The Missing Witness Sensation (A Classic Short Story of Detective Max Carrados)


Book Description

This early work by Ernest Bramah was originally published in 1927 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introduction. 'The Missing Witness Sensation' is an intriguing mystery tale of kidnap. Ernest Bramah Smith was born was near Manchester in 1868. He was a poor student, and dropped out of the Manchester Grammar School when sixteen years old to go into the farming business. Bramah found commercial and critical success with his first novel, The Wallet of Kai Lung, but it was his later stories of detective Max Carrados that assured him lasting fame.







The Coin of Dionysius (A Classic Short Story of Detective Max Carrados)


Book Description

This early work by Ernest Bramah was originally published in 1914 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introduction. 'The Coin of Dionysius' is a mystery short story of a coin and a blind man. Ernest Bramah Smith was born was near Manchester in 1868. He was a poor student, and dropped out of the Manchester Grammar School when sixteen years old to go into the farming business. Bramah found commercial and critical success with his first novel, The Wallet of Kai Lung, but it was his later stories of detective Max Carrados that assured him lasting fame.




The Best Dr. Thorndyke Detective Stories


Book Description

Eight compelling tales by "the father of the scientific detective story" feature inverted mysteries, in which crime and culprit are revealed at the outset and Dr. Thorndyke formulates evidence from subtle clues.




Murder at the Manor


Book Description

Mystery crime fiction written in the Golden Age of Murder "[T]he entire book is filled with country-house-mystery wonders: the closed-circle puzzle, the dying-message clue, and the sociopathic guest who invades the weekend house party." —Booklist The English country house is an iconic setting for some of the greatest British crime fiction. This new collection gathers together stories written over a span of about 65 years, during which British society, and life in country houses, was transformed out of all recognition. It includes fascinating and unfamiliar twists on the classic 'closed circle' plot, in which the assorted guests at a country house party become suspects when a crime is committed. In the more sinister tales featured here, a gloomy mansion set in lonely grounds offers an eerie backdrop for dark deeds. Many distinguished writers are represented in this collection, including such great names of the genre as Anthony Berkeley, Nicholas Blake and G.K. Chesterton. Martin Edwards has also unearthed hidden gems and forgotten masterpieces: among them are a fine send-up of the country house murder; a suspenseful tale by the unaccountably neglected Ethel Lina White; and a story by the little-known Scottish writer J.J. Bell.




The Secret of the League


Book Description

A secret organization of upper class dissenters, called The League, is not happy with their weak government and wants to overthrow it. In a clever plan they bring about a civil war in Britain by manipulating the coal strike with foreign help and plant a fascist regime in its place. What comes about is a total breakdown giving an accurate prediction of the rise of Fascism, as George Orwell famously noted. Superficially the novel (also alternately known as What Might Have Been) seems like it is promoting the cause of The League but it is in fact a bleary take on what might end up happening if such a thing comes to pass when the government is overtaken by the conservatives. Who becomes a hero and who becomes a villain is only a matter of seizing absolute power! In fact Orwell credited this novel as his inspiration behind his own successful dystopian classic 1984. Ernest Bramah (1868–1942) was an English author and a recluse who wrote the famous Kai Lung and Max Carrados series. Interestingly Bramah's humorous works were ranked with Jerome K Jerome and W. W. Jacobs, his detective stories with Conan Doyle, his politico-science fiction with H. G. Wells and his supernatural stories with Algernon Blackwood.




Murder for Pleasure


Book Description

"Genuinely fascinating reading."—The New York Times Book Review "Diverting and patently authoritative."—The New Yorker "Grand and fascinating … a history, a compendium and a critical study all in one, and all first rate."—Rex Stout "A landmark … a brilliant study written with charm and authority."—Ellery Queen "This book is of permanent value. It should be on the shelf of every reader of detective stories."—Erle Stanley Gardner Author Howard Haycraft, an expert in detective fiction, traces the genre's development from the 1840s through the 1940s. Along the way, he charts the innovations of Edgar Allan Poe, Wilkie Collins, and Arthur Conan Doyle, as well as the modern influence of George Simenon, Josephine Tey, and others. Additional topics include a survey of the critical literature, a detective story quiz, and a Who's Who in Detection.




Morse's Greatest Mystery and Other Stories


Book Description

'No one constructs a whodunnit with more fiendish skill than Colin Dexter' GuardianMorse had solved so many mysteries in his life. Was he now, he wondered beginning to glimpse the solution to the greatest mystery of them all . . . ? How can the discovery of a short story by a beautiful Oxford graduate lead Chief Inspector Morse to her murderer? What awaits Morse and Lewis in Room 231 of the Randolph Hotel? Why does a theft at Christmas lead the detective to look upon the festive season with uncharacteristic goodwill? And what happens when Morse himself falls victim to a brilliantly executed crime? This dazzling collection of short stories from Inspector Morse's creator, Colin Dexter, includes six ingenious cases for the world's most popular fictional detective - plus five other tantalizingly original tales to delight all lovers of classic crime fiction.




The Midnight Folk


Book Description

This autographed edition ... is limited to two hundred and fifty copies, of which this is numbered 66.




The Wheel Spins


Book Description

First published in 1936 and adapted for the screen as The Lady Vanishes by Alfred Hitchcock in 1938, Ethel Lina White's suspenseful mystery remains her best-known novel, worthy of acknowledgement as a classic of the genre in its own right. Then the rhythm of the train changed, and she seemed to be sliding backwards down a long slope. Click-click-click-click. The wheels rattled over the rails, with a sound of castanets. Iris Carr's holiday in the mountains of a remote corner of Europe has come to an end, and since her friends left two days before, she faces the journey home alone. Stricken by sunstroke at the station, Iris catches the express train to Trieste by the skin of her teeth and finds a companion in Miss Froy, an affable English governess. But when Iris passes out and reawakens, Miss Froy is nowhere to be found. The other passengers deny any knowledge of her existence and as the train speeds across Europe, Iris spirals deeper and deeper into a strange and dangerous conspiracy.




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