This carefully edited collection contains the greatest tales of the legendary British sleuths and investigators, including Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, Father Brown, Tommy and Tuppence, Dr. Thorndyke and many others: Sherlock Holmes Series: A Study in Scarlet The Sign of Four The Hound of the Baskervilles The Valley of Fear The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes The Return of Sherlock Holmes His Last Bow Father Brown Stories: The Innocence of Father Brown The Wisdom of Father Brown The Donnington Affair Dr. Thorndyke Series: The Red Thumb Mark The Eye of Osiris The Mystery of 31 New Inn A Silent Witness Helen Vardon's Confession Percival Bland's Proxy The Missing Mortgagee Dr. Thorndyke's Cases The Adventures of Dr. Thorndyke Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Mysterious Affair at Styles Tommy and Tuppence Mystery: The Secret Adversary Martin Hewitt Stories: Martin Hewitt, Investigator Chronicles of Martin Hewitt Adventures of Martin Hewitt The Red Triangle Thorpe Hazell Mysteries: Peter Crane's Cigars The Tragedy on the London and Mid-Northern The Affair of the Corridor Express Sir Gilbert Murrell's Picture How the Bank Was Saved The Affair of the German Dispatch-Box How the Bishop Kept His Appointment The Adventure of the Pilot Engine The Stolen Necklace Detective Hamilton Cleek Series: Cleek, the Master Detective; or The Man of the Forty Faces Cleek of Scotland Yard Cleek's Government Cases The Riddle of the Night The Riddle of the Purple Emperor The Riddle of the Frozen Flame The Riddle of the Mysterious Light The Riddle of the Spinning Wheel Bulldog Drummond Adventures: Bulldog Drummond The Black Gang Max Carrados Mysteries: The Coin of Dionysius The Knight's Cross Signal Problem The Tragedy at Brookbend Cottage The Clever Mrs. Straithwaite The Last Exploit Of Harry the Actor The Tilling Shaw Mystery The Comedy at Fountain Cottage The Game Played In the Dark P.C. Lee Stories Paul Campenhaye – Specialist in Criminology ...

This carefully edited collection contains the greatest tales of the legendary British sleuths and investigators, including Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, Father Brown, Tommy and Tuppence, Dr. Thorndyke and many others: Sherlock Holmes Series: A Study in Scarlet The Sign of Four The Hound of the Baskervilles The Valley of Fear The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes The Return of Sherlock Holmes His Last Bow Father Brown Stories: The Innocence of Father Brown The Wisdom of Father Brown The Donnington Affair Dr. Thorndyke Series: The Red Thumb Mark The Eye of Osiris The Mystery of 31 New Inn A Silent Witness Helen Vardon's Confession Percival Bland's Proxy The Missing Mortgagee Dr. Thorndyke's Cases The Adventures of Dr. Thorndyke Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Mysterious Affair at Styles Tommy and Tuppence Mystery: The Secret Adversary Martin Hewitt Stories: Martin Hewitt, Investigator Chronicles of Martin Hewitt Adventures of Martin Hewitt The Red Triangle Thorpe Hazell Mysteries: Peter Crane's Cigars The Tragedy on the London and Mid-Northern The Affair of the Corridor Express Sir Gilbert Murrell's Picture How the Bank Was Saved The Affair of the German Dispatch-Box How the Bishop Kept His Appointment The Adventure of the Pilot Engine The Stolen Necklace Detective Hamilton Cleek Series: Cleek, the Master Detective; or The Man of the Forty Faces Cleek of Scotland Yard Cleek's Government Cases The Riddle of the Night The Riddle of the Purple Emperor The Riddle of the Frozen Flame The Riddle of the Mysterious Light The Riddle of the Spinning Wheel Bulldog Drummond Adventures: Bulldog Drummond The Black Gang Max Carrados Mysteries: The Coin of Dionysius The Knight's Cross Signal Problem The Tragedy at Brookbend Cottage The Clever Mrs. Straithwaite The Last Exploit Of Harry the Actor The Tilling Shaw Mystery The Comedy at Fountain Cottage The Game Played In the Dark P.C. Lee Stories Paul Campenhaye – Specialist in Criminology ...

THE GREATEST BRITISH DETECTIVES - Boxed Set encompasses an era-defining collection of over 190 stories, ranging from murder mysteries and thrilling escapades to profound crime tales, illuminated by the greatest minds of early 20th century British literature. This anthology celebrates a golden age of detective fiction, marked by its stylistic diversity and intricate plotting, establishing a legacy that continues to captivate. The compilation features hallmark works that have shaped the detective genre, offering readers a panoramic view of the literary landscape during this period, without the emphasis on any single author, but rather, highlighting the collective brilliance that has forged this timeless genre. The authors, including luminaries like Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, and G.K. Chesterton, come from varied backgrounds but share a common genius for entwining suspense with the subtle intricacies of human nature. Their contributions reflect not only the evolving societal norms and the complexities of the human psyche but also mirror the philosophical and moral dilemmas of their time. These narratives, rooted in different historical, cultural settings and literary movements, together weave a rich tapestry that provides a multifaceted exploration of the themes of justice, morality, and the human condition. This anthology is an indispensable treasure for readers keen on delving into the depths of detective fiction, offering a unique lens through which the evolution of the genre can be appreciated. It stands as an educational journey, a source of entertainment, and a testament to the enduring appeal of the detective story. Readers are encouraged to immerse themselves in this comprehensive collection, not only for its historical and literary value but also for the engaging dialogue it fosters between the epochal works of these master storytellers.

A page-turning novel that is also an exploration of the great philosophical concepts of Western thought, Jostein Gaarder's Sophie's World has fired the imagination of readers all over the world, with more than twenty million copies in print. One day fourteen-year-old Sophie Amundsen comes home from school to find in her mailbox two notes, with one question on each: "Who are you?" and "Where does the world come from?" From that irresistible beginning, Sophie becomes obsessed with questions that take her far beyond what she knows of her Norwegian village. Through those letters, she enrolls in a kind of correspondence course, covering Socrates to Sartre, with a mysterious philosopher, while receiving letters addressed to another girl. Who is Hilde? And why does her mail keep turning up? To unravel this riddle, Sophie must use the philosophy she is learning—but the truth turns out to be far more complicated than she could have imagined.

A WHOLE NEW REASON TO MIND THE GAP It begins with a dead body at the far end of Baker Street tube station, all that remains of American exchange student James Gallagher—and the victim’s wealthy, politically powerful family is understandably eager to get to the bottom of the gruesome murder. The trouble is, the bottom—if it exists at all—is deeper and more unnatural than anyone suspects . . . except, that is, for London constable and sorcerer’s apprentice Peter Grant. With Inspector Nightingale, the last registered wizard in England, tied up in the hunt for the rogue magician known as “the Faceless Man,” it’s up to Peter to plumb the haunted depths of the oldest, largest, and—as of now—deadliest subway system in the world. At least he won’t be alone. No, the FBI has sent over a crack agent to help. She’s young, ambitious, beautiful . . . and a born-again Christian apt to view any magic as the work of the devil. Oh yeah—that’s going to go well.

Based on his own extraordinary life, Gregory David Roberts’ Shantaram is a mesmerizing novel about a man on the run who becomes entangled within the underworld of contemporary Bombay—the basis for the Apple + TV series starring Charlie Hunnam. “It took me a long time and most of the world to learn what I know about love and fate and the choices we make, but the heart of it came to me in an instant, while I was chained to a wall and being tortured.” An escaped convict with a false passport, Lin flees maximum security prison in Australia for the teeming streets of Bombay, where he can disappear. Accompanied by his guide and faithful friend, Prabaker, the two enter the city’s hidden society of beggars and gangsters, prostitutes and holy men, soldiers and actors, and Indians and exiles from other countries, who seek in this remarkable place what they cannot find elsewhere. As a hunted man without a home, family, or identity, Lin searches for love and meaning while running a clinic in one of the city’s poorest slums, and serving his apprenticeship in the dark arts of the Bombay mafia. The search leads him to war, prison torture, murder, and a series of enigmatic and bloody betrayals. The keys to unlock the mysteries and intrigues that bind Lin are held by two people. The first is Khader Khan: mafia godfather, criminal-philosopher-saint, and mentor to Lin in the underworld of the Golden City. The second is Karla: elusive, dangerous, and beautiful, whose passions are driven by secrets that torment her and yet give her a terrible power. Burning slums and five-star hotels, romantic love and prison agonies, criminal wars and Bollywood films, spiritual gurus and mujaheddin guerrillas—this huge novel has the world of human experience in its reach, and a passionate love for India at its heart.

Shanghai in the 1920s and 1930s—"the Paris of the Orient"—was both a glittering metropolis and a shadowy world of crime and social injustice. It was also home to Huo Sang and Bao Lang, fictional Chinese counterparts to Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. The duo lived in a spacious apartment on Aiwen Road, where Huo Sang played the violin (badly) and smoked Golden Dragon cigarettes as he mulled over his cases. Cheng Xiaoqing (1893–1976), "The Grand Master" of twentieth-century Chinese detective fiction, had first encountered Conan Doyle’s highly popular stories as an adolescent. In the ensuing years he played a major role in rendering them first into classical and later into vernacular Chinese. In the late 1910s, Cheng began writing detective fiction very much in Conan Doyle’s style, with Bao as the Watson-like-I narrator—a still rare instance of so direct an appropriation from foreign fiction. Cheng Xiaoqing wrote detective stories to introduce the advantages of critical thinking to his readers, to encourage them to be skeptical and think deeply, because truth often lies beneath surface appearances. His attraction to the detective fiction genre can be traced to its reconciliation of the traditional and the modern. In "The Shoe," Huo Sang solves the case with careful reasoning, while "The Other Photograph" and "On the Huangpu" blend this reasoning with a sensationalism reminiscent of traditional Chinese fiction. "The Odd Tenant" and "The Examination Paper" also demonstrate the folly of first impressions. "At the Ball" and "Cat’s-Eye" feature the South-China Swallow, a master thief who, like other outlaws in traditional tales, steals only from the rich and powerful. "One Summer Night" clearly shows Cheng’s strategy of captivating his Chinese readers with recognizably native elements even as he espouses more globalized views of truth and justice.

Lymstock was a town with more that its share of shameful secrets – a town where even a sudden outbreak of anonymous hate-mail caused only a minor stir. But all of that changed when one of the recipients, Mrs Symmington, committed suicide. Her final note said 'I can't go on'. Only Miss Marple questioned the coroner's verdict of suicide. Was this the work of a poison-pen? Or of a poisoner? Agatha Christie was born in Torquay in 1890 and became, quite simply, the best-selling novelist in history. She wrote 79 crime mysteries and collections, and saw her work translated into more languages than Shakespeare. Her enduring success, enhanced by many film and TV adaptations, is a tribute to the timeless appeal of her characters and the unequalled ingenuity of her plots. "Beyond all doubt the puzzle in 'The Moving Finger' is fit for experts."THE TIMES

A Companion to Crime Fiction presents the definitive guide to this popular genre from its origins in the eighteenth century to the present day A collection of forty-seven newly commissioned essays from a team of leading scholars across the globe make this Companion the definitive guide to crime fiction Follows the development of the genre from its origins in the eighteenth century through to its phenomenal present day popularity Features full-length critical essays on the most significant authors and film-makers, from Arthur Conan Doyle and Dashiell Hammett to Alfred Hitchcock and Martin Scorsese exploring the ways in which they have shaped and influenced the field Includes extensive references to the most up-to-date scholarship, and a comprehensive bibliography

An extraordinary modern novel in the Victorian tradition, Charles Palliser has created something extraordinary—a plot within a plot within a plot of family secrets, mysterious clues, low-born birth, high-reaching immorality, and, always, always the fog-enshrouded, enigmatic character of 19th century—London itself. “So compulsively absorbing that reality disappears . . . One is swept along by those enduring emotions that defy modern art and a random universe: hunger for revenge, longing for justice and the fantasy secretly entertained by most people that the bad will be punished and the good rewarded.”—The New York Times “A virtuoso achievement . . . It is an epic, a tour de force, a staggeringly complex and tantalizingly layered tale that will keep readers engrossed in days. . . . The Quincunx will not disappoint you. It is, quite simply, superb.”—Chicago Sun-Times “A bold and vivid tale that invites the reader to get lost in the intoxicating rhythms of another world. And the invitation is irresistible.”—San Francisco Chronicle “A remarkable book . . . In mood, color, atmosphere and characters, this is Charles Dickens reincarnated . . . It is an immersing experience.”—Los Angeles Times Book Review “To read the first pages is to be trapped for seven-hundred odd more: you cannot stop turning them.”—The New Yorker “Few books, at most a dozen or two in a lifetime, affect us this way. . . . For sheer intricacy and ingenuity, for skill and clarity of storytelling, it is the kind of book readers wait for, a book to get lost in.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer