As Professor Sebastian Warren battens down the shutters and locks all the doors of their isolated country house, the eight occupants start to feel safe. Somewhere outside lurks a murderer of young girls, the latest only an earshot away. Is there really safety in numbers and what happens when their numbers start to... read more »
Both Scotland Yard and the criminal community of London are trying to discover the identity of "the Squealer". This mysterious fence forces criminals to sell him their wares for a pittance. When some object, he "squeals" to the police. The story is based on the age-old saw ‘Thou shalt not blab’. The main... read more »
If you like a villain to be a proper villain then Oberzhon is the genuine article. What a villain! What an adventure! There are crimes for which no punishment is adequate, offences that the written law cannot efface. When conventional justice fails The Three Just Men employ their great intellect and cunning. They... read more »
Mr. Gatewood is a grumpy man whose friend wishes to find a woman to entertain him. A soldier continues to see visions of a woman he'd seen once on a train and wishes to find her before he must return to duty. A young man falls in love with the lifelike remains of an Egyptian dancing girl and wishes for her to come... read more »
Only Holmes and Watson can get to the bottom of this baffling murder mystery. John Douglas is found in his study blasted faceless with a sawn-off shotgun. There is no obvious motive or suspect. Douglas and his wife, Ivy, a rich and locally popular couple, have lived for years in the ancient, moated Birlstone Manor... read more »
Iris Carr is a beautiful, young socialite on her way back home to England after vacationing in Europe. Feeling terribly alone and afraid, she finds comfort in the company of a strange woman she knows only as Miss Froy. But comfort soon turns to horror when Miss Froy mysteriously vanishes without a trace. Fearing... read more »
The detective story is a kind of intellectual game. It is more—it is a sporting event. And the author must play fair with the reader. He can no more resort to trickeries and deceptions and still retain his honesty than if he cheated in a bridge game. He must outwit the reader, and hold the reader’s interest... read more »
Father Brown is a fictional character created by English novelist G. K. Chesterton, who appears in 50 short stories. Father Brown's powers of detection allow him to sit beside the immortal Sherlock Holmes but he is also, to quote Rufus King, 'in all senses a most pleasantly fascinating human being'. You will be... read more »
The woman in white first appears at night on a lonely heath near London and is next seen at a grave-side in Cumberland. Who is she? Where has she come from, and what is her history? She seems alone and friendless, frightened and confused. And it seems she knows a secret - a secret that could bring ruin and shame to... read more »
Paul and Elisabeth Delroze, while newlyweds, arrive at Ornequin Castle, which is located above the small town of Lorraine Corvigny, a few kilometers from the German border. The castle is owned by the Earl of Andeville, father of Elizabeth, and has been closed since the death of his wife the Comtesse Hermine. By... read more »
An illusive Chinese mastermind and his henchman have already killed one socialite and they hold a mysterious sway over many of London's elite. What is the secret of their power? Follow the trail with Sax Rohmer's famous detectives Gaston Max and Inspector Dunbar as they chase the international gang of hoodlums and... read more »
Inspector Hanaud, Mason's cunning French detective, investigates a plot to steal a priceless pearl necklace belonging to the Rajah of Chitipur. A young opera singer is involved, along with her vanished accomplice. All is not as it appears and the many characters refuse to permit themselves to be moved about like... read more »
When a young strikingly handsome photographer mysteriously disappears, it's up to Inspector Alan Grant to discover whether he accidentally drowned, committed suicide, or met his death at the hands of one of his many female admirers. read more »
Trouble is My Business is a collection of four riveting novellas from Raymond Chandler. In the first of the four cases LA PI Philip Marlowe is offered a job that leaves a bad taste in the mouth: smearing a girl who's 'got her hooks into a rich man's pup'. Before too long Marlowe's up to his neck in corpses and cops... read more »
90-year-old General Fentiman was definitely dead, but no one knew exactly when he had died -- and the time of death was the determining factor in a half-million-pound inheritance. Lord Peter Wimsey would need every bit of his amazing skills to unravel the mysteries of why the General's lapel was without a red poppy... read more »
The residents of the British town of Riverpool are disturbed by a series of murders in the local waxworks museum. As tensions mount, local journalist Sonia Thompson determines to investigate - but when she spends the night alone at the museum, she soon finds horror stalking the exhibits. A classic crime thriller... read more »
There's a corpse in the bathtub, wearing nothing but a pair of pince-nez spectacles. Enter Lord Peter Wimsey, the original gentleman sleuth. Urged to investigate by his mother, the Dowager Duchess of Denver, Lord Peter quickly ascertains that the sudden disappearance of a well-known financier is in some way... read more »
Armand Gervase has it all. He is a famous artist, his paintings are hung in national galleries, and he is celebrated worldwide. His best-known painting, depicting an alluring Egyptian woman about to murder her lover, is known for its minute, historic detail, yet Armand has no experience with Egypt's ancient... read more »