Classic Fiction Mysteries

An impossible grand theft in a posh Brighton hotel. The locked-room murder of an Italian nobleman. The suspicious suicide of a man worth more dead than alive. What are the motives behind these puzzling crimes? In Agatha Christie’s first collection of short stories, eleven mysteries in all, detective Hercule Poirot makes his investigations. Leave it to the unflappable Belgian sleuth and his partner, Captain Arthur Hastings, to put the pieces together.

Gerald Wade is among the many invited to the Chimneys estate for a party. Rented by Sir Oswald and Lady Coote for the season, it is rather the place to be. Unfortunately, during his stay there Gerry has garnered the teasing of his friends for a particular talent of his: to oversleep. One day the set decides to “fix” the matter with a little joke. The plan is to set out eight alarm clocks in Gerry’s room, all set to different times … as early as 6:30 a.m.! When they go to check on him, his friends discover that Gerry hasn’t overslept this time. In fact, he has been murdered.

When Harold Merefield returned home in the early hours of a winter morning from a festive little party at that popular nightclub, the Naxos, he was startled by a gruesome discovery. On his bed was a corpse. There was nothing to show the identity of the dead man or the cause of his death. At the inquest, the jury found a verdict of ‘death from natural causes’ - perhaps they were right, but yet?

'You see, I mainly work at night. I've ended up getting to know everybody. They're used to me in Pigalle, I exchange a few words with this person or that person. I go into the bars and cabarets where they give me a quarter bottle of Vichy without waiting for me to order anything.' An anonymous tip-off regarding the death of a restaurant owner sends Maigret into the world of Parisian nightlife, a notorious criminal gang and a man known as 'the Flea'. This novel has been pubished in a previous translation as Maigret and the Flea.

It may not be front page news, but Island Times food and cocktails columnist Hayley Powell is now happily married. Before she can set sail on her honeymoon cruise, however, Hayley's mom, Sheila, pays an impromptu visit - and promptly becomes the prime suspect in a murder. The victim is Sheila's old high school rival, Caskie Lemon-Hogg, known for her homemade blueberry pies and her home-wrecking flirtations. As Hayley teams up with her BFFs Liddy and Mona to clear her mother's name, Sheila reunites with Liddy's mom Celeste and Mona's mom Jane for their own amateur sleuthing.

En Inglaterra, a fines del siglo XIX, Tras la misteriosa desaparición de su padre, Mary empieza a recibir valiosas perlas de un remitente desconocido. Después de un prolongado silencio, el generoso personaje da señales de vida y quiere que Mary se reúna con él. La joven pide ayuda a Sherlock Holmes para que la acompañe. El desconocido resulta ser Thaddeus Sholto, hijo de un buen amigo del padre de Mary. Thaddeus y su hermano han estado buscando, durante seis años, un gran tesoro que su padre escondió antes de morir.

Having finished transforming Windy Corner, the grand Victorian mansion she inherited from her great aunt, into a writers’ retreat, widowed literature professor Emily Cavanaugh is ready to receive her first set of guests. But her careful planning is thrown into disarray by the unexpected arrival of outrageous true-crime writer whose unpardonably rude behavior is causing great offence. As a ferocious ice storm rages outside, the guests entertain one another with a game of charades. But their revelries are brought to a sudden halt by the discovery of a body in one of the guest bedrooms.

In this new translation of Simenon's twisted tale, a forgotten crime comes to light in the Parisian summer. The sunshine almost as thick as syrup in the quiet streets of the Left Bank...there are days like this, when ordinary life seems heightened, when the people walking down the street, the trams and cars all seem to exist in a fairy tale. A story told by a condemned man leads Maigret to a bar by the Seine.

While on routine patrol in the tinder-dry Topanga Canyon, environmental scientist Rafael Salazar expects to find animal poachers, not a dilapidated antique steamer trunk. Inside the peculiar case, he discovers a journal, written by the renowned Robert Louis Stevenson, which divulges ominous particulars about his creation of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It also promises to reveal a terrible secret - the identity of Jack the Ripper.

Victoria stood on the ledge known as Suicide Cliffs and stared down at the raging surf and jagged rocks below. Next to her stood Professor Mark Veno, a mysterious visitor to Collinwood. He spoke to her in a low, sinister voice. “Think of all those who threw themselves from these very rocks.”His eyes seemed to burn into hers.

The Valens Legacy: Publisher's Pack 5 contains audiobooks nine and 10 in the series: Secret Treaties and It Ain't Easy....

Sound interesting? The author thinks so too! Listen to The Mysterious Affair at Styles and experience the compelling world of classic detective fiction, starring Belgian Hercule Poirot, private detective extraordinaire.

Buster has sniffed out a new case for the Find-Outers! The Lorenzos of Tally-Ho cottage have disappeared along with a priceless painting, but they've left behind their treasured poodle. It's up to Fatty, Larry, Daisy, Pip and Bets to track down the Lorenzos and the missing painting....

Late one night, a drawing teacher meets a mysterious woman dressed in white. Who is she, and what is her connection to the teacher's new pupil, a beautiful heiress? Serialized in 1859 - 1860, and first published in book form in 1860 it is still regarded still as one of the best plots in English literature. Told from multiple perspectives, the story is brought to life by its marvellous villains and complex, spirited and believable female characters.

With the Reign of Terror at its peak, and the death toll mounting, France's violent revolutionists suddenly find themselves frustrated by a mysterious vigilante. Known as the Scarlet Pimpernel, the enigmatic hero rescues the country's ill-fated aristocrats from the doom of the guillotine and whisks them away to safety, with a band of gallant cohorts at his aid.

First conceived during a rainy summer holiday in the Highlands of Scotland in an attempt to amuse his stepson, Treasure Island began with the map. Young Lloyd Osbourne had drawn a crude version of an island, and Stevenson, looking over the boy's shoulder, began to elaborate, christening various curves and smudges the famed names of Skeleton Island and Spyglass Hill and finally adding the three red crosses marking the buried treasure.

Horace Manning, scientist, recluse and 'closed book' even to his friends, is found dead in his study at 4a.m., following a dinner in honour of his daughter's engagement. An ivory-handled carving knife rests between his shoulder blades as the houseguests gather round to witness the awful crime. The telephone line has been sabotaged - a calculated murder has been committed. Rewinding twelve hours, the events of the afternoon and evening unfold, revealing a multitude of clues and motives from a closed cast of suspects.

Sir Charles Baskerville is dead. His body was discovered on the grounds of his Devonshire estate, face frozen in fright, not far from the footprints of a large beast. The cause of death has been determined to be a heart attack, but family legend tells another tale, and Detective Sherlock Holmes is determined to uncover the truth.

Show me an amateur conjurer, and I'll stop him before he gets himself killed. That's the idea, anyway. But New York City isn't what it used to be, and I don't mean the recent crash. Amateur casters are calling up creatures they shouldn't be able to. And there's been a murder at the city's most hallowed cathedral, a message in blood on the victim's back the NYPD wants me to interpret, like yesterday.

In The Affair at the Bungalow, the world of stage and screen collides with a mystery too outrageous to be fiction. When a glamorous actress, Miss Jane Helier, becomes tangled in a crime that unfolds in her very own bungalow, the line between her role and reality blurs. Is it a simple case of stolen jewels, or is there something far more devious at play? As Miss Helier recounts her side of the story, each detail adds to a puzzle that only the sharpest minds can decipher. Who is hiding behind the curtain, and what motive drives them?