Classic Detective

"The Christmas Stories of Charles Dickens" is a precious collection of Christmas tales. Christmas spirit, joy, excitement, cheer and Christmas trees against low classes living in despair and poverty. There are two sides to the story but the holiday and its meaning come from the heart no matter what the social status is. "The Christmas Stories of Charles Dickens" is a collection which makes the reader immerse in a parallel universe, so complex in its nature that it almost seems unreal.

Quiquendone is a small town in West Flanders, whose citizens are the wisest, most sociable and hospitable people. The town’s mayor, Van Tricasse, claims that the one if a person dies without having decided anything in his life then he has attained perfection. One day, Dr. Ox comes to the mayor with an offer. He wants to build a gas lightning system, at no cost for the city. However, Ox's intentions are completely different and this seemingly noble deed is just a facade. Will Van Tricasse accept the proposal? And what is Dr.

David Copperfield was a little boy who grew up in an unfortunate family. His father died six months before David’s birth. Later his mother remarried to a cruel man who beat him up. David however fought back and bit him. This resulted in David getting sent to a boarding school which he did not finish because of his mother’s death. All in all, David’s life has been a string of misfortunes. His development from infancy to maturity happened unnecessarily fast.

Pip is a poor orphaned boy who lives together with his sister and her husband. Pip is not educated but has great dreams of the future. He is determined to get out of the low class and seek progress in the higher class. One day a lawyer appears. Pip has suddenly received a large fortune from a secret benefactor and he has to get to London to start his education. Pip’s life changes in a second. But he is ready to embark on his next journey.

Zorro is a mysterious man who always wears a large sombrero and a long black cloak. He covers his face with a black mask with two holes through which his sharp gaze follows everything that goes on around him. Zorro has some problems with the Californian governor, who thinks that the man is a thief. The governor is ready to pay a lot of money to the one who kills Zorro. This is where real problems begin for the mysterious man.

Guido il Cortese is a young man who inherits a fortune from his father. He is about to marry Juliet, the daughter of one of his father’s friends. Before the wedding was to take place, Guido decided to travel to Paris, where he squandered away his family fortune. No longer able to marry Juliet, he is banished from his hometown of Genoa but he is determined to get his revenge. One day, he sees a strange creature floating to shore. The creature looks disgusting but it offers Guido a deal - wealth in exchange for Guido’s body.

Hadleyburg is a decent American town where all the people are honest, selfless and honorable. At least, that is how they see themselves. One day a stranger arrives in town and somehow the locals manage to offend him so badly that he is determined to get his revenge on them by exposing their true nature, which according to him is far from "incorruptible". How will he tempt the people that are so well trained to avoid temptation? Are they really as honest as they claim to be? B. J.

Emile Gaboriau first introduced the young police officer and detective Monsieur Lecoq in his novel L'Affaire Lerouge. He based his character on an actual thief who later became no less than the head of the Paris police -- Eugine Francois Vidocq. As a character, Lecoq would later influence Arthur Conan Doyle in his creation of Sherlock Holmes. In this, his first foray into detection, Lecoq reveals his mastery of the art of disguise and his zeal for detection. Monsieur Lecoq: Volume I is the first of a two-part novel and details the crime and ensuing investigation.

Ten years ago, Mary Morstan’s father, an officer in an Indian regiment, vanished. Four years later, elegant pearls began to arrive, six in total, and now she holds an invitation to meet her mysterious anonymous benefactor. As Miss Morstan shares this peculiar tale with Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, she urges the detectives to accompany her. Her only clues to her father’s disappearance: a map of a fortress with the names of four strangers and an assertion that she’s been dreadfully wronged.

As all London is gripped by the horrific series of murders committed on its fog-bound streets by the self-styled "Avenger", respectable retired servants Robert Bunting and his wife Ellen are on the brink of personal disaster, in the ruin of their business. But then - miraculously as it seems - they are saved when the enigmatic Mr. Sleuth turns up at the door of their lodging house looking for rooms...but Ellen soon begins to suspect that Mr. Sleuth may be the very man who holds the capital in terror.

Sherlock Holmes and Watson are asked to assist on a home invasion and murder case. A woman reports that a gang of men broke into her home, killed her husband, tied her up, and stole the family silver. Though it seems like a clear-cut case of robbery gone wrong, Holmes' gut tells him otherwise. But what motive lies behind this erstwhile victim’s story?

Is the world’s most famous detective on his deathbed? When Dr Watson finds Sherlock Holmes wasting away from a rare tropical disease, he must act fast if he is to save the life of his best friend. Sherlock Holmes, of course, may well have one more trick up his sleeve....

Whilst the retired Art Supplier Josiah Amberley was at the theatre, his wife ran away with a young man and a good deal of their money. Amberley wants Holmes to track her down, but the latter is too busy and sends Watson in his stead. But it soon turns out that Holmes is not the only one who has been asked to solve this case. Arthur Conan Doyle’s atmospheric short story is brought vividly to life by Robert Hardy.

"The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" is the series of short stories that made the fortunes of the Strand magazine, in which they were first published, and won immense popularity for Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson. The detective is at the height of his powers and the volume is full of famous cases, including The Red-Headed League, The Blue Carbuncle, and The Speckled Band. Although Holmes gained a reputation for infallibility, Conan Doyle showed his own realism and feminism by having the great detective defeated by Irene Adler - the woman - in the very first story, A Scandal in Bohemia.

As a dense yellow fog swirls through the streets of London, a deep melancholy has descended on Sherlock Holmes, who sits in a cocaine-induced haze at 221B Baker Street. His mood is only lifted by a visit from a beautiful but distressed young woman - Mary Morstan, whose father vanished ten years before. Four years later she began to receive an exquisite gift every year: a large, lustrous pearl. Now she has had an intriguing invitation to meet her unknown benefactor and urges Holmes and Watson to accompany her.

Reginald Musgrave, a school friend of Holmes, saw his butler searching through private family papers. Then, Butler Brunton got caught red-handed with an ancestral ritual of the Musgraves as well. The ritual seemed worthless to the family but Brunton was determined to decipher it. A few days after Brunton disappeared. Arthur Conan Doyle’s gripping short story is brought vividly to life by Robert Hardy.

"Mr. Holmes, they were the footprints of a gigantic hound!" The death, quite suddenly, of Sir Charles Baskerville in mysterious circumstances is the trigger for one of the most extraordinary cases ever to challenge the brilliant analytical mind of Sherlock Holmes. As rumours of a legendary hound said to haunt the Baskerville family circulate, Holmes and Watson are asked to ensure the protection of Sir Charles' only heir, Sir Henry - who has travelled all the way from America to reside at Baskerville Hall in Devon.

Natalie Spencer was giving a dinner. She was not an easy hostess. Like most women of futile lives, she lacked a sense of proportion, and the small and unimportant details of the service absorbed her. Such conversation as she threw at random, to right and left, was trivial and distracted. Yet, the dinner was an unimportant one. It had been given with an eye more to the menu than to the guest list, which was characteristic of Natalie's mental processes.

El Dr. James Mortimer pide ayuda a Sherlock Holmes después de la muerte de su amigo, Sir Charles Baskerville, hallado muerto en su propiedad de Devonshire. A pesar de que la muerte de Charles fue diagnosticada por un ataque al corazón, Mortimer no termina de creérselo, ya que en el rostro del difunto se percibía una expresión de pánico.

Holmes recibe un mensaje de Porlock, uno de los agentes del profesor Moriarty. A pesar de que la ley ve a Moriarty como inocente, el detective cree firmemente que es artífice y señor de todo un inframundo criminal. Sherlock, ayudado por Watson, descifra el mensaje de Porlock y descubren que la vida de John Douglas, que reside en Birlstone, está en peligro. Poco después, Scotland Yard informa a Sherlock y Watson que el Sr. Douglas fue encontrado asesinado.