First Class Murder


Book Description

A murdered heiress, a missing necklace, and a train full of shifty, unusual, and suspicious characters leaves Daisy and Hazel with a new mystery to solve in this third novel of the Wells & Wong Mystery series. Hazel Wong and Daisy Wells are taking a vacation across Europe on world-famous passenger train, the Orient Express—and it’s clear that each of their fellow first-class travelers has something to hide. Even more intriguing: There’s rumor of a spy in their midst. Then, during dinner, a bloodcurdling scream comes from inside one of the cabins. When the door is broken down, a passenger is found murdered—her stunning ruby necklace gone. But the killer has vanished, as if into thin air. The Wells & Wong Detective Society is ready to crack the case—but this time, they’ve got competition.




The Cambridge Companion to the English Short Story


Book Description

This Companion provides an accessible overview of short fiction by writers from England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and other international sites. A collection of international experts examine the development of the short story in a variety of contexts from the early nineteenth century to the present. They consider how dramatic changes in the publishing landscape during this period - such as the rise of the fiction magazine and the emergence of new opportunities in online and electronic publishing - influenced the form, covering subgenres from detective fiction to flash fiction. Drawing on a wealth of critical scholarship to place the short story in the English literary tradition, this volume will be an invaluable guide for students of the short story in English.




Detective Mysteries Short Stories


Book Description

Private Eyes with eagle eyes and rare skills, PI's and gumshoes, bloodhounds and sleuths, the shadowy arts of the detective have intrigued us since tales of the Pinkerton Detective Agency and Sherlock Holmes. Add some treachery, intimacy, and a little murder to the mix and you'll find a powerful series of dark stories from classic and contemporary writers. This new title in our successful Gothic Fantasy Short Stories collection contains a fabulous mix of classic and brand new writing, with contemporary authors from the US, Canada, and the UK. The contemporary authors featured in this anthology are: Daniel Brock, Elliott Capon, Philip Brian Hall, Tina L. Jens, Tom Mead, Marshall J. Moore, Pat Morris, Amelia Dee Mueller, Trixie Nisbet, Patsy Pratt-Herzog, Michele Bazan Reed, Lesley L. Smith and Cameron Trost. Classic authors include Margery Allingham, Robert Barr, Anthony Berkeley, Matthias McDonnell Bodkin, William Evans Burton, G.K. Chesterton, Carroll John Daly, Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Eustace and Edgar Jepson, J.S. Fletcher, R. Austin Freeman, Jacques Futrelle, Susan Glaspell, Anna Katharine Green, Thomas W. Hanshew, E. and H. Heron, Herbert Jenkins, Maurice Leblanc, L.T. Meade and Robert Eustace, Arthur Morrison, Baroness Orczy, Catherine Louisa Pirkis, Melville Davisson Post, Edgar Wallace, Hugh C. Weir, Mrs Henry Wood.




The Oxford Book of English Detective Stories


Book Description

Essential reading for all armchair detectives, this collection of 33 classic whodunits is the cream of crime writing.




Talking About Detective Fiction


Book Description

P. D. James, the undisputed queen of mystery, gives us an intriguing, inspiring and idiosyncratic look at the genre she has spent her life perfecting. Examining mystery from top to bottom, beginning with such classics as Charles Dickens's Bleak House and Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White, and then looking at such contemporary masters as Colin Dexter and Henning Mankell, P. D. James goes right to the heart of the genre. Along the way she traces the lives and writing styles of Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, Dashiell Hammett, and many more. Here is P.D. James discussing detective fiction as social history, explaining its stylistic components, revealing her own writing process, and commenting on the recent resurgence of detective fiction in modern culture. It is a must have for the mystery connoisseur and casual fan alike.




Detective Stories


Book Description

This book features a marvellous collection of murderous, greedy and immoral villains brought to book by the greatest fictional detectives, who date from the golden age of crime literature as well as the present day. Follow in the footsteps of criminal masterminds and marvel at the inspired deductions of Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot and the brilliant (if timid) Mr Budd. Nick Hardcastle's line drawings make these riveting stories come alive




A Guid Soldier


Book Description

Set during Inspector Rutledge's time in the Great War, Charles Todd's short story introduces a born killer. It's World War I, and young Glaswegian Dougal Kerr is a new recruit in the British army. Dougal has no family and no past, but his easygoing demeanor belies his cheerless upbringing. There's only one thing that gives Ian Rutledge pause: Dougal is very good at killing, and he doesn't seem to mind it at all--in fact, he seems to relish it. In wartime, how does one tell the difference between a remorseless killer and "a guid soldier"? "A Guid Soldier" by Charles Todd is one of 20 short stories within Mulholland Books's Strand Originals series, featuring thrilling stories by the biggest names in mystery from the Strand Magazine archives. View the full series list at mulhollandbooks.com and listen to them all!




The Origins of the American Detective Story


Book Description

Edgar Allan Poe essentially invented the detective story in 1841 with Murders in the Rue Morgue. In the years that followed, however, detective fiction in America saw no significant progress as a literary genre. Much to the dismay of moral crusaders like Anthony Comstock, dime novels and other sensationalist publications satisfied the public's hunger for a yarn. Things changed as the century waned, and eventually the detective was reborn as a figure of American literature. In part these changes were due to a combination of social conditions, including the rise and decline of the police as an institution; the parallel development of private detectives; the birth of the crusading newspaper reporter; and the beginnings of forensic science. Influential, too, was the new role model offered by a wildly popular British import named Sherlock Holmes. Focusing on the late 19th century and early 20th, this volume covers the formative years of American detective fiction. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.




Detective Thrillers Short Stories


Book Description

The thrill of the chase, the steely-eyed detective (either gentle or hardboiled), the dark alleys and the double-cross, the unsolvable crime by a masterful criminal mind: this new title in our Gothic Fantasy Short Stories series features chills and double twists, unexpected turns and private investigators with an eye for the unusual, and contains a cunning mix of classic and brand new writing. Great detective thriller writers such as Arthur Conan Doyle, John Buchan, G.K. Chesterton, Arthur Morrison and the Mother of Detective fiction herself, Anna Katharine Green, join rarely seen tales and completely new stories by modern authors: B. Morris Allen, Donald J. Bingle, Tom English, T.Y. Euliano, Tracy Fahey, Tina L. Jens, Tom Mead, Jonathan Shipley, Cameron Trost, Marie Vibbert, and Desmond White. As always our submission windows are packed with great reads so the successful stories are always a joy to publish.




100 Dastardly Little Detective Stories


Book Description

Match wits with great detectives, devious criminals, and many of the finest minds in the annals of detective literature in this anthology which includes the work of such literary luminaries as J.M. Barrie, Charles Dickens, and O. Henry.