Author: THANET, Octave [ie Alice French].
Title: The Lion's Share.
Description: Indianapolis, Bobbs-Merrill 1907. Octavo, very good in publisher's decorated cloth blocked in gilt and black; illustrations by E.M. Ashe. ¶ First edition; apparently her only detective novel. On a west bound train and in San Francisco there's treachery and murder afoot among the overprivileged, fueled by money and revenge. Of course, come early Wednesday morning, April 18, San Francisco decides to fall down and burst into flame and the villain and his hired mafiosi move in for the kill. The earthquake must win overall body count but villain and hero play their part in the final score.There is now a small but keen Alice French industry trying, thanks to her gender and sexual preference, to sift something worthwhile from the muck of her class and race supremacy and anti-suffragette determination. I found no mention of this frivolous thriller but, I say, she deserves notice for her daring use of the San Francisco earthquake as such a minor character so soon after it happened.

Keywords: literature detective fiction thrillers c20th America mystery