A beautiful heiress has been found dead on a train. A playboy has been stabbed through the heart during a costume ball. An elderly woman suspects that she is being slowly poisoned to death. A prince fears for his reputation when his fiancÉe is embroiled in another man's murder. A forgotten recluse makes headlines after he is shot in the head. Who but Agatha Christie could concoct such canny crimes? Who but Belgian detective Hercule Poirot could possibly solve them? It's a challenge to be met—in a triumph of detection.

Best known as the original screenwriter of Blade Runner, author Hampton Fancher makes his debut with this extraordinary collection that bears all of the hallmarks that have made him beloved to film fans. These are stories about people and places that exist just outside our perceptions of space and time: in “Narrowing the Divide,” an escaped lab rat winds up in a philosophical conversation with a man whose wife sleeps in the next room; in “Cargot,” a failed actor is reincarnated as a garden snail and avenges himself with a Hollywood producer’s wife; and in “The Black Weasel,” a washed-up bartender finds an unlikely traveling partner in a slow-witted drifter with a suspicious bankroll. These are also stories about survival and instinct, with elements of the absurd and the sublime. The Shape of the Final Dog is a rare literary work that is mordantly funny, deftly written, and bound to delight and entertain.

Many are drawn to cheer for the underdog in an event because they want to see the underdog beat the odds. Everyone in life has been told by a doubter that a goal they have in life would be unattainable. Most people know the joyful fulfillment of proving the doubter wrong after they have accomplished the goal. The majority are drawn to the underdog stories in society, careers, sports, and relationships, because, in them, they see a reflection of the belief in their own self. People cherish the underdog who comes out on top. The underdog's tenacious characteristics are what others strive to obtain. The model of the underdog will to never give up in the fight against calamity is captured in ten separate stories. Amputees, athletes, former drug addicts, entrepreneurs, burn victims, veterans, former felons who were wrongly convicted of a crime, victims of racial and sexual abuse, and people who are battling cancer are some of the many people who have pushed back against hardship. The journeys of ten remarkable individuals are shared in this book. Everyone faces unexpected adversity in different moments throughout life. These ten underdogs will provide the hope and inspiration to get you through any situation. It is your time to unleash the underdog spirit within you and find the will to never give up.

1912. Illustrated. Smith had several careers: engineer, artist, illustrator and short story writer. His success in engineering included planning the foundations for the Statue of Liberty. He traveled frequently to Europe and became known for his portraits and illustration. Smith was an entertaining after-dinner storyteller and in his fifties he decided to commit his stories to paper and is remembered for his Colonel Carter novels. In the volume of stories, Smith explains to the readers that: In the strife of life some men lose place through physical weakness or lost opportunities or impaired abilities; struggle on as they may, they must always be the Under Dog in the fight...These Under Dogs-grave and gay-have always appealed to me. Their stories are printed here in the hope that they may also appeal to you. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.

The Crime of the Wandering Dog and Other Stories is a collection of illustrated poems by the Brothers Grim and Grimy, the nom the plume of the Irish artist and writer Declan Moran. Tales that stretch from the start to the end of time, and from the top to the very bottom, and from the bottom to the very top again.

Monsieur Renauld dies on a golf course just days after sending a plea for help to detective Poirot. Since Renauld possessed a plundered fortune, a scorned wife, a mistress, and an estranged son, there is no lack of suspects. It's up to Poirot to put the police onto the culprit before more murders occur.

Reproduction of the original: The Lady with the Dog and Other Stories by Anton Chekhov