The dangerous game

The dangerous game by William Le Queux is a novel written in the early 20th century. It’s a cosmopolitan espionage thriller following Seton Darville, a bestselling novelist who secretly directs a powerful British intelligence network, as he shadows the elusive Joan and George Caborn. Deception, coded messages, and political undercurrents propel a chase from Corfu to Trieste, Paris, and London. The opening of the novel introduces Darville at a sunlit Corfu hotel, befriending Joan Caborn while suspecting her and her Anglo-Greek husband of hidden designs. After George departs abruptly, Darville sends a coded alert to London, feigns love to pry at Joan’s “terrible” secret, and even rifles her room, finding passionate letters signed “Othmar.” Drugged at lunch, he wakes to learn Joan has fled; he commandeers a millionaire’s yacht, uses fake distress signals to try to board her mail boat, but reaches Trieste too late and tracks her trail through Paris toward England. Back in London, his other life is revealed: he coordinates secret agents, confers with a Special Branch inspector, and reviews reports from operatives like Lola Price, while devising a ruse—an insured “jewelry” delivery—to flush out Joan’s address via a contact house in Earl’s Court, where the scene closes with the trap being set.