The Mystery of Sasassa Valley By Arthur Conan Doyle The Mystery of Sasassa Valley (subtitled A South African Story) is a short story written by Arthur Conan Doyle first published in the Chambers's Journal, 6 september 1879. This is Conan Doyle's first published short story, when he was 20. The story was first published anonymously. His name only appeared in the 1893 US and continental editions. We are delighted to publish this classic book as part of our extensive Classic Library collection. Many of the books in our collection have been out of print for decades, and therefore have not been accessible to the general public. The aim of our publishing program is to facilitate rapid access to this vast reservoir of literature, and our view is that this is a significant literary work, which deserves to be brought back into print after many decades. The contents of the vast majority of titles in the Classic Library have been scanned from the original works. To ensure a high quality product, each title has been meticulously hand curated by our staff. Our philosophy has been guided by a desire to provide the reader with a book that is as close as possible to ownership of the original work. We hope that you will enjoy this wonderful classic work, and that for you it becomes an enriching experience.

Do I know why Tom Donahue is called “Lucky Tom”? Yes, I do; and that is more than one in ten of those who call him so can say. I have knocked about a deal in my time, and seen some strange sights, but none stranger than the way in which Tom gained that sobriquet, and his fortune with it. For I was with him at the time. Tell it? Oh, certainly; but it is a longish story and a very strange one; so fill up your glass again, and light another cigar, while I try to reel it off. Yes, a very strange one; beats some fairy stories I have heard; but it’s true, sir, every word of it. There are men alive at Cape Colony now who’ll remember it and confirm what I say. Many a time has the tale been told round the fire in Boers’ cabins from Orange state to Griqualand; yes, and out in the bush and at the diamond-fields too. I’m roughish now, sir; but I was entered at the Middle Temple once, and studied for the bar. Tom-worse luck!-was one of my fellow- students; and a wildish time we had of it, until at last our finances ran short, and we were compelled to give up our so-called studies, and look about for some part of the world where two young fellows with strong arms and sound constitutions might make their mark. In those days the tide of emigration had scarcely begun to set in toward Africa, and so we thought our best chance would be down at Cape Colony. Well,-to make a long story short,-we set sail, and were deposited in Cape Town with less than five pounds in our pockets; and there we parted. We each tried our hands at many things, and had ups and downs; but when, at the end of three years, chance led each of us up-country and we met again, we were, I regret to say, in almost as bad a plight as when we started. Well, this was not much of a commencement; and very disheartened we were, so disheartened that Tom spoke of going back to England and getting a clerkship. For you see we didn’t know that we had played out all our small cards, and that the trumps were going to turn up. No; we thought our “hands” were bad all through. It was a very lonely part of the country that we were in, inhabited by a few scattered farms, whose houses were stockaded and fenced in to defend them against the Kaffirs. Tom Donahue and I had a little hut right out in the bush; but we were known to possess nothing, and to be handy with our revolvers, so we had little to fear. There we waited, doing odd jobs, and hoping that something would turn up. Well, after we had been there about a month something did turn up upon a certain night, something which was the making of both of us; and it’s about that night, sir, that I’m going to tell you. I remember it well. The wind was howling past our cabin, and the rain threatened to burst in our rude window. We had a great wood fire crackling and sputtering on the hearth, by which I was sitting mending a whip, while Tom was lying in his bunk groaning disconsolately at the chance which had led him to such a place.

The canon of Sherlock Holmes adventures by Arthur Conan Doyle contains fifty-six stories and four novels. But there were yet other adventures and artifacts pertaining to Mr. Holmes not listen in the canon. Peter Haining has collected them here, complete with informative and entertaining introductions. This special, revised collector's edition is profusely illustrated. A must for any Sherlock enthusiast.

This early work by Arthur Conan Doyle was originally published in 1898 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introductory biography as part of our Cryptofiction Classics series. 'The Brazilian Cat' is a short story about an enormous and captivating black cat. Arthur Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1859. It was between 1876 and 1881, while studying medicine at the University of Edinburgh, that he began writing short stories, and his first piece was published in 'Chambers's Edinburgh Journal' before he was 20. In 1887, Conan Doyle's first significant work, iA Study in Scarlet', appeared in 'Beeton's Christmas Annual'. It featured the first appearance of detective Sherlock Holmes, the protagonist who was to eventually make Conan Doyle's reputation. The Cryptofiction Classics series contains a collection of wonderful stories from some of the greatest authors in the genre, including Ambrose Bierce, Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Jack London. From its roots in cryptozoology, this genre features bizarre, fantastical, and often terrifying tales of mythical and legendary creatures. Whether it be giant spiders, werewolves, lake monsters, or dinosaurs, the Cryptofiction Classics series offers a fantastic introduction to the world of weird creatures in fiction.

Mr. Hammond is on his way to America when he hears two passengers discussing a suspicious plan that was going to be executed at 10 o'clock in the evening. The two unknown passengers got aboard in the very last minute. Their baggage was not searched. And their plan consisted of some mysterious box. What do you think happened in the evening? Did Mr. Hammond try to warn the rest of the crew or he escaped with a life boat? Can all be a big misunderstanding or the American steamer will be blown up? Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) was born in Scotland and studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh. After his studies, he worked as a ship’s surgeon on various boats. During the Second Boer War, he was an army doctor in South Africa. When he came back to the United Kingdom, he opened his own practice and started writing crime books. He is best known for his thrilling stories about the adventures of Sherlock Holmes. He published four novels and more than 50 short-stories starring the detective and Dr Watson, and they play an important role in the history of crime fiction. Other than the Sherlock Holmes series, Doyle wrote around thirty more books, in genres such as science-fiction, fantasy, historical novels, but also poetry, plays, and non-fiction.

An engaging classroom playscript. John Douglas is a man with a past. Sherlock Holmes is the famous detective who finds puzzle-solving elementary. When Holmes and his faithful friend Watson are summoned to the country to investigate Douglas's murder, it begins to look as though the past might finally have caught up with him New, innovative activities specifically tailored to support the KS3 Framework for Teaching English and help students to fulfil the Framework objectives. Activities include work on Speaking and Listening, close text analysis, and the structure of playscripts, and act as a springboard for personal writing.

From the creator of Sherlock Holmes This is the story of prisoner B 24, a petty burglar who claims he's falsely accused of the murder of Lord Manning. But can his desperate account convince the authorities of his innocence and reveal the identity of the true culprit..? A gripping tale from the master storyteller Sir Arthur Conan Doyle