William Le Queux

William Tufnell Le Queux (1864 - 1927) was a British journalist and writer. He was also a diplomat, an explorer, a flying buff who officiated at the first British air meeting in 1909, and a wireless pioneer who broadcast music from his own station long before radio was generally available; his claims regarding his own abilities and exploits, however, were usually exaggerated.

He was born in London, and educated privately and in Italy. He studied painting in Paris. He was foreign editor of The Globe newspaper during the 1890s. He subsequently wrote professionally. He reported on the First Balkan War.

He wrote in the genres of mystery, thriller, and espionage, particularly in the years leading up to World War I, when his partnership with British publishing magnate Lord Northcliffe led to the serialised publication of pulp-fiction spy stories such as The Invasion of 1910, The Poisoned Bullet, and Spies of the Kaiser. These works were examples of invasion literature, a common phenomenon in pre-WWI Europe involving fictionalised stories of possible invasion or infiltration by foreign powers; Le Queux's specialty, much appreciated by Northcliffe, was the German invasion of Great Britain. He was also the original editor of Northcliffe's War of the Nations.

The first 007?

One of his characters, a spy called Duckworth Drew, is said to have provided the inspiration for Ian Fleming's fictional creation, James Bond. There are a number of coincidences (or clues?):

• William Le Queux's surname is pronounced 'Q'
• The hero is a gentleman and a womaniser
• He works for the Marquis of Macclesfield, known as MM
• Two Le Queux novels feature Bond in the title: Guilty Bonds and Bond Of Black
• Another is called The Man With The Fatal Finger - a cross between The Man with the Golden Gun and Goldfinger?

Works

• A Secret Sin , or, A Madonna of the Music Halls) (1897)
• Guilty Bonds (1891)
• A Secret Service: Being Strange Tales of a Nihilist (1892)
• The Great War in England in 1897 (1894)
• Guilty (1895)
• Stolen Souls (1895) stories
• The Temptress (1895)
• Zoraida: A Romance of the Harem and the Great Sahara (1895)
• The Great White Queen. A Tale Of Treasure And Treason (1896)
• 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)
• Secrets of Monte Carlo. (1899) stories
• 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)
• Secrets of the Foreign Office: Describing the Doings of Duckworth Drew of the Secret Service (1903) stories
• Three Glass Eyes (1903)
• The Closed Book, Concerning the Secret of the Borgias (1904)
• 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 Mystery of a Silent Love (1905)
• Behind the Throne (1905)
• Who Giveth This Woman? (1905)
• The Spider’s Eye (1905)
• The Mask (1905)
• Confessions of a Ladies’ Man: Being the Adventures of Cuthbert Croom, of His Majesty's Diplomatic Service (1905) stories
• The Mystery of a Motor-Car (1906)
• The Count's Chauffeur (1906) stories
• 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)
• The Near East. The Present Situation in Montenegro, Bosnia, Servia, Bulgaria, Roumania, Turkey and Macedonia (1907) anonymous
• 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 Lady in the Car (1908) stories
• The Crooked Way (1908)
• The Looker-On (1908)
• Stolen Sweets (1908)
• Spies of the Kaiser (1909) stories
• The House of Whispers (1909)
• The Red Room (1909)
• Fatal Thirteen (1909)
• Treasure of Israel (1910) also as The Great God Gold (US)
• 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 Price of Power, Being Chapters from the Secret History of the Imperial Court of Russia (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)
• Britain's Deadly Peril (1915)
• German Atrocities: A Record of Shameless Deeds (1915)
• German Spies in England: An Exposure (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)
• The Zeppelin Destroyer : Being Some Chapters of Secret History (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)
• Behind the German Lines: Amazing Confessions of Col.-Lieut. Otto Von Heynitz (1917)
• The Secrets Of Potsdam By Count Ernst Von Heltzendorff (1918) stories
• Further Secrets of Potsdam (1917)
• Hushed Up at German Headquarters (1917)
• The Minister of Evil : The Secret History of Rasputin's Betrayal of Russia (1917)
• 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)
• The Bomb-Makers: Being Some Curios Records Concerning The Craft And Cunning Of Theodore Drost, An Enemy Alien In London (1917) stories
• Donovan of Whitehall (1917) stories
• The Rainbow Mystery, Chronicles of a Colour-Criminologist Recorded by his Secretary (1917) stories
• Bolo, The Super-Spy, by Armand Mehjan (1918)
• Love Intrigues of the Kaiser's Sons (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)
• Secrets of the White Tsar; the Truth Revealed by His Majesty's Personal Attaché, Colonel Vassili Grigorieff (1919)
• Rasputinism in London. Revelations of the secret Cult of Beauty and Happiness established by the Monk Grichtaka (1919)
• The Doctor of Pimlico, Being the Disclosure of a Great Crime (1919)
• Cipher Six: A Mystery (1919)
• The Secret Shame of the Kaiser (1919) stories
• The Forbidden Word (1919)
• The Hotel X (1919) short stories
• The King's Incognito (1919)
• Mysteries of a Great City (1920) stories
• In Secret (1920) stories
• No. 7 Saville Square (1920)
• Secrets of the foreign office (1920)
• Society Intrigues I Have Known; Astounding Facts Concerning Prominent People, Disclosed by Lady Betty G---- (1920) stories
• 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 Luck of the Secret Service; being the Startling Adventures of Claud Heathwaite, C. B., of His Britannic Majesty's foreign office (1921) stories
• The Open Verdict: A Mystery (1921)
• This House to Let (1921)
• The Lady in Waiting: A Royal Romance (1921)
• The Marked Man (1921)
• The Elusive Four, Which Discloses the Exciting Exploits of Four Thieves (1921) stories
• The Power of the Borgias (1921)
• The Gay Triangle (1922) stories
• Landru: His Secret Love Affairs (1922)
• 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)
• Things I Know About Kings, Celebrities, and Crooks (1923) memoirs
• Where the Desert Ends (1923)
• Bleke, The Butler: Being the Exciting Adventures of Robert Bleke during Certain Years of His Service in Various Families (1923) stories
• 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)
• The Crimes Club (1927) stories
• Twice Tried (1928)
• The Sting (1928)
• The Rat Trap (1928)
• Concerning This Woman (1928)
• The Peril of Helen Marklove (1928) stories
• The Secret Formula (1928)
• The Amazing Count (1929)
• The Crinkled Crown (1929)
• The Golden Three (1931)
• The Factotum and Other Stories (1931)

References

• Levy, Geoffrey. In the Daily Mail, November 2nd, 1995.
• Ferguson, Niall The Pity of War.