The Secret of the Sandhills

By: Arthur Gask

Narrated by: Susan Iannucci

Down and out John Stratton, recently robbed by two elderly gentlemen on the train to Adelaide, has one shilling left for his next meal. He is loitering near the post office when a large, sleek car pulls up with a beautiful girl and older man. The man goes into the post office, returns, and departs. There is a wallet in the street right where the man entered the car and John realizes the man dropped it. Looking down the street he can see that traffic is stopped and, if he runs, he can catch the car and return the wallet...and with this one good deed, the trajectory of his life is changed.

The Secret of the Sandhills is Arthur Gask's first novel, written in 1921 in his dental office in Adelaide, Australia, while waiting for patients. It was an immediate success. He continued to write crime fiction novels and short stories, completing one to two per year until his death in 1951. H.G. Wells and Bertrand Russell were avid readers of Gask's work.

Public Domain (P)2022 Susan Iannucci