Novel 182: Richard Harding Davis, The King’s Jackal (1898)
A dispossessed petty monarch cynically plots to extort money from his country and from an American heiress.
Richard Harding Davis (1864-1916), an American journalist, editor, fashion leader, and crony of Teddy Roosevelt, had time for only a few short novels. The characters in this one, though hardly complex, are entertaining, as is the action-packed plot—which features the unexpected but crucial intervention of a dashing young American journalist.
“It is a very pleasant story, and . . . it is written with not a little brightness and literary skill. Indeed, as a mere teller of a story Mr. Davis has nowadays few superiors: for he can always produce his effect with a few strokes of the pen. He is never diffuse, and consequently never wearisome.” Speaker, September 3, 1898
“Mr. Harding Davis’s new story is very slight, but it has charm. . . . It is extremely well conceived and arranged.” Academy, September 17, 1898
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