Classic Thrillers

In Agatha Christie’s short story, “The Adventure of the Cheap Flat,” Poirot’s suspicions are aroused when he hears of a sweetheart deal on a flat. Doing a little freelance investigating, he soon learns that the flat is at the center of a case of international espionage and a potentially fatal double-cross. This short story originally appeared in the May 9, 1923 issue of The Sketch magazine.

Chief Inspector Macdonald has been invited to a treasure hunt party at the house of the Graham Coombe, the celebrated publisher of Murder by Mesmerism. The clues of the hunt have been devised by Coombe's thriller-writer friends, disguised on the night under literary pseudonyms. The fun comes to an abrupt end, however, when 'Samuel Pepys' is found murdered in the telephone room in bizarre circumstances.

Eighteen-year-old Robert Weekes is a practitioner of empirical philosophy - an arcane, female-dominated branch of science used to summon the wind, shape clouds of smoke, heal the injured, and even fly. Though he dreams of fighting in the Great War as the first male in the elite US Sigilry Corps Rescue and Evacuation Service - a team of flying medics - Robert is resigned to mixing batches of philosophical chemicals and keeping the books for the family business in rural Montana, where his mother, a former soldier and vigilante, aids the locals.

'You see, I mainly work at night. I've ended up getting to know everybody. They're used to me in Pigalle, I exchange a few words with this person or that person. I go into the bars and cabarets where they give me a quarter bottle of Vichy without waiting for me to order anything.' An anonymous tip-off regarding the death of a restaurant owner sends Maigret into the world of Parisian nightlife, a notorious criminal gang and a man known as 'the Flea'. This novel has been pubished in a previous translation as Maigret and the Flea.

Dracula is the seminal gothic horror novel of its time as Bram Stoker introduced the world to the legendary vampire Count Dracula. Published in 1897 and told through a series of diary entries and letters, the story journeys into the dark world of Count Dracula through the eyes of several different narrators. The novel explores many themes, the role of women in Victorian culture, conventional and conservative sexuality, immigration, colonialism, post colonialism and folklore.

A female killer stalks the streets of London, sleeping with young men before slashing their throats and mutilating their bodies. The crimes have baffled the police and enraged Londoners, who demand the murderer's arrest. Mary, Duchess of Dove, a gentle young widow who is beloved by all who know her, seems an unlikely suspect, but the clues all point to her. The police have a variety of theories - perhaps the Duchess has been hypnotized or drugged, maybe she has an evil double, or could it be a Communist plot to discredit the peerage?

One of the greatest novels to have come from the 19th century, a realistic, gritty exposure of the lives, loves, intrigue and rivalry that existed in the literary world of London. The art form and culture of writing is becoming a business, expanding rapidly, and profit is more important than integrity of purpose.

Lord Darcy and Master Wizard Sean O. Lauchlainn return in this authorized sequel to the stories of Randall Garrett. In 1988, in an alternate universe in which the Plantagenets still rule Britain, France, and the New World, magic has displaced science.

The Circle—a thousand miles of perilous forests and warring clans. No one has ever tamed such treacherous territory before, but ex-soldier Teyr Amondsen, veteran of a hundred battles, is determined to try. With a merchant caravan protected by a crew of skilled mercenaries, Teyr embarks on a dangerous mission to forge a road across the untamed wilderness that was once her home. But a warlord has risen in the wilds of the Circle, uniting its clans and terrorizing its people. Teyr's battles are far from over . . .

Where there's a witch, there's a way! Where there's a whole family of them, there's trouble. Bay Winchester, editor of Hemlock Cove's small weekly newspaper, thinks her small hamlet's upcoming murder mystery weekend is going to be all about fun, food, and frolicking. Instead, when another dead body is discovered in Hemlock Cove, things turn into murder, mayhem, and migraines (the latter is mostly thanks to her family, of course).

Morley's sequel to Parnassus on Wheels, his second love letter to the bookselling trade, The Haunted Bookshop, finds Mifflin and McGill now married and ensconced in Brooklyn. When Aubrey Gilbert, a young advertising man, visits the shop, he falls for Mifflin’s assistant, Titania. But something is amiss. The ghosts of literature aren’t the only mysterious visitors in Mifflin’s bookshop, where books disappear and reappear, but Mifflin is too distracted to notice. Gilbert takes Titania's safety into his own hands. Her life—and the Mifflins’—may depend on it.

When a public tragedy threatens to expose a scandal within the Paris government, the Minister of Public Works calls in a favour to Maigret. A public project has collapsed and resulted in the death of 128 children after a report warning officials about the unsafe structure was disregarded. Now, that report has resurfaced, along with allegations that several politicians and contractors involved with the project may have suppressed its findings to avoid a scandal.

It should have been a case like any other: a missing princess, a king willing to pay in gold for her return. But before he realizes it, private investigator Eddie LaCrosse, a slightly shopworn sword jockey with a talent for discretion and detection, is swept up in a web of mystery and deceit involving a brutally murdered royal heir, a queen accused of an unspeakable crime, and the tragic past he thought he'd left behind.

Ahab is the captain of a whaling ship named the Pequod. His great obsession with the giant whale, Moby Dick, makes him embark on a dangerous voyage. Some years before, the captain lost his leg because of the whale and now Ahab’s main desire is to take his revenge on the whale by killing it. He is so obsessed, that Ahab is ready to sacrifice everything he has, including the Pequod and all the members of his crew, and even his own life.

The Corrections is a grandly entertaining novel for the new century - a comic, tragic masterpiece about a family breaking down in an age of easy fixes. Richly realistic, darkly hilarious, deeply humane, it confirms Jonathan Franzen as one of our most brilliant interpreters of American society and the American soul.

Mrs. Bentley has been arrested for murder. The evidence is overwhelming: arsenic she extracted from fly papers was in her husband's medicine, his food and his lemonade, and her crimes are being plastered across the newspapers. Even her lawyers believe she is guilty. But Roger Sheringham, the brilliant but outspoken young novelist, is convinced that there is too much evidence against Mrs. Bentley and sets out to prove her innocence.

Alvin Benson is found slumped over an easy chair in a room locked from the inside with a bullet in his head, and Wall Street and the high society of Manhattan are set ablaze with the news of the playboy stockbroker’s death. But when NYPD’s top detectives and ballistics experts can’t solve the mystery, it falls to Philo Vance, an art connoisseur and amateur sleuth, to find the killer. Vance’s intellectual and artistic background helps him uncover a series of odd clues, starting with a missing toupee and false teeth, and soon he is delving deep into the case.

Sherlock Holmes es llamado para investigar el misterioso fallecimiento del coronel Barclay. Mientras todos los indicios parecen apuntar hacia su esposa, las circunstancias del caso se tornan más extrañas con cada detalle descubierto. Las huellas de un desconocido y de una criatura peculiar despiertan la curiosidad de Holmes. Detrás del caso se oculta una red de antiguos secretos, rivalidades y traiciones que datan de tiempos de guerra. Holmes deberá utilizar toda su astucia para desvelar la verdad detrás de este enigma, donde nada es lo que parece.

The recently rediscovered short story 'The Lost One', perfect for fans of Daphne du Maurier, Santa Montefiore and Anya Seton. First published in Woman's Journal in 1960, and set against the backdrop of unfenced country and dark winding valleys at night, the aptly named 'The Lost One' features The Wind off the Small Isles heroine Perdita West, who brings her characteristic pluck and courage to this classic Mary Stewart tale of suspense and intrigue....

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.