Historical Detective

Mas Arai's best friend, Haruo, is getting married, and he has grudgingly agreed to serve as best man. But when an ancient Japanese doll display of Haruo's fiance goes missing, the wedding is called off with fingers pointed at Haruo. To solve the mystery and to save Haruo's life, Mas must untangle a web of secrecy, heartbreaking memories, and murder.

It's 1963, and Chief Riley Bennett knocks on Dody Canfield's door informing her that her husband died instantly when his car struck a telephone pole. Not wanting to raise her three children alone, it isn't long before she brings home Frank Billings; and he's moving in. Mama sends Missy to take her little brother, Billie, fishing as Missy reels in slowly - bubbles begin emerging - releasing secrets, deadly lies, and terror on the Canfield family.

Francis Morely is a fierce but fey private eye who uses insider insights to crack a series of gay murders that have baffled Bay City police. Tiger Olsen is a straight, downwardly-mobile former football payer who takes a job as Morely's sidekick. Seems there's a camera behind a trick mirror in a notorious bathhouse run by the sinister Joe Cannelli, and a few members of high society who think they're too powerful to be blackmailed.

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.

With her husband, Emrys, still missing in action, Ann Morgan faces the prospect of spending her first wedding anniversary, and Christmas, alone. However, a phone call from Alistair Blythe, a young man she briefly walked out with before her marriage to Emrys, sets Ann on a trail that leads to murder, encounters with black market spivs, and threats to her life. With assistance from spymaster Charles Montagu and Detective Inspector Max Deveraux, Ann uncovers a major secret of the war. And, with the snow falling at Christmas, she receives a present she will never forget.

Evil doers and thieves beware! The Pinkerton Detective Agency is on your tail. From the archives of the world's most successful agency come tales of daring heists and stories of the brave men who tracked down the bad guys. Train robbers, safe crackers, grifters, and murderers—all brought to justice by Pinkerton Detectives.

In this episode of Skeen's cases he is invited by a new political party to stand for the office of public defender in next month's city election, a city office established to provide legal representation to the poor and indigent. He declines the invitation, but strange things keep happening, such as the curious death of the current public defender and the odd behavior of the principals of the new party.

A Christmas mystery introducing Owen Irvine, the Lake District shepherd-cum-detective hero of JJ Salkeld's A Natural Detective series. Set in the mid-1980s, this entertaining short story concerns the theft of the baby Jesus himself. All right, it's only a small wooden figure from the church's nativity scene, but as far as the vicar is concerned, dark forces must surely be at play in the Kentmere valley.

An anonymous telegram introduces Carl Brooke to both his future wife and her conflicted brother, who harbors a dark secret from the Civil War. The discovery of a deliberately cut tree reveals the presence of a mysterious one-legged man and the possible reemergence of Carl's nemesis, Thomas Drake.

Nel 1850 Charles Dickens firma ben tre articoli riguardanti la vita e il lavoro del detective (figura nuovissima, a quei tempi, risalendo la creazione del Detective Branch di Londra a solamente otto anni prima). In quell'anno, alcuni fra i maggiori investigatori inglesi accettano di incontrarsi nella redazione di Household Words, la rivista diretta dallo stesso Dickens, per rispondere alle sue domande. Fra loro, immancabilmente, anche il grande Charles Frederick Field (1805-1874), amico personale dello scrittore.

Jonas Watcher had no memory of how he got there. As he started climbing up the ladder to the wharf, he found he was tangled in some sort of net. Suddenly a large heavy object dropped onto him and he fell into the bay still snared by the net, which had also captured the object. Luckily, the weight of the object had tightened the net, so he was able to pull himself out of the water and climb up to the wharf.

It is June 1929. The Roaring Twenties are still roaring, but the period is doomed. San Francisco's celebrated Cyrus Skeen, private detective and scion of Eastern wealth, is secure in his solvency; he has never bought stock on margin. He is as finicky about what stocks to invest in as he is in the kind of client he is willing to accept and work for. He is approached by Susan Harker, wife of Hosanna Harker, a noted local novelist accused of murdering his publisher, Marc Pearson.

Four young women were murdered in the nation’s capital between 1929 and 1935. Their deaths had no connection to each other. Each woman was different. Each murder, though violent and brutal, was unlike the other three women. Other than the fact that all four women were young and beautiful with active love lives, they had little in common until they were murdered, and their cases remained unsolved to this day.

The Great Detective, by prominent Sherlock Holmes Society of London member Roger Johnson, offers the Holmesian another perspective on the beloved Canon. From a surrealist perspective, we find here a different and refreshing approach. We are transported to another time through the warmth of an English public house and immediately transfixed by the fascinating voices of those who contributed to the name Sherlock Holmes. This is a must listen for all those worshipers of the great detective.