It seems that some group of people are gaming the stock market creating bear runs, and then cashing in. A sort of insider trading scheme. One of the people involved appears to be Gerald Grayson, who disappears, allegedly having committed suicide. Gerald has a most lovely daughter, Doris. Cord Van Ingen is totally smitten by Doris, but some über suave guy claiming to be Count Poltavo also seems to be interested in Doris. Count Poltavo also appears to be somewhat shady, so might be involved in the skulduggery in some way. Cord is in some despair.

Inspector T.B. Smith investigates and gets Cord involved. Eventually they track down the bad guys, somewhere out at sea in a stolen "mad battleship", and things eventually work out for the best. Something like that. Of course people also get murdered and so forth.

It's a rather convoluted story, as is the case for most works by Edgar Wallace that I've read, but still it's a rather GoodRead.

One thing I don't much understand is that this book is purported to be the first in a series of books featuring Detective Sgt. (Insp.) Elk. Well, Elk does make a brief cameo appearance, but only in passing. He actually doesn't have a single thing to do with the action, other than being in the same room as T.B. Smith at one point. How does Elk get credit for mattering in this book? Yet another mystery, I suppose.
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