Four Square Jane is a one of the best known thriller novels by the British writer Edgar Wallace.
Jane is a kind of an anti-heroine. She is an extremely clever thief and she always marks the scenes of her crimes with a square sticker with the letter "J". However, Jane also has a strong sense of justice.
Excerpt:
"The girl had been housed in the servants' wing, but fortunately in a room isolated from all the others. Mr Lewinstein made several trips upstairs during the course of the evening, saw through the open door the doctor sitting by the side of the bed, and was content. His guests retired towards one o'clock and the agitated Mrs Lewinstein, to whom the news of the catastrophe had been imparted, having been successfully induced to go to bed, Mr Lewinstein breathed more freely."
Edgar Wallace (1875-1932) was an English writer. As well as journalism, Wallace wrote screen plays, poetry, historical non-fiction, 18 stage plays, 957 short stories and over 170 novels, 12 in 1929 alone. More than 160 films have been made of Wallace's work.