Amateur Detectives Mystery

England in den 40er Jahren. Beim Oxforder Opernensemble steht die erste Aufführung von Wagners Meistersingern nach dem 2. Weltkrieg auf dem Plan. Eine der Hauptrollen übernimmt der überaus begabte, aber ebenso unbeliebte Sänger Edwin Shorthouse. Jedenfalls, bis man ihn nach einer Probe erhängt in seiner Garderobe findet. Selbstmord? Wohl kaum. Schon bald danach kommt es zu einem zweiten Mord. Der Tote war ein junger Chorsänger und aufstrebender Opernkomponist. Oxford Professor und Amateurdetektiv Gervase Fen ist ratlos und steht vor einem Rätsel.

Miss Marple auf Mörderjagd. Anonyme Briefe sorgen für böses Blut in dem Provinzstädtchen Lymstock. Hinzu kommen zwei mysteriöse Todesfälle und die Polizei tappt im Dunkeln. Nur Miss Marple, die zufällig gerade in Lymstock zu Besuch ist, gelingt es mit ihren unkonventionellen Methoden schließlich, hinter die Fassade der Wohlanständigkeit zu blicken und den Täter zu entlarven.

A collection of 6 short stories from the golden age of detective fiction, introducing H. C. Bailey's amateur sleuth Mr. Reginald Fortune, surgeon and general practitioner: a man interested in everything, but not in anything in particular, whose vast store of eclectic knowledge makes him just the man to help Scotland Yard unravel the most complex of murders, no matter how privileged or powerful the perpetrator may be...

Miss Marple er Agatha Christies amatørdetektiv, hvis evner altid undervurderes, fordi hun udadtil bare ligner en sød og lettere påtrængende gammel dame. Miss Marple optræder i 12 af Agatha Christies romaner og adskillige noveller, og det er hendes nysgerrighed og menneskekundskaber, der som regel resulterer i opklaringen af selv de mest indviklede sager – altid til politiets store forbavselse.

Liget af en ung smuk danserinde bliver fundet i biblioteket på familien Barrys gods. Mrs. Barry, der frygter, at sagen er forbundet med hendes mands utroskab, beder sin veninde miss Marple om hjælp, og sammen giver de sig til at undersøge det hotel, hvor den unge pige arbejdede som danserinde. Det viser sig, at en yderst velhavende ældre mand havde i sinde at adoptere den unge pige og derved skrive hende ind i sit testamente, hvilket hans to forgældede biologiske børn naturligvis var ganske utilfredse med.

La prima esperienza con "Miss Marple" non partì sotto i migliori auspici. Avevo la febbre e, quando mia madre era uscita, le avevo chiesto di portarmi un Asterix; quindi mi aspettavo un fumetto. Appena lo vidi, con sospetto, chiesi che libro fosse. "Un giallo di Agatha Christie" rispose lei "di quelli che piacciono tanto a tuo fratello". Di bene in meglio. "Sai, il protagonista non è un poliziotto, e nemmeno un investigatore privato. È una vecchietta che risolve i casi mentre lavora a maglia". E mi lasciò il libro sul comodino. Dalla prefazione di Marco Malvaldi.

Joseph Timar soll für eine Handelsgesellschaft in Gabun arbeiten. In Libreville angekommen, erfährt er, dass es keine Aufgabe für ihn gibt. Der junge Mann fällt in eine quälende Lethargie, er trinkt, vertreibt sich die Zeit beim Billardspiel - und beginnt eine Affäre mit Adèle, der verheirateten Wirtin seines Hotels. Sie ist die Einzige, zu der er eine Beziehung an diesem fremden Ort entwickelt. Dann wird der Hotelboy ermordet, und bald stirbt auch Adèles Mann. Obwohl er einen schrecklichen Verdacht hat, reist Joseph mit Adèle ins Landesinnere.

I've only been back home a few weeks and already strange events are happening all over town. Wishes are coming true to the delight of those affected. Despite the seemingly good fortune, I need to put on my federal bureau of magic badge and get to work. I can't let supernatural shenanigans disrupt the natural order of life here, no matter how awesome they seem. When their good luck starts to take a dark turn, I have to kick my efforts into overdrive. Can I crack the case before these dreams-come-true turn into nightmares?

Residents are sneezing and coughing all over town, and it seems like a brutal allergy season is upon us—until someone dies. When Dr.Verity reveals a supernatural cause, I'm on the case, but how do I track a culprit whose only evidence seems to be the infection it leaves behind? In the meantime, neighbors, new and old, bring trouble to Munster Close, and I need to intervene before the wicked witches escalate matters. With the annual cheese festival on the horizon and a stealthy demon on the loose, I know I'll need to set aside my misgivings and use my magic to prevent a catastrophe.

I'm less than thrilled when the Federal Bureau of Magic sends a training instructor to make sure my skills are up to snuff. Agent Quinn Redmond is an uptight fae with a rigid approach to rules and regulations that even a do-gooder like me finds stifling. When an eerie fog settles over the town, residents begin acting out in response, resulting in overtime hours for Chief Fox and local law enforcement. Things take a deadly turn when one of the residents ends up dead and I worry his death is only the beginning.

Forgotten on the outskirts of quaint Lenape Hollow, Feldman's Catskill Resort Hotel has outlasted its heyday as a popular tourist destination and now awaits demolition. But once Mikki is hired to edit a revealing memoir by Sunny Feldman, the doomed resort quickly ends up back in the spotlight. Unfortunately, everyone's attention shifts to Mikki when a body is discovered at the demolition site. Seen arguing with deceptive entrepreneur Greg Onslow right before his shocking death, the editor has no choice but to spell out exactly why she isn't guilty of murdering him.

Professor Emily Cavanaugh has left Windy Corner behind and is back at Bede College on her sabbatical, determined to finish writing her book on Dostoevsky. She is soon reunited with one of her promising students, Daniel Razumov, as well as familiar faces on the teaching staff - her friend, Marguerite Grenier; her half-brother, Oscar Lansing; the abrasive division chair, Richard McClintock; and the predatory Taylor Curzon, known for her relentless pursuit of young male students - and Taylor now has Daniel firmly in her sights.

Stoke Newington, 1863: Little Margaret Lovejoy is found brutally murdered in the outhouse at her family’s estate. A few days later, a man is cut down in a similar manner on the doorstep of courtesan and professional detective Heloise Chancey’s prestigious address. At the same time, Heloise’s maid, Amah Li Leen, must confront events from her past that appear to have erupted into the present day. Once again Heloise is caught up in a maelstrom of murder and deceit that threatens to reach into the very heart of her existence.

Ben, wandering hungry through the foggy back alleys of Limehouse, is spooked by news of an old man murdered in Hammersmith - and runs! He crosses a plank, slips through an iron door, and goes to sea with the coal. But so does the man who did the murder...and a very pretty lady who did not. On the way the Atlanta loses a stowaway, a pickpocket, a murderer, a supercrook, a wealthy passenger, the third officer and a lifeboat. And that is how Ben gets to Spain....

Ben knows that whenever his thumbs are itching, something 'orrible is about to happen. Sure enough, on one foggy afternoon of itchy thumbs, the hapless Ben is implicated in criminal activity by the police - the kind of mistake it isn't easy to explain. Doing a runner, Ben hides in the basement of a deserted house, where he discovers the body of a well-dressed man, shot through the head...and much more trouble than he bargained for.

Ben the tramp's uncanny knack of running into trouble is unsurpassed in the final crime thriller written for him by J. Jefferson Farjeon. On a grey afternoon he was destined never to forget, Ben sat down on a park seat and proceeded to think, not of cabbages and kings but of numbers, lucky and unlucky. But it wasn't Ben's lucky day, or that of the nondescript-looking stranger sitting at the other end of the bench - murdered before his very eyes!

Tired of being homeless and down on his luck, the incorrigible Ben has taken a job as a stoker on a cruise ship. But his luck doesn't last long when they are all shipwrecked in the Pacific. Seen through Ben's eyes, the uncharted island is a hive of cannibals, mumbo jumbo, and gals who are more nearly naked than any he has ever seen. And every time he tries to bluff his way out of a situation, he just bluffs himself further in, somehow convincing the natives that he has godlike powers....

With his usual knack of getting into trouble, Ben the tramp finds himself hunted by the law and the lawless in this breathless adventure. Returning home to his Cockney roots after a trip to Spain, Ben meets a mysterious stranger on a cross-Channel steamer and is promised a job. On arrival at Southampton, they take a taxi. Ben gets out to post a letter but on returning to the cab finds the stranger has been murdered!

In the merry month of May, Ellery Queen made a trek to Gettysburg to witness an annual celebration - and an annual murder. February found the ingenious Ellery locked in a furious battle of wits with a dead US president. These are but two of the 12 appointments with crime that make up Queen's baffling calendar of conundrums. Each elegant enigma ticks off all the surprise and excitement that have made Queen the dean of American detective fiction.

From the Collins Crime Club archive, the first original novel to feature Ben the Cockney tramp, the unorthodox detective character created by J. Jefferson Farjeon, author of Mystery in White. Strange things are happening in the untenanted houses of Jowle Street. There are unaccountable creakings and weird knockings on the door of no.29, where a homeless ex-sailor has taken up residence.