Hushed Up! A Mystery of London

"Hushed Up! A Mystery of London" by William Le Queux is a novel written in the early 20th century. The narrative revolves around the complex life of Philip Poland, a man with a scandalous past who struggles with the secrets he must keep from his daughter, Sonia, as he navigates the dangers posed by old acquaintances and new threats. The beginning of the story introduces us to Poland, a reclusive figure living a seemingly quiet life in rural Hampshire with his daughter. As a former naval officer with a troubled past now hidden beneath a veneer of respectability, he finds himself cornered by his old friend Arnold Du Cane, who threatens to expose his secrets, including his connection to a high-profile mysterious death. This tension escalates with the appearance of a French detective, Henri Guertin, who offers Poland a grim choice between suicide and arrest. The narrative sets up a thrilling atmosphere of intrigue as Poland grapples with his conscience and the stakes involved in protecting his daughter from the truths of his past. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

William Tufnell Le Queux was an Anglo-French journalist and writer. He was also a diplomat, a traveller, a flying buff who officiated at the first British air meeting at Doncaster 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. His best-known works are the anti-French and anti-Russian invasion fantasy The Great War in England in 1897 (1894) and the anti-German invasion fantasy The Invasion of 1910 (1906), the latter becoming a bestseller.