Louis Joseph Vance's MICHAEL LANYARD, better known as THE LONE WOLF, didn't start out as a private eye, but as a criminal. However, like Jack Boyle's Boston Blackie, thanks to his numerous re-creations in film, radio and television, The Lone Wolf is now best remembered these days, if at all, chiefly as a sort of gentleman thief turned private eye.
During World War I, a professional thief known as The Lone Wolf is assigned to steal a cylinder with important information from behind the German lines and bring it to Allied intelligence headquarters. However, German agents set out to stop him, headed by the man who was responsible for the death of the thief's sister.
Michael Lanyard, aka the Lone Wolf, is sailing to America when he meets pretty Eve de Montalais. Eve wants to sneak her valuable necklace through U.S. customs so that she can use the money from its sale to help straighten out her brother. The only problem is that there is a gang of jewel thieves on board who are just as determined to steal the necklace.
In this entry in the Lone Wolf series, the first to have a soundtrack, the jealousies of the King and the coquettish Queen are chronicled. When His Majesty learns that his wife has given the ring he gave to her to her lover, the King plans a large ball and demands the she wear the token. As her lover is a military attache, he is not in the palace, and the queen must send her lady-in-waiting to bring it back. En route, the lady meets a thief and they team up. She does not know that he has been dispatched by the King to steal ring from the attache.
Once a jewel thief always a jewel thief? Yes and no. Yes if you consider the fact that Michael Lanyard also known as the Lone Wolf once retired from the "trade" but relapses back into his old habits when he is tempted by the emerald pendant of beautiful socialite Marcia Stewart. The trouble (?) is that he falls for the belle and he soon gets more interested in getting the girl than the jewels that adorn her. What he wants now is to return the pendant but a rival gang interfere and force him to take part in a big-time caper.
Former jewel thief Michael Lanyard toys with a princess and a grand duke.
Spies force former jewel thief Michael Lanyard to steal defense secrets in Washington.
Delia Jordan's father is murdered and some very valuable jewelry stolen. She hires The Lone Wolf.
A hardworking secretary for a rich woman finds herself engaged to the woman's son and accused of a murder she didn't commit.
Complicated plot involving missing stamp collection and kidnapped businessman, with the Lone Wolf keeping one step ahead of the police in Havana trying to solve the crime and make a profit.
A reformed jewel thief fights to clear his name when he's framed for murder.
Michael Lanyard's faithful butler Jamison is mistaken for his boss by a gang of jewel robbers.
The Lone Wolf tracks down Nazi spies in London during the German bombing.
Reformed jewel thief the Lone Wolf investigates the murder of a playboy who was blackmailing three socialites.
The Lone Wolf goes undercover in Egypt to foil a Nazi plot to bomb and disable the Suez canal, which is vital to England's war effort.
Ex-thief Lone Wolf and his valet don turbans to solve a museum jewel theft.
In this entry in the enduring series, the suave jewel thief finds himself helping the police break up a ring of diamond smugglers. Along the way, he winds up accused of both robbery and murder.
Michael Lanyard (Gerald Mohr) is suspected of stealing two fabulous diamonds from a vault in Scotland Yard, where they were being held for safekeeping, but the Yard can't prove he did it. Later, Lanyard is summoned by a member of the nobility to help the latter raise money to pay a blackmailer. Lanyard later finds evidence to reveal the diamonds as having been stolen by a famous stage star.
A newspaper man, and former jewel thief, is accused of gem theft.
