Peter the Brazen: A Mystery Story of Modern China

About the book

Peter Moore can detect radio signals that other operators miss, a gift that has earned him an exceptional reputation on the Pacific routes. He wants to resign, tired of the dangers and attractions associated with his voyages to China, but mysterious encounters draw him back aboard the Vandalia. A veiled passenger, an apparently unoccupied stateroom, and the purser's evasive answers suggest that ordinary shipping routines conceal a more threatening traffic. Worts develops the story through linked adventures in which communication, disguise, and physical daring are equally important. The novel's China is shaped by the exoticism and racial stereotypes of its period adventure fiction. Peter's professional sensitivity to faint signals becomes an apt counterpart to his pursuit of clues that other people overlook or deliberately suppress.

• Communication and secrecy
• Adventure and temptation
• Hidden criminal networks

Why read it

Peter's specialized radio skill gives the hero a distinctive professional identity within the mystery adventure.

English text of the 1919 J. B. Lippincott edition