Classic Suspense Fiction

Tautly narrated and excruciatingly suspenseful, Double Indemnity gives us an X-ray view of guilt, of duplicity, and of the kind of obsessive, loveless love that devastates everything it touches. First published in 1936, this novel reaffirmed James M. Cain as a virtuoso of the roman noir.

The White Company is a motley group of English mercenaries, fighting under the leadership of Sir Nigel Loring. Bound by an unquestioning respect for social order, patriotism and a lust for adventure, the company makes its way to France to fight in the local wars. With assiduous attention to historical detail, Conan Doyle paints a convincing picture of the chivalric life and manners of the 14th century.

The Priory may look ramshackle in appearance, but Peter, Margaret and Celia are totally charmed by their newly inherited country house. But there's more to The Priory than meets the eye. Left empty for years, hardly a single person has set foot inside, and down in the village, the locals whisper of a ghostly figure that roams the halls. When a murder is committed, the new owners start to fear the rumours are true - but is their new home really haunted, or is someone trying to scare them away?

If Indiana Jones lived in the X-Files era, he might bear at least a passing resemblance to Nolan Moore - a rogue archaeologist hosting a documentary series derisively dismissed by the "real" experts, but beloved by conspiracy theorists. Nolan sets out to retrace the steps of an explorer from 1909 who claimed to have discovered a mysterious cavern high up in the ancient rock of the Grand Canyon. And, for once, he may have actually found what he seeks. Then the trip takes a nasty turn, and the cave begins turning against them in mysterious ways.

Avoided by the Coast Salish tribes for generations, Hurst Island is one of the last remnants of untracked wilderness on the British Columbia coastal frontier. Not yet overtaken by logging or commercial fishing, it is a final outpost where myth lives on, heedless of human progress or desire. As their boat sinks, Amy and Ian find themselves stranded on this island, unaware of what they are about to face.

Long before Western writers had even conceived the idea of writing detective stories, the Chinese had developed a long tradition of literary works that chronicled the cases of important district magistrates. One of the most celebrated of these was Judge Dee, who lived in the seventh century.

The first novel that George Sand wrote without a collaborator, this is not only a vivid romance, but also an impassioned plea for change in the inequitable French marriage laws of the time, and for a new view of women. It tells the story of a beautiful and innocent young woman, married at sixteen to a much older man. She falls in love with her handsome, frivolous neighbor, but discovers too late that his love is quite different from her own.

The year 1894. The monstrous Hound of the Baskervilles has been dead for five years, along with its no less monstrous owner, the naturalist Jack Stapleton. Sir Henry Baskerville is living contentedly at Baskerville Hall with his new wife, Audrey, and their three-year-old son, Harry. Until, that is, Audrey’s lifeless body is found on the moors, drained of blood. It would appear some fiendish creature is once more at large on Dartmoor and has, like its predecessor, targeted the unfortunate Baskerville family.

There's been a robbery at Mr Fellows' house, but nothing has been stolen. It's the most peculiar mystery yet for Fatty, Larry, Daisy, Pip, Bets and Buster the dog! And it's the perfect case for Fatty to practice his new skill of ventriloquism.

Jasper Fforde's delightfully zany Thursday Next series shows no signs of slowing down with its seventh entry, The Woman Who Died a Lot. Despite being semihappily semi-retired from SpecOps, Thursday accepts the head librarian position at the Swindon library. But soon threats from a supreme Deity, a mnemonomorph, and the nefarious Goliath corporation press Thursday back into active duty.

Julian, Dick, Anne, George and Timmy the dog find excitement and adventure wherever they go in Enid Blyton's most popular series. In book six, Uncle Quentin has locked himself away on Kirrin Island. What's he up to and why won't he let anyone visit? Then the Famous Five discover that a suspicious stranger is watching Uncle Quentin's every move. Can the Famous Five warn Uncle Quentin in time?

If Danny Cartwright had proposed to Beth Wilson the day before, or the day after, he would not have been arrested and charged with the murder of his best friend. And when the four prosecution witnesses are a barrister, a popular actor, an aristocrat and the youngest partner in an established firm's history, who is going to believe his side of the story. Danny is sentenced to 22 years and is sent to Belmarsh prison, the highest security jail in the land, from where no inmate has ever escaped. But everyone has underestimated Danny's determination to seek revenge.

The story of "The Three Musketeers" continues in "The Man in the Iron Mask" but the plot is even more intricate. D’Artagnan, Athos, Porthos and Aramis return to the scene but this time each of them is fighting for completely different things. D’Artagnan remains in the service of the corrupt King Louis XIV while his "brothers" try to remove him from the throne.

Someone has set fire to Mr Hick's cottage, but who could it be? Fatty, Larry, Daisy, Pip, Bets and Buster the dog have their very first case to solve. But it's not easy being detectives with policeman Mr Goon telling them to 'clear orf'. The Find-Outers are determined - they have to solve the mystery before Mr Goon does!

"The 120 Days of Sodom" is "the most impure tale that has ever been told since our world began". It was written by the Marquis de Sade, a french noble man, in the space of 37 days, while imprisoned in the famous parisian Bastille. Fearing confiscation, the Marquis de Sade, Donatien-Alphonse-François, had to write it on a continuous roll of paper, made up of small pieces glued together. The original manuscript is now on display in Paris, and is the third most expensive kept in France, insured for 12 million euros.

The mystery begins with a coded warning of imminent danger, drawing the illustrious Sherlock Holmes and the faithful Dr Watson to a secluded country home. A trail of bewildering clues, including raincoats, dumbbells, and a missing wedding ring, leads to sleuthing in the finest Holmesian tradition - with a gripping back story of a cult that terrorized a valley in the American West.

In this searing novel, Kathrine Kressmann Taylor brings vividly to life the insidious spread of Nazism through a series of letters between Max, a Jewish art dealer in San Francisco, and Martin, his friend and former business partner who has returned to Germany in 1932, just as Hitler is coming to power. A powerful and eloquent tale about the consequences of a friendship - and society - poisoned by extremism, Address Unknown remains hauntingly and painfully relevant today.

Extensively revised by Nabokov in 1965 - 30 years after its original publication - Despair is the wickedly inventive and richly derisive story of Hermann, a man who undertakes the perfect crime: his own murder. One of the 20th century’s master prose stylists, Vladimir Nabokov was born in St. Petersburg in 1899. He studied French and Russian literature at Trinity College, Cambridge, then lived in Berlin and Paris, where he launched a brilliant literary career. In 1940 he moved to the United States, and achieved renown as a novelist, poet, critic, and translator.

Julian, Dick, Anne, George and Timmy the dog find excitement and adventure wherever they go in Enid Blyton's most popular series. In book 14, George is not pleased when Berta, a spoilt American girl, turns up at Kirrin Cottage in the dead of night. But George hasn't got time to be jealous; Berta is in hiding from kidnappers. The Famous Five are the only ones who can protect her - but will they take on dangerous criminals to help out a stranger?

A haunting and enigmatic tale that will keep you awake and wondering long after you've finished this classic mystery. Everyone agreed that the day was just right for the picnic to Hanging Rock - a shimmering summer morning warm and still, with cicadas shrilling.... St Valentine’s Day, in the midst of the hot summer of 1900, a party of schoolgirls went on a picnic to Hanging Rock. Some were never to return....