The fifteenth installment of the internationally bestselling Inspector Banks series When Alan Banks receives a disturbing telephone call from his brother, Roy, he abandons the peaceful Yorkshire Dales for the bright lights of London to search him out. But Roy has vanished into thin air, and now Banks fears this could have been their final conversation. Meanwhile, DI Annie Cabbot is called to a murder scene on a quiet stretch of road just outside Eastvale. A young woman called Jennifer Clewes has been found dead in her car, and in the back pocket of her jeans, written on a slip of paper, police discover Banks’s name and address. Living in his brother’s empty, luxurious South Kensington flat, Banks finds himself digging into the life of the brother he never really knew, or even liked. He begins to uncover some troubling surprises, leaving Annie to track down Jennifer Clewes’s friends and colleagues alone. It seems that both trails are leading towards frightening conclusions. And when the cases begin to intersect, the consequences for Banks and Annie become terrifying . . .

London, 1861. Sir Richard Francis Burton - explorer, linguist, scholar, and swordsman; his reputation tarnished; his career in tatters; his former partner missing and probably dead. Algernon Charles Swinburne - unsuccessful poet and follower of de Sade, for whom pain is pleasure, and brandy is ruin! Their investigations lead them to one of the defining events of the age, and the terrifying possibility that the world they inhabit shouldn't exist at all!

Discover the true story of Victorian Scotland's trial of the century. It was a case that rocked Victorian society. Emile L'Angelier was a working-class immigrant from the Channel Islands who began a clandestine affair with prominent Glasgow socialite Madeleine Smith. Six weeks after Emile threatened to show Madeleine's father their passionate letters, on 23 March 1857, he was found dead from arsenic poisoning. The evidence against Madeleine seemed overwhelming as she went to trial for murdering her lover. Douglas MacGowan's vivid account reads by turns like a thriller, a love story and a courtroom drama. He quotes extensively from contemporary sources, notably the pathology reports, the trial testimony and the infamous correspondence between Madeleine and Emile, whose explicit content so shocked Victorian sensibilities. Ultimately it is up to the reader to judge Madeleine's guilt or innocence.

Harris and Bostock are best friends, but they are as different from one another as night and day. Harris thinks up harebrained schemes and Bostock gets in trouble for them. When Harris puts his baby sister Adelaide in the woods to see if she will be adopted by a fox, little do they realize that they are starting a chain of events that will be remembered in their little seaside town as the Strange Affair of Adelaide Harris.

World War I began disastrously for the English when the Germans routed them at Mons, Belgium, on August 23 and 24, 1914. On September 29, 1914, the Anglo-Welsh writer Arthur Machen fictionalized this encounter in a newspaper story, claiming that the English were saved by the appearance of angelic bowmen sent by St. George. But his fiction became accepted as fact. The believers--notables G. K. Chesterton, Arthur Conan Doyle and C. S. Lewis, along with almost forgotten figures like Harold Begbie, Phyllis Campbell and T. W. H. Crosland--wrote pamphlets, testimonies and poems, performed music and created motion pictures attesting to the existence of the guardian angels. This history of the Angels of Mons controversy for the first time collects and annotates Machen's work and the responses it inspired, most of which have not been available since their publication a century ago. Also reprinted for the first time are several of Machen's responses to the believers, including "The Angels of Mons: Absolutely My Last Word on the Subject" and "The Return of the Angels: This Time They Are at Ypres."

What could be better than curling up in front of the fireplace on a chilly fall or winter evening with a good, classic Gothic novel? The fire radiating warmth and peace and the book pages emanating an eerie chill. What better experience for a bibliophile than to delve into this collection of gothic literature? It will take a long time to read through all the atmospheric novels included in this collection. You will have plenty of time to consider and appreciate your own life and surroundings – far from the horrors of these novels! Contents: 1. The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole 2. The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe 3. A Sicilian Romance by Ann Radcliffe 4. The Monk: A Romance by Matthew Gregory Lewis 5. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen 6. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley 7. The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe 8. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë 9. The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson 10. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde 11. Dracula by Bram Stoker 12. Melmoth the Wanderer by Charles Robert Maturin 13. The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne 14. The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux 15. Vathek: An Arabian Tale by William Beckford 16. The Old English Baron: a Gothic Story by Clara Reeve 17. Salathiel the Immortal by George Croly 18. Varney the Vampire or The Feast of Blood by James Malcolm Rymer and Thomas Pecket Prest 19. Beware the Cat by William Baldwin 20. The Beetle by Richard Marsh

Robert Louis Stevenson's 'The Complete 13 Novels & longer fiction' is a compelling collection of some of his most well-known works including 'Treasure Island', 'The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde', 'Kidnapped', and more. Stevenson's literary style is characterized by vivid descriptions, strong character development, and a keen sense of adventure. His works often delve into themes of morality, duality of human nature, and the consequences of one's actions. Set in diverse settings ranging from the high seas to the Scottish Highlands, Stevenson's novels transport readers to different worlds filled with intrigue and suspense. Robert Louis Stevenson's own experience of travel and his fascination with history and adventure likely influenced his writing. His adventurous spirit and vivid imagination shine through in his captivating storytelling. Stevenson's unique perspective and storytelling prowess have solidified his place as one of the most beloved authors in English literature. I recommend 'The Complete 13 Novels & longer fiction' to readers who enjoy classic literature, historical fiction, and tales of adventure. Stevenson's timeless works continue to captivate audiences with their enduring themes and engaging narratives.

The Mabuse phenomenon is recognized as an icon of horror in Germany as Frankenstein and Dracula are in the United States. A study of the 12 motion pictures and five books (and some secondary films) that make up the eight decades of adventures of master criminal Mabuse, created by author Norbert Jacques in the best-selling 1922 German novel and brought to the screen by master filmmaker Fritz Lang in the same year. Both on screen and off, the story of Dr. Mabuse is a story of love triangles and revenge, of murder, suicides, and suspicious deaths, of betrayals and paranoia, of fascism and tyranny, deceptions and conspiracies, mistaken identities, and transformation. This work, featuring much information never before published in English, provides an understanding of a modern mythology whose influence has pervaded popular culture even while the name Mabuse remains relatively unknown in the United States.

Instant New York Times Bestseller “Unimpeachably terrific.” —The New York Times Book Review For fans of Ruth Ware, Shari Lapena, and Donna Tartt: a twisty, fast-paced, cinematic literary thriller, and an ingenious book within a book, by the #1 internationally bestselling author of The Enigma of Room 622 Marcus Goldman is riding high. The twenty-eight-year-old writer is the new darling of American letters, whose debut novel has sold two million copies. But when it comes time to produce a new book, he is sidelined by a crippling case of writer’s block. He travels to Somerset, New Hamprshire, to see his mentor, Harry Quebert, one of the country’s most respected writers, hoping to jar his creative juices as his publisher’s deadline looms. But Marcus’s plans are upended when Harry is sensationally implicated in a cold-case murder: Fifteen-year-old Nola Kellergan went missing in 1975, and Harry admits to having had an affair with her. Following a trail of clues through the backwoods and isolated beaches of New Hampshire, Marcus must answer two questions, which are mysteriously connected: Who killed Nola Kellergan? And how do you write a book to save someone’s life? Translated from the French by Sam Taylor Named a Best Book of the Summer by CBS This Morning, Us Weekly, The Hollywood Reporter, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Parade, Houston Chronicle, New York Post, Tampa Bay Times, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and The Daily Beast Now a 10-part TV series on EPIX, starring Patrick Dempsey, Ben Schnetzer, Damon Wayans Jr., and Virginia Madsen

In this charming, witty, and weird fantasy novel, Alexis Hall pays homage to Sherlock Holmes with a new twist on those renowned characters. Upon returning to the city of Khelathra-Ven after five years fighting a war in another universe, Captain John Wyndham finds himself looking for somewhere to live, and expediency forces him to take lodgings at 221b Martyrs Walk. His new housemate is Ms. Shaharazad Haas, a consulting sorceress of mercurial temperament and dark reputation. When Ms. Haas is enlisted to solve a case of blackmail against one of her former lovers, Miss Eirene Viola, Captain Wyndham is drawn into a mystery that leads him from the salons of the literary set to the drowned back-alleys of Ven and even to a prison cell in lost Carcosa. Along the way he is beset by criminals, menaced by pirates, molested by vampires, almost devoured by mad gods, and called upon to punch a shark. But the further the companions go in pursuit of the elusive blackmailer, the more impossible the case appears. Then again, in Khelathra-Ven reality is flexible, and the impossible is Ms. Haas' stock-in-trade.