King of Tosh: E Phillips Oppenheim

The Interloper by E Phillips Oppenheim aka The Ex-Duke published1927 For clarity: I would say that I am the Queen of writing about Tosh, leaving room for others to take their own Royal roles. E Phillips Oppenheim has a pretty good claim. He has featured on the blog before. He was a hugely successful author in the first half of the 20th Century, writing dozens of racy adventure or romantic thriller books. When I read a few I could see exactly why they were so successful: they keep you reading because you want to know how they pan out. His work reminds me of another of my favourites from the era, Michael Arlen. I just tried to decide what it was about Arlen: he has a kind of twistedness, and an admiration for his own daringness, and that hilariously wonderful air of telling readers that they, too, are in his secret club. Oppenheim’s stories are on similar plotlines, but he kind of doesn’t bother with his relations with his readers. The story here is as follows: A wealthy titled family,…