Historical Mystery Humor

The collected short stories of the great Victor Canning, originally written and published in the 1950s and 1960s—full of humor, charm, and in true fashion of classic crime writing. Canning’s heartwarming vignettes and clever mysteries take us from a Welsh valley to a far-off island and across the French countryside—introducing unforgettable characters and stories along the way.

The story picks up from the end of Blue at the Mizzen when Jack Aubrey receives the news, in Chile, of his elevation to flag rank: Rear Admiral of the Blue Squadron, with orders to sail to the South Africa station. This new novel, unfinished and untitled at the time of O’Brian’s death, would have been a chronicle of that mission, and much else besides. As the novel opens, we are able to visit these friends we have followed so very far in a rare state of almost perfect felicity.

Beatrice Hyde-Clare est unique : sous la Régence anglaise, les jeunes filles de son âge sont rares à être encore célibataires... Et encore moins nombreuses à enquêter sur des meurtres. Beatrice a désespérément besoin de détourner ses pensées du séduisant mais inaccessible duc de Kesgrave. Miracle : monsieur Skeffington surgit du passé avec une demande peu orthodoxe. Il voudrait que ce soit Bea qui enquête sur la mort suspecte de l'amant de sa future belle-mère, plutôt que de faire appel aux autorités.

Sherlock Holmes is an unparalleled genius. Warlock Holmes is an idiot. A font of arcane power, certainly. But he's brilliantly dim. Frankly, he couldn't deduce his way out of a paper bag. The only thing he has really got going for him are the might of a thousand demons and his stalwart companion. Thankfully, Dr. Watson is always there to aid him through the treacherous shoals of Victorian propriety and save him from a gruesome death every now and again.

As inventive as Agatha Christie, as hilarious as P. G. Wodehouse - discover the delightful detective stories of Edmund Crispin. Crime fiction at its quirkiest and best. Holy Disorders takes Oxford don and part-time detective Gervase Fen to the town of Tolnbridge, where he is happily bounding around with a butterfly net until the cathedral organist is murdered, giving Fen the chance to play sleuth.

Gretel, yes, that Gretel, is now all grown up and working as a private investigator in 18th century Bavaria. Her professional interest is piqued when she begins to hear whispers of mysterious goings-on off the coast of Schleswig-Holstein: sailors are disappearing, and there are rumours of mermaids and sea creatures and all manner of slippery, sea-based happenings.

Mark Franklin came from the American West to Edwardian England with two long-barrelled .44s in his baggage and a fortune in silver in the bank. Where he had got it and what he was looking for no one could guess, although they wondered - at Scotland Yard, in city offices, in the glittering theatreland of the West End, in the highest circles of society (even King Edward was puzzled), and in the humble pub at Castle Lancing.

The New Truth is out there... Jack is just an ordinary college student. How has he got involved with shadowy criminals, a deep cover spy, a dodgy businessman, a mysterious internet avatar, a 14th century nun...and a squirrel? And what, exactly, is the New Truth Movement? A genre-bending tale that mixes dry humour, magical realism and new weird elements into a fantastic thriller.

Penniless, homeless, and virtually lifeless, the vagrant “Doughface” Jack is about to discover that where medical marvels meet the mysteries of the human mind, amazing things happen. The Tramp acquires a capability beyond his imagination and without equal on Earth. Riding the rails, Jack runs afoul of a local sheriff and ends up with a crushed skull. He’s as good as dead until a savvy country doctor performs a bit of medical magic.

When the theft of the Regent's Michelangelo has the potential to set off on international incident, he believes his best chance of recovering it before the donor's Christmas Eve visit is to bring in his favorite investigators: Captain Dryden and his wife Lady Daphne. * * * With her usual deft touch, Bolen mixes real historical figures with her own memorable cast of characters. Mix a locked room puzzle, a tour of Regency London, a murder, and a sweet romance between two friends thrown together by Daphne and Jack's investigation, and you have another charming Regent Mystery for the holiday ...

In 1977, Ickey Jerusalem, San Francisco’s golden-boy poet laureate (based on Blake), is found dead in a locked, first-class toilet on an arriving red-eye flight. Ded Smith, a desperately unhappy, intelligent philistine with a highly developed philosophy to match, is called in to investigate the poet’s death. Thus begins a series of hilarious encounters with the members of Jerusalem’s coterie (updated amalgams of characters from Blake’s work).

Sembrerebbe impossibile, perché la posizione è invidiabile, ma anche al caffè dell'imbarcadero di Bellano capita che per una giornata intera entri solo qualche sparuto cliente. Come martedì 5 marzo 1935. Per tirare sera l'oste Gnazio Termoli deve inventarsele tutte, fino a lavare e rilavare bicchieri già puliti. E poi sbadigliare all'ingresso del bar deserto. Eppure questa è una data che non potrà dimenticare, né lui né l'intero paese.

Lady Nicole Daughtry has vowed never to be vulnerable to any man. Despite the many suitors vying for the dazzling beauty's hand, she has seen the damage love can inflict and wants no part of it. Until she meets Lucas Paine, Marquess of Basingstoke, whose aura of danger and mystery draws her like no other…. Lucas is a man with a mission—and a powerful thirst for revenge. The last thing he can afford is the distraction of a pretty face. But a scandalous affair with Nicole could be just the cover he needs to outwit his enemies. With treachery everywhere, and Nicole's very life in his hands...

When her beloved dies in battle, Lady Lydia Daughtry assumes she'll never love again. Until a deliciously handsome duke awakens a part of her she never knew existed. But how can she have such feelings for Tanner Blake, who is a constant reminder of all she has lost? Tanner Blake, duke of Malvern, promised his dying friend he'd take care of his "dearest Lyddie." So how dare he covet the lush, lovely young woman for himself—especially since he is all but betrothed to another? His solution: find Lydia a suitable husband immediately. But when both their lives become fraught with mystery and ...

The man couldn't help himself. His captor was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her powerful eyes held his attention and made him forget that she had him confined in a basement, his hands and feet bound with duct tape. She fed him when he was hungry and kept him alive for the telling of her horrific tale. After getting past the terror and discomfort, he reasoned that there was nothing to worry about for the moment.

When Bea Hanlon follows her preacher husband, Max, to a remote island in the Pacific, she soon sees that their mission will bring anything but salvation.... Advent Island is a place beyond the reaches of Bea's most fitful imaginings. It's not just the rats and the hordes of mosquitoes and the weevils in the powdered milk. Past the confines of their stuffy little house, amidst the damp and the dust and the sweltering heat, rumours are spreading of devil chasers who roam the island on the hunt for evil spirits. And then there are the noises from the church at night.

Courting Death finds Melanie Wilkerson (from Cotton, book two of the Clarkeston Chronicles) and Arthur Hughes working uncomfortably together in the chambers of a famous federal judge. While Melanie neglects her duties as a law clerk to investigate the mysterious death of a young woman in the courthouse five years earlier, Arthur wades through the horrific habeas corpus appeals of two prisoners: an infamous serial killer and a pathetic child murderer.

NEW FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE WIZARD'S APPRENTICE Sergeant Steve Ballard never thought... ...he'd be the proud owner of a spunky Jinn! With years of extensive specialty military training, Steve's biggest use to his unit was his experience as a plumber before he enlisted. Now, fresh off a magically-induced discharge, Steve's ready to take a break from his new college life to visit the Comic Book Convention. Gorgeous, uninhibited cosplay girls aren't exactly the first item on his agenda, but Firefly may have other ideas! What is magic anyway, and how far does its influence stretch? ...

The unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Jonathan Coe's brilliant new comic novel Expo 58, read by the actor Julian Rhind-Tutt. Expo 58 - Good-looking girls and sinister spies: a naive Englishman at loose in Europe in Jonathan Coe's brilliant comic novelLondon, 1958: unassuming civil servant Thomas Foley is plucked from his desk at the Central Office of Information and sent on a six-month trip to Brussels.

Do you enjoy Monty Python, PG Wodehouse, and Rowan Atkinson's Blackadder? If so, then you might just enjoy Context Clues, an irreverent new novel from James C. Ferguson that combines both humor and history as it chronicles the fictional exploits of history's worst spy. Set during Sir Francis Walsingham's reign as chief secretary to Queen Elizabeth I, Context Clues follows the adventures of Basil Coventry, an "information gatherer" employed by the Crown.