Sparkling Cyanide


Book Description

A beautiful heiress is fatally poisoned in a West End restaurant... Six people sit down to dinner at a table laid for seven. In front of the empty place is a sprig of rosemary - in solemn memory of Rosemary Barton who died at the same table exactly one year previously. No one present on that fateful night would ever forget the woman's face, contorted beyond recognition - or what they remembered about her astonishing life.




Yellow Iris


Book Description

A distressed phone call from a mystery woman brings Hercule Poirot to the hotel Jardin des Cygnes, where a man commemorates the four-year anniversary of his wife’s sudden death – a death under very suspicious circumstances that Poirot himself witnessed. Gathered is everyone present on that fateful night and now Poirot must find a killer in the midst, before they strike again.




Murder at the Brightwell


Book Description

An exquisite seaside resort, an eccentric group of British aristrocrats on holiday, and rich 1930's detail lay the setting for this stupendous debut mystery of manners by a young librarian




Party Girls Die in Pearls


Book Description

“A rollicking murder mystery. . . . a wildly entertaining romp. . . . Laugh? I died.”—Vogue The New York Times bestselling author of Bergdorf Blondes takes us back to the decadent 1980s in this comic murder mystery set in the tony world of Oxford University. It’s 1985, and at Oxford University, Pimm’s, punting, and ball gowns are de rigeur. Ursula Flowerbutton, a studious country girl, arrives for her first term anticipating nothing more sinister than days spent poring over history books in gilded libraries—and, if she’s lucky, an invitation to a ball. But when she discovers a glamorous classmate on a chaise longue with her throat cut, Ursula is catapulted into a murder investigation. Determined to bag her first scoop for the famous student newspaper Cherwell, Ursula enlists the help of trend-setting American exchange student Nancy Feingold to unravel the case. While navigating a whirl of black-tie parties and secret dining societies, the girls discover a surfeit of suspects. From broken-hearted boyfriends to snobby Sloane Rangers, lovelorn librarians to dishy dons, none can be presumed innocent—and Ursula’s investigations mean that she may be next on the murderer’s list. Clueless meets Agatha Christie in this wickedly funny tale of high society and low morals, the first book in Plum Sykes’ irresistible new series.




Mr Campion & Others


Book Description

A VINTAGE MURDER MYSTERY Agatha Christie called her ‘a shining light’. Have you discovered Margery Allingham, the 'true queen' of the classic murder mystery? A baker’s dozen of cases, each putting Albert Campion through his paces. In this miscellany of villainy, our unconventional sleuth must contend with misbehaving debutantes, sinister smuggling rings, a Dowager Countess who’s not all that she seems, an SOS message daubed in lipstick, a beleaguered New York socialite, and an elderly Egyptologist indulging in some bad behaviour...




The Double Clue


Book Description

Marcus Hardman, an antiques collector, hires Poirot to investigate the theft of some valuable jewels that disappeared from his safe while he was offering a little tea party. Only his close friends attended the meeting and Hardman doesn ́t want to involve the police to avoid a scandal. Will the Belgian detective manage to recover the jewels and discover the thief?




A is for Arsenic


Book Description

Agatha Christie's detailed plotting is what makes her books so compelling. Christie used poison to kill her characters more often than any other murder method, with the poison itself being a central part of the novel, and her choice of deadly substances was far from random; the chemical and physiological characteristics of each poison provide vital clues to discovery of the murderer. With gunshots or stabbings the cause of death is obvious, but not so with poisons. How is it that some compounds prove so deadly, and in such tiny amounts?Christie demonstrated her extensive chemical knowledge (much of it gleaned from her working in a chemists during both world wars) in many of her novels, but this is rarely appreciated by the reader. A is for Arsenic celebrates the use of science in Christie's work. Written by Christie fan and research chemist Kathryn Harkup, each chapter takes a different novel and investigates the poison (or poisons) the murderer used. A is for Arsenic looks at why certain chemicals kill, how they interact with the body, and the feasibility of obtaining, administering and detecting these poisons, both at the time the novel was written and today. This book is published as part of the 125th anniversary celebration of Christie's birth.Fourteen novels. Fourteen poisons. Just because its fiction doesn't mean its all made-up ...




Death Comes as the End


Book Description

Nearly 4,000 years ago in Egypt, Nofret, the beautiful concubine,was murdered. The possible murderers in the master's family were the next to die.




Agatha Christie


Book Description

The undisputed "Queen of Crime," Dame Agatha Christie (1890-1976) is the bestselling novelist of all time. As the creator of immortal detectives Hercule Poirot and Jane Marple, she continues to enthrall readers around the world and is drawing increasing attention from scholars, historians, and critics. But Christie wrote far beyond Poirot and Marple. A varied life including war work, archaeology, and two very different marriages provided the backdrop to a diverse body of work. This encyclopedic companion summarizes and explores Christie's entire literary output, including the detective fiction, plays, radio dramas, adaptations, and her little-studied non-crime writing. It details all published works and key themes and characters, as well as the people and places that inspired them, and identifies a trove of uncollected interviews, articles, and unpublished material, including details that have never appeared in print. For the casual reader looking for background information on their favorite mystery to the dedicated scholar tracking down elusive new angles, this companion will provide the most comprehensive and up-to-date information.




Candy Apple Red


Book Description

A bartender-turned-process server chases after a missing suspect in this “fun, frantic, sexy murder mystery” (Lisa Jackson, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of You Betrayed Me). Jane Kelly is through following men. She left Southern California for the murky quaintness of Lake Chinook, Oregon, apparently so she could trade her bartending skills for much more glamorous work process serving. And the boyfriend, of course, is long gone. But things have been looking a little brighter lately. Her hobby doing PI work is kind of fun, especially when she lands a real case—that pays real money. But the case is about Bobby Reynolds, best friend of Tim Murphy, the only guy she’s never gotten over. Everyone except Tim believed Bobby murdered his young family—isn't that why he vanished? Now Tim’s coming home and Jane’s on her way to talk to Bobby’s father. Looks like Jane’ll be trailing men after all—this time with a tape recorder and a camera. To top it off, she’s being trailed herself, by a homely pug named Binky, left to her by a distant relative. With a job she’s learning as she goes along and her ex back in town, Jane’s life just went from stress-free to completely stressed-out. And then there's the dead body… “Jane will win readers’ hearts as she tries to sort out a crime, her love life, and the aspirations of a pug named Binky.”—Carolyn Hart, New York Times-bestselling author of Walking on My Grave “Funny sex scenes, good drinks and a likable dog lift Bush’s first Jane Kelly mystery.”—Publishers Weekly