'The Oakdale Affair ' Summary

The Oakdale Affair is a short contemporary mystery novel by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs. It was written in 1917 under the working title of "Bridge and the Oskaloosa Kid", and is a partial sequel to The Mucker (1914/1916). It was adapted into a silent film in 1919 starring Evelyn Greeley.

Bridge, the protagonist, was a secondary character in the earlier work. It was first published in Blue Book Magazine in March 1918. Its first book publication paired it with an unrelated tale, "The Rider", in The Oakdale Affair and The Rider, issued by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. in February 1937 and subsequently reprinted by Grosset & Dunlap in 1937, 1938 and 1940. The story's first independent book publication was in a paperback edition from Ace Books in July 1974. Subsequent hardcover editions were issued by Buccaneer (1977) and Ameron; a subsequent paperback edition was issued by Charter (1979). Most editions omit the original ending, consisting of the last 174 lines of the magazine version, though the Buccaneer and Charter editions restore it.