Classic Detective

Horace Manning, scientist, recluse and 'closed book' even to his friends, is found dead in his study at 4a.m., following a dinner in honour of his daughter's engagement. An ivory-handled carving knife rests between his shoulder blades as the houseguests gather round to witness the awful crime. The telephone line has been sabotaged - a calculated murder has been committed. Rewinding twelve hours, the events of the afternoon and evening unfold, revealing a multitude of clues and motives from a closed cast of suspects.

Mr. Richard Dodsley, owner of a fine second-hand bookshop on Charing Cross Road, has been found murdered in the cold hours of the morning. Shot in his own office, few clues remain besides three cigarette ends, two spent matches and a few books on the shelves which have been rearranged. In an investigation spanning the second-hand bookshops of London and the Houses of Parliament - since an MP's new crime novel Death at the Desk appears to have some bearing on the case - John Ferguson's series sleuth MacNab is at hand to assist Scotland Yard in an atmospheric fair-play bibliomystery.

When a warlock from the magical world of the Morning Land murders Derek Ridder's friend, the LAPD detective gets a new partner. Her name's Tavia, and she's a brash, driven unicorn filly. She identifies the killer as Sir William Teach, the one man she's sworn to capture or kill at all cost. Together, Derek and Tavia race to uncover Teach's dark plans to unleash an ancient evil in order to conquer both of their worlds. Their path takes them through Los Angeles and deep into the fantasy realm of the Morning Land.

This short story features Baroness Orczy’s most intriguing sleuth, 'The Old Man in the Corner', as he explains how he solved a high-profile case: the theft of an actress' pearls.

"Il pénétra dans le cabinet. Mais, au bout de quelques secondes, il demanda, sans le moindre étonnement d'ailleurs : - Vous l'avez pris, chère amie ? Elle répliqua : - Comment ? mais non, je n'ai rien pris. - Vous l'avez dérangé."

A collection of 31 tales of mystery and murder from the career of the great scientific detective, Dr John Thorndyke. Including every story from John Thorndyke's Cases (1909), The Adventures of Dr Thorndyke (1912), Percival Bland's Proxy (1913), The Missing Mortgagee (1914), Dr Thorndyke's Case-book (1923), and The Puzzle Lock and Other Stories (1925)

Inspector Duke Becker and his squad are having a few weeks of peace and quiet when a case is brought to the squad by Detective Michelle Goldman. A fellow Detective has been investigating a baffling homicide, and Goldman believes the Special Investigations Unit, Homicide, might be able to help out. When another homicide is discovered along with a second strange object left behind by the killer, Inspector Becker and his squad move into high gear.

Sixteen classic stories.

First published in 1897, this new Cyanide Publishing edition contains the original text as well as background articles, including "Arthur Morrison: Depicting Life in the East End", "Arthur Morrison: A Bibliography" and "London's East End: Crime in the 1800s". A collection of seven mystery stories, including "The Case of the Ward Lane Tabernacle", "The Ivy Cottage Mystery", "The Nicobar Bullion Case", "The Flittterbat Lancers", "The Narrative of Mr. James Rigby", "The Case of Janissary", and "The Affair of the Avalanche Bicycle and Tyre Co."

Hunted Down is a detective story by Charles Dickens. The astute Sampson suspects that a certain Mr. Julius Slinkton who turns up in his office one morning is not all that he seems. As Slinkton crops up more and more frequently in Sampson's life, he realises that a monstrous crime is about to be committed. But a counter plot is hatched and the hunter quickly becomes the hunted. Dickens excels again in his masterful portrayal of character and insightful description the society of his day.

All is not well on the film set of director Bill Wade’s new blockbuster, Dark Harvest, currently being shot in Kent. At first Jack Colby, car detective, can’t believe his luck when he is called in to investigate the disappearance of Bill Wade’s rare 1935 Auburn speedster, but he soon realises that this is no straightforward theft - there is much more at stake.… Despite his instant attraction to the charismatic lead of Dark Harvest, Louise Shaw, Jack senses that cast and crew are at odds with each other - and especially with the director’s wife, Angie. Jack’s warning light begins to flash about his assignment - and rightly so.

A treasure chest of the most popular classic crime stories from the 19th century. •The Purloined Letter by Edgar Allan Poe •A Terribly Strange Bed by Wilkie Collins •Murder under the Microscope by William Russell •The Three Strangers by Thomas Hardy •The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan Poe •The Mystery of Marie Roget by Edgar Allan Poe •Mr. Higginbotham’s Catastrophe by Nathaniel Hawthorne

During the last part of the nineteenth century, the detective story took off as a popular genre as literary magazines vied with each other to draw in readers with gripping page-turners by the likes of Arthur Conan Doyle, G. K. Chesterton, Guy Boothby and Wilkie Collins. This collection brings together some of the great detectives of the Victorian era, from the master sleuth himself, Sherlock Holmes, to the mild mannered Father Brown, to the feisty J. G. Reeder.

A fifth collection of eight golden-age detective mysteries for H. C. Bailey's eclectic scientific detective Mr. Reginald Fortune. Including a stock market bubble and a sudden death; a wealthy businessman threatened by a mystery man; a mountaineering accident in the shadow of the Jungfrau; a curious archaeological discovery; a series of crimes in a quiet cathedral close; and two very different violent deaths, with an unexpected link.

Angelo Ricci, Joe Czanek and Manuel Silva decide to visit The Terrible Old Man and steal his vast fortune - but his nickname proves truer than the thieves could ever have imagined.

A short story from the British Library Crime Classic collection The Edinburgh Mystery. Whilst best known for her dashing historical romances, Baroness Orczy also created a number of detective characters, including ‘The Old Man in the Corner’ who features in this Edinburgh-set mystery. The unnamed armchair sleuth must uncover who killed and robbed poor Lady Donaldson in Charlotte Square in this story.

Young Rachel Verinder inherits a sacred Indian moonstone from her uncle. This extremely valuable gem disappears from Rachel's bedroom soon after a party is thrown in her honor to celebrate her eighteenth birthday. Believed to be stolen, a series of narratives unfold to solve the mystery of the missing moonstone. In true Collins fashion, one cannot get enough of the twists and turns in this intriguing detective story.

"The Moonstone" by Wilkie Collins is one of the forefathers of detective fiction, cementing the foundations of the genre. At the centre of it lays the theft of a diamond, dating in origin from a religious Indian shrine, which prompts detective Sergeant Cuff to take up the case. It is an absolute page-turner of a story and goes through the accounts of the different characters, winding and meandering from fact to fiction and vice versa.

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.

Hungary during the Ottoman wars: Turks attack Buda and set up a siege of Eger. Gergely Bornemissza is a poor half-orphan who is about to become a national hero. "Eclipse of the Crescent Moon" follows Gergelys life from the age of eight until his early thirties. His life is a vivid combination of poverty, love, battles and dangers. He is on the front line when the Turks capture Buda and later when they approach Eger. His country is in danger and so is his family. The battle is one of life or death.