The Dennis Wheatley 'Museum' - Researching the Occult

DW followed 'The Eunuch of Stamboul' up with a further eight books between 1936 and 1939, all but the last being immediately successful.

The sixth, 'They Found Atlantis' was his first 'lost world' novel (and led the Observer to give him the title of 'Public Thriller Writer No. 1'), and was followed by 'Contraband', Gregory Sallust's second outing.

These were followed in 1937 by 'The Secret War', where the central theme was the question 'Is murder justified if it will save the lives of millions of people caught up in a war?", and a factual book on Russian Field Marshal Voroshilov, called 'Red Eagle'.

These in turn were followed the next year by 'Uncharted Seas' a rather curious lost world novel, 'The Golden Spaniard' which saw the Duke and Rex pitted against their two other friends in the Spanish Civil War (which DW considered one of the best books he ever wrote), and in January 1939 by 'The Quest of Julian Day' - the first outing for another of DW's main heroes.

All of these did well. His next book however, his thirteenth novel, was not to receive a similar accolade.

Its title was 'Sixty Days to Live', and could not (with hindsight) have been worse chosen. It was published on 24th August 1939, and War was declared in just over a week.

References : 'Drink and Ink' pp 141-154.
Phil Baker pp 354-357, 360-367, 370-373,381.

Provenance:

Private Collection