Welcome to Litsy!

This early work by Edgar Wallace was originally published in 1926 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introductory biography. Wallace produced some 173 books and wrote 17 plays. These were largely adventure narratives with elements of crime or mystery, and usually combined a bombastic sensationalism with hammy violence, with 'The Yellow Snake' being no exception to these qualities. Wallace was born in London, England in 1875. He received his early education at St. Peter's School and the Board School, but after a frenetic teens involving a rash engagement and frequently changing employment circumstances, Wallace went into the military. He served in the Royal West Kent Regiment in England, and later managed to work his way into the press corps, becoming a war correspondent with the Daily Mail in 1898 during the Boer War. It was during this time that Wallace met Rudyard Kipling, a man he greatly admired.