A Mystery Novel* (1911)
* *The Mystery of Nine* (1912)
* *Without Trace* (1912)
* *The Death-Doctor* (1912) stories
* *Fatal Fingers* (1912)
* *The Lost Million* (1913)
* *The Room of Secrets* (1913)
* *Mysteries* (1913) stories
* *The Hand of Allah* (1914) (also as *The Riddle of the Ring*)
* *Her Royal Highness; A Romance of the Chancelleries of Europe* (1914)
* *Sons of Satan* (1914)
* *The White Lie* (1914)
* *The German Spy, a Present-day story* (1914)
* *The War of the Nations* (1914) with Edgar Wallace and others
* *The Maker of Secrets* (1914)
* *The Four Faces* (1914)
* *The Sign of Silence* (1915)
* *The Devil's Spawn* (1915)
* *The Mysterious Three* (1915)
* *At the Sign of the Sword* (1915)
* *The Mysterious Three* (1915)
* *The German Spy System from Within* (1915)
* *The Mystery Of The Green Ray* (1915)
* *The Double Shadow* (1915)
* *The White Glove* (1915)
* *The Man about Town* (1916)
* *Number 70, Berlin* (1916)
* *The Spy Hunter* (1916) stories
* *The Way to Win* (1916)
* *Cinders of Harley Street* (1916)
* *The Broken Thread* (1916)
* *The Place of Dragons: A Mystery* (1916)
* *Annette Of The Argonne: A Story Of The French Front* (1916)
* *The Scandal-Monger* (1917) stories
* *Beryl of the Biplane* (1917)
* *The Breath of Suspicion* (1917)
* *The Devil's Carnival* (1917)
* *No Greater Love* (1917)
* *Two in a Tangle* (1917)
* *Bolo, The Super-Spy, by Armand Mehjan* (1918)
* *Sant of the Secret Service: Some Revelations of Spies and Spying* (1918)
* *The Secret Life of the Ex-Tsaritza* (1918)
* *The Little Blue Goddess* (1918)
* *The Lure of Love* (1918)
* *The Yellow Ribbon* (1918)
* *The Catspaw* (1918)
* *The Sister Disciple* (1918)
* *The Stolen Statesman: Being the Story of a Hushed-Up Mystery* (1918)
* *The Doctor of Pimlico, Being the Disclosure of a Great Crime* (1919)
* *Cipher Six: A Mystery* (1919)
* *The Forbidden Word* (1919)
* *The King's Incognito* (1919)
* *No. 7 Saville Square* (1920)
* *Secrets of the Foreign Office* (1920)
* *Whither Thou Goest* (1920)
* *The Heart of a Princess: A Romance of To-Day* (1920)
* *The Intriguers* (1920)
* *The Secret Telephone* (1920)
* *The Terror of the Air* (1920)
* *The Red Widow, Or The Death-Dealers of London* (1920)
* *Mademoiselle of Monte Carlo: A Mystery of To-day* (1921)
* *The Fifth Finger: A Mystery* (1921)
* *The Open Verdict: A Mystery* (1921)
* *This House to Let* (1921)
* *The Lady in Waiting: A Royal Romance* (1921)
* *The Marked Man* (1921)
* *The Power of the Borgias* (1921)
* *The Golden Face: A Great Crook Romance* (1922)
* *The Stretton Street Affair* (1922)
* *Three Knots* (1922)
* *The Voice from the Void: The Great Wireless Mystery* (1922)
* *The Young Archduchess* (1922)
* *The Bronze Face* (1923) as *Behind the Bronze Door* (US)
* *Where the Desert Ends* (1923)
* *A Woman's Debt* (1924)
* *Fine Feathers* (1924)
* *The Crystal Claw* (1924)
* *The Blue Bungalow: A Mystery* (1925)
* *The Broadcast Mystery* (1925)
* *The Valrose Mystery* (1925)
* *Hidden Hands* (1926) as *The Dangerous Game* (US)
* *The Letter "E"* (1926) as *The Tattoo Mystery* (US)
* *Blackmailed* (1926)
* *The Fatal Face* (1926)
* *The Mystery of Mademoiselle* (1926)
* *The Black Owl* (1926)
* *The Scarlet Sign* (1926)
* *The Lawless Hand* (1927)
* *The Chameleon* (1927) as *Poison Shadows* (US)
* *Double Nought* (1927) as *The Crime Code* (US)
* *The Office Secret* (1927)
* *The House of Evil* (1927)
* *Twice Tried* (1928)
* *The Sting* (1928)
* *The Rat Trap* (1928)
* *Concerning This Woman* (1928)
* *The Secret Formula* (1928)
* *The Amazing Count* (1929)
* *The Crinkled Crown* (1929)
* *The Golden Three* (1931)

### Sakprosa
* *The Near East. The present situation in Montenegro, Bosnia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Roumania, Turkey and Macedonia*. London 1907.
* *Plotting the downfall of England*. Cassell, London 1996, ISBN 0-7146-4278-9 (opprinnelig *Spies of the Kaiser*).
* *Further secrets of Potsdam*. London 1917.
* *Love intrigues of the Kaiser's Sons*. London 1918.
* *The minister of Evil. The secret history of [[Grigori Jefimovitsj Rasputin|Rasputin]]'s betrayal of Russia*. London 1917.
* *Rasputinism in London. Revelations of the secret cult of Beauty and Happiness established by the monk Grichtaka*. London 1919.
* *Things I know about kings, celebrities and crooks*. London 1923 (selvbiografi).

## Litteratur
* Clive Bloom: *Bestsellers. Popular fiction since 1900*. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke 2008, ISBN 978-0-230-53688-3, S. 181.
* Russell W. Burns: *John Logie Baird. Television Pioneer*. IET, London 2000, ISBN 0-85296-797-7 (History of Technology Series; 287).
* Niall Ferguson: *Der falsche Krieg. Der Erste Weltkrieg und das 20. Jahrhundert* („The pity of war“). Dtv, München 2001, ISBN 3-423-30808-7.
* Chris Patrick, Stephen Baister: *William Le Queux. Master of Mystery*. Patrick & Baister Books, Purley, Surrey 2007, ISBN 978-0-9554791-0-6.
* Norman S. Sladen: *The real Le Queux. The official biography*. Nicholson & Watson, London 1938.
* John Sutherland: *The Longman companion of victorian fiction*. 2. Aufl. Pearson Books, Harlow 2009, ISBN 978-1-4082-0390-3, S. 372-373.

## Referanser


## Eksterne lenker
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*  Werke von William Le Queux i Projekt Gutenberg