Gaston Max Books

This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.

Four brilliant men have died mysteriously -- and the only clue is the carved tail of a golden scorpion, left beside their bodies. The man behind the horror calls himself The Scorpion, and he clearly is a man of superior cunning. When the finest detectives of France and England join forces to stop The Scorpion before he can add a fifth victim to his list, the twisting trail takes them through the haunts of London's underworld to the seamy opium dens of Chinatown -- and from there into the Lair of the Scorpion.

Gigantic bats terrorize mankind, as the threat of a new deluge looms on the horizon. Humanity is in Deep Trouble in this one, a remarkable change-of-pace by the creator of Fu-Manchu.

Arthur Henry Sarsfield Ward (1883 – 1959), better known as Sax Rohmer, was a prolific English novelist. He is best remembered for his series of novels featuring the master criminal Dr. Fu Manchu.He issued the first Fu Manchu novel, in 1913. It was an immediate success. The Fu Manchu stories, together with his more conventional detective series characters—Paul Harley, Gaston Max, Red Kerry, Morris Klaw (an occult detective), and The Crime Magnet— made Rohmer one of the most successful and well-paid authors of the 1920s and 1930s. The first three Fu Manchu books were published in the four years 1913–17; but it was not until 1931 (some fourteen years after the third book in the series) that Rohmer returned to the series with The Daughter of Fu Manchu. The reason for the long interval was that Rohmer wanted to be well and truly done with the series after The Si-Fan Mysteries, much as Arthur Conan Doyle did with Sherlock Holmes. The first three books had been successfully filmed by Stoll in the twenties as a pair of serials. In 1928, Rohmer bowed to pressure and agreed to write a fourth novel as a serial for Collier's. Paramount had the first Warner Oland picture gearing up for production and the daily newspaper strip based on the series was in the offing.