''Private Selby'' is a 1912

thriller novel Thriller is a genre of fiction, having numerous, often overlapping subgenres. Thrillers are characterized and defined by the moods they elicit, giving viewers heightened feelings of suspense, excitement, surprise, anticipation and anxiety. S ...

by the British writer

Edgar Wallace Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace (1 April 1875 – 10 February 1932) was a British writer. Born into poverty as an illegitimate London child, Wallace left school at the age of 12. He joined the army at age 21 and was a war correspondent during th ...

. It was one of a number of books and plays written before the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

about the dangers of a future German invasion of Britain. The hero Dick Selby had first appeared in a serial in the ''Sunday Journal'' in 1909 and was modelled on Wallace himself.

References

1912 British novels Novels by Edgar Wallace British thriller novels {{1910s-thriller-novel-stub