Fred M. White 
The Mystery of the Four Fingers 

Any reasonable summary of this book’s plot would give away too much of the mystery it describes, so suffice it to say that it is a definite ‘page-turner.’ Right from the first chapter, when we learn about the mysterious recently-turned-millionaire Fenwick being strangely horrified by what he sees in a small silver box he finds on his dinner-table, we learn that he may not be what he appears to be, and that his lovely daughter may have a mysterious past of her own. The main characters of the story are a wealthy lawyer named Jim Gurdon, and his world-travelling, tanned, adventurous friend Gerald Venner, who amazes Gurdon and the readers with his own story about the alleged millionaire Fenwick, his daughter, and some other noteworthy characters.

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Frederick Merrick White (1859-1935) wrote a number of novels and short stories under the name ‘Fred M. White’ including the six ‘Doom of London’ science-fiction stories, in which various catastrophes beset London. These include The Four Days’ Night (1903), in which London is beset by a massive killer smog; The Dust of Death (1903), in which diphtheria infects the city, spreading from refuse tips and sewers; and The Four White Days (1903), in which a sudden and deep winter paralyses the city under snow and ice. These six stories all first appeared in Pearson’s Magazine, and were illustrated by Warwick Goble. He was also a pioneer of the spy story, and in 2003, his series The Romance of the Secret Service Fund (written in 1899) was edited by Douglas G. Greene and published by Battered Silicon Dispatch Box.