(1875–1932) created any number of series characters, the longest-running being Commissioner Sanders, representative of the Foreign Office of Great Britain, whose job was to keep the king’s peace in Africa’s River territories; he appeared in about a dozen books, beginning with Sanders of the River (1911). Wallace’s most popular series featured the coterie who first appeared in The Four Just Men (1905); there were actually three, as one died before the story begins. They were wealthy dilettantes who set out to administer justice when the law is unable or unwilling to do the job; there were five sequels. Most of his other series characters appeared in short stories published in various newspapers and magazines and then were collected in book form.
One of these was the titular figure in Four Square Jane (1929), the only book devoted to the young rogue’s exploits. In the editor’s note in the book edition, the “heroine” is described as an “extremely ladylike crook, an uncannily clever criminal who exercises all her female cunning on her nefarious work” and “makes the mere male detectives and policemen who endeavor to be on her tracks look foolish.”
Jane is pretty, young, slim, and chaste, and she leaves her calling card at the scene of her robberies: a printed label with four squares and the letter “J” in the middle. She makes sure to do this so that none of the servants will be accused of the theft. She has a troupe of loyal associates on whom she calls as they are needed.
“Four Square Jane Unmasked” is a made-up title; none of the stories in the book publication has a title. It was originally serialized in The Weekly News from January 10 to February 7, 1920; it was first collected in Four Square Jane (London, Readers Library, 1929).