Classic crime and mystery fiction

Book SynopsisI am so excited for you to be at the very beginning of this trend-setting, beautifully written, vivid series.—from the introduction by LOUISE PENNYThe first installment in one of crime fiction’s most enjoyable, iconic series—now featuring a rare peek into Diamond’s origins and the author’s process in bringing him to life.A woman’s body has been found floating in the weeds in a lake near Bath. There are no marks on her and no murder weapon. No one will identify her. It looks like Detective Superintendent Peter Diamond has his work cut out for him. Diamond is one of the last detectives of his kind, a gumshoe whose heroes solved crimes by question and answer, door stepping and deduction. To unravel this one, Diamond must locate two missing letters attributed to Jane Austen and defy his superiors in order to save a woman unjustly accused of murder.Over thirty years and twenty-one subsequent novels, Peter Lovesey has bewitched his enormous fandom with the wry, stubborn, and fiendishly clever Peter Diamond. The Last Detective started it all, and it is now reissued in a gorgeous deluxe edition featuring an introduction by Louise Penny, an afterword by the author, and fascinating true-crime context describing how this book came to be.

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Book SynopsisINTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the bestselling author of Station Eleven and Sea of Tranquility, an exhilarating novel set at the glittering intersection of two seemingly disparate events—the exposure of a massive criminal enterprise and the mysterious disappearance of a woman from a ship at sea.“The perfect novel ... Freshly mysterious.” —The Washington PostVincent is a bartender at the Hotel Caiette, a five-star lodging on the northernmost tip of Vancouver Island. On the night she meets Jonathan Alkaitis, a hooded figure scrawls a message on the lobby's glass wall: Why don’t you swallow broken glass. High above Manhattan, a greater crime is committed: Alkaitis's billion-dollar business is really nothing more than a game of smoke and mirrors. When his scheme collapses, it obliterates countless fortunes and devastates lives. Vincent, who had been posing

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Book SynopsisA mysterious stranger appears at a New Year’s Eve party, becoming the enigmatic sleuthing sidekick to the snobbish Mr Satterthwaite…Trade Review“The book offers a rare treat for discriminating readers.”New York Times

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Book SynopsisA body in the back of a taxi begins an elegantly constructed mystery, perhaps the finest of Marsh’s 1930s novels.Trade Review‘The brilliant Ngaio Marsh ranks with Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers’Times Literary Supplement ‘Ngaio Marsh’s Death in a White Tie is the best detective story I have ever read…’Dashiell Hammett ‘[This book has] a distinction that puts the author in the front rank of crime story writers’Times Literary Supplement ‘A brilliant, vivacious teller of detective novels.’News Chronicle ‘The finest writer in the English language of the pure, classical puzzle whodunnit. Among the crime queens, Ngaio Marsh stands out as an Empress.’The Sun

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Book SynopsisA grand old London hotelA series of alarming coincidencesDanger lurking down every corridorImpeccable service. Luxurious rooms. Eccentric guests. There are worse places for Canon Pennyfather to find himself stranded than Bertram's Hotel.But when he gets his dates in a muddle and attempts to travel to Lucerne a day too late, he unwittingly sets off a violent chain of events.And Miss Marple is convinced there is more going on than meets the eye.Never underestimate Miss MarpleAgatha Christie inspired me, aged eleven, to write my own murder mystery set in a country village. I can't remember much of the plot (think the vicar did it) but Christie has been inspiring me ever since.'Elly GriffithsBrilliant.'GuardianTrade Review‘Without a doubt, the greatest mystery writer of all time’ – Ragnar Jonasson ‘A hundred years after her first novel, and we are all still standing in her shadow’ – Andrew Taylor ‘She gives us an insight into human nature that few, if any, have surpassed’ – Susan Lewis ‘Dame Agatha has sold more books than all besides Shakespeare and the Bible’ – David Baldacci ‘All crime fiction writers around the globe owe Agatha Christie a massive debt’ – Peter James ‘Reading a perfectly plotted Agatha Christie is like crunching into a perfect apple: that pure, crisp, absolute satisfaction.’ – Tana French

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Book Synopsis“The matchless French crime novelist” -- Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker“One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequaled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories.” —The GuardianA chilling Inspector Maigret mystery set on the Belgian border“She wasn't an ordinary supplicant. She didn't lower her eyes. There was nothing humble about her bearing. She spoke frankly, looking straight ahead, as if to claim what was rightfully hers. ‘If you don't agree to look at our case, my parents and I will be lost, and it will be the most hateful legal error...’”Maigret is asked to the windswept, rainy border town of Givet by a young woman desperate to clear her family of murder. But their well-kept shop, the sleepy community and its raging river all hide their own mysteTrade ReviewPraise for Georges Simenon:“One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequaled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories.” —The Guardian “These Maigret books are as timeless as Paris itself.” —The Washington Post “Maigret ranks with Holmes and Poirot in the pantheon of fictional detective immortals.” —People “I love reading Simenon. He makes me think of Chekhov.” —William Faulkner “The greatest of all, the most genuine novelist we have had in literature.” —André Gide “A supreme writer . . . Unforgettable vividness.” —The Independent (London) “Superb . . . The most addictive of writers . . . A unique teller of tales.” —The Observer (London) “Compelling, remorseless, brilliant.” —John Gray “A truly wonderful writer . . . Marvelously readable—lucid, simple, absolutely in tune with the world he creates.” —Muriel Spark “A novelist who entered his fictional world as if he were a part of it.”lle —Peter Ackroyd “Extraordinary masterpieces of the twentieth century.” —John Banville"Gem-hard soul-probes . . . not just the world's bestselling detective series, but an imperishable literary legend . . . he exposes secrets and crimes not by forensic wizardry, but by the melded powers of therapist, philosopher and confessor" ― Times (London)"Strangely comforting . . . so many lovely bistros from the Paris of mid-20th C. The corpses are incidental, it's the food that counts." ― Margaret Atwood"One of the greatest writers of the 20th century . . . no other writer can set up a scene as sharply and with such economy as Simenon does . . . the conjuring of a world, a place, a time, a set of characters - above all, an atmosphere." ― Financial Times"Gripping . . . richly rewarding . . . You'll quickly find yourself obsessing about his life as you tackle each mystery in turn."-- Stig Abell ― The Sunday Times (London)

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Book SynopsisSummer, 1936. The writer, Josephine Tey, joins her friends in the holiday village of Portmeirion to celebrate her fortieth birthday. Alfred Hitchcock and his wife, Alma Reville, are there to sign a deal to film Josephine''s novel, A Shilling for Candles, and Hitchcock has one or two tricks up his sleeve to keep the holiday party entertained - and expose their deepest fears.But things get out of hand when one of Hollywood''s leading actresses is brutally slashed to death in a cemetery near the village. The following day, as fear and suspicion take over in a setting where nothing - and no one - is quite what it seems, Chief Inspector Archie Penrose becomes increasingly unsatisfied with the way the investigation is ultimately resolved. Several years later, another horrific murder, again linked to a Hitchcock movie, drives Penrose back to the scene of the original crime to uncover the shocking truth.Trade Review'Any crime aficionado whose beach reading usually consists of a bagful of crinkly old paperbacks should make room for Nicola Upson's novels' - Daily Telegraph

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Book SynopsisSince its first publication in 1940, Verdict of Twelve has been widely hailed as a classic of British crime writing. This edition offers a new generation of readers the chance to find out why so many leading commentators have admired the novel for so long.

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Book SynopsisSir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) was a writer and physician. Born in Edinburgh in Scotland, he began writing short stories while studying medicine. His first work featuring Sherlock Holmes, A Study in Scarlet, was published in 1886. Relentlessly curious about a vast range of subjects, his interests were reflected in the vast array of knowledge that Sherlock Holmes exhibited in his stories. Conan Doyle died at the age of 71 and is buried in Hampshire.

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Book Synopsis'One of the great masterpieces of Japanese crime fiction' David Peace, author of Tokyo Year ZeroOne of Japan's great modern writers, this second half of Lady Joker brings Kaoru Takamura's breathtaking masterpiece to a gripping conclusion.Five men who meet at a Tokyo racetrack every week carry out a heist. They have kidnapped the CEO of Japan's largest beer company to extract blood money from the company's corrupt financiers.Known as Lady Joker, the men make their first attack on the beer company when their demands are not met. As the attacks escalate, the shady networks linking corporations to syndicates are exposed, the stakes rise, and bring into riveting focus the lives and motivations of the victims, the perpetrators, the heroes and the villains. Some will lose everything, even their lives.Inspired by the real-life Glico-Morinaga kidnapping, an unsolved case that terrorized Japan for two years, Lady Joker reimagines this watershed episode in modern Japanese history.'A novel that portrays with devastating immensity how those on the dark fringes of society can be consumed by the darkness of their own hearts' Yoko Ogawa, author of The Memory PoliceTrade ReviewHallelujah! Inspired by the real-life, still unsolved Glico-Morinaga kidnapping and extortion case which led to the nationwide hunt for "The Monster with Twenty-one Faces," Kaoru Takamura's Lady Joker is at last available in translation; epic in its scale and vision, yet gripping from first to last, this is one of the great masterpieces of Japanese crime fiction and one of the must-read books of this or any year -- David Peace, author of TOKYO YEAR ZEROA novel that portrays with devastating immensity how those on the dark fringes of society can be consumed by the darkness of their own hearts -- Yoko Ogawa, author of THE MEMORY POLICETakamura's prismatic heist novel offers a broad indictment of capitalist society * New York Times *Lady Joker is a work you get immersed in, like a sprawling 19th century novel or a TV series like The Wire . . . Lady Joker casts a page-turning spell * NPR *Like Ellroy's American Tabloid and Carr's The Alienist, the book uses crime as a prism to examine dynamic periods of social history . . . Takamura's blistering indictment of capitalism, corporate corruption and the alienation felt by characters on both sides of the law from institutions they once believed would protect them resonates surprisingly with American culture * Los Angeles Times *Excellent . . . Takamura shows why she's one of Japan's most prominent mystery novelists * Publishers Weekly *Takamura's challenging, genre-confounding epic offers a sweeping view of contemporary Japan in all its complexity * Kirkus Reviews *Sprawling, addictive, this X-Ray examination of a society where the have and the have nots (including the police) play a slow, inexorable dance towards catastrophe, turns into a fascinating piece of work and I look forward to its conclusion * Crime Time *A fascinating slow burn of a book, detailed, complex and immersive * Guardian *Meticulously plotted complexity * Times Literary Supplement *By its sheer breadth, humanity, and the range of characters who walk across its pages, Lady Joker is comparable to the great 19th-century novels. It is a tremendous accomplishment * Chicago Review of Books *Lady Joker is a towering achievement -- Paul Tremblay, author of THE CABIN AT THE END OF THE WORLDLike all literature, readers will take what they want from Takamura's critique of Japanese society, but at the heart of the epic novel is a gripping crime story where the actual crime itself is almost secondary to the psychological ripples it sends through the boardrooms, police stations, press offices and homes of anyone connected. This is much more of a whydunit than a whodunit - and one that was well worth the wait * The Japan Times *Takamura joins American writers James Ellroy, author of American Tabloid, and Don Winslow, author of several novels about the drug trade, to illuminate a society in which power and money matter far more than morality. All three write mysteries that also function as morality plays . . . Bravura * The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette *Brilliantly dark * Ms. Magazine *A complex work of stunning breadth and depth by a master of the genre * Kirkus Reviews *Admirers of intricate crime fiction, which both engages the intellect and offers insights into the hidden parts of a society, will hope for further translations of this gifted author's work * Publishers Weekly *

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Book SynopsisFeaturing Contributions by:Will Murray, Brenda Seabrooke, Arthur Hall, Steven Philip Jones, Dan Rowley and Don Baxter, David Marcum, Hugh Ashton, Sonya Kudei, Barry Clay, DJ Tyrer, Mark Wardecker, Paul Hiscock, Tom Turley, Brett Fawcett, Martin Daley, Bob Byrne, Tracy J. Revels, James Gelter, and Matthew White, with a poem by Kevin Patrick McCann, and forewords by Michael Sims, Roger Johnson, Emma West, Steve Emecz, and David Marcum.59 New Traditional Canonical Holmes Adventures Collected in Three Companion Volumes In 2015, the first three volumes of The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories arrived, containing over 60 stories in the true traditional Canonical manner, revisiting Holmes and Watson in those days where it is "always 1895" . . . or a few decades on either side of that. That was the largest collection of new Holmes stories ever assembled, and originally planned to be a one-time event. But readers wanted more, and the contributors had more stories from Watson''s Tin Dispatch Box, so the fun continued. Now, with the release of Parts XXXVII, XXXVIII, and XXXIX, the series has grown to over 800 new Holmes adventures by over 200 contributors from around with world. Since the beginning, all contributor royalties go to the Undershaw school for special needs children, located at one of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle''s former homes, and to date the project has raised over $110,000 for the school. This new collection of 59 adventures features Holmes and Watson carrying out their masterful investigations from the early days of their friendship in Baker Street to the post-War years during Holmes''s retirement. Along the way, Our Heroes are involved in dozens of fascinating mysteries - some relating Untold Cases, sequels to Canonical adventures, and a number or others that progress along completely unexpected lines. Join us as we return to Baker Street and discover more authentic adventures of Sherlock Holmes, described by the estimable Dr. Watson as "the best and wisest . . . whom I have ever known."

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Book SynopsisA dark Southern tale of desperate souls who've wound up on the road of poor choices, a messianic child with untold powers, and those out hunting her for their own reward, all drawn together by Michael Farris Smith's trademark mournful, spirit-gnawing prose.

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Book SynopsisA thrilling novel following DI Lily Bankhurst, a single parent with health problems and psychological scarring from a previous serial murder case, who is asked to investigate two brutal murders in Aberdeen.

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Book SynopsisRoger Riccard, has once again delved into his imagination to create short Christmastime stories for the famous detective, Sherlock Holmes and his faithful companion, Dr. John H. Watson. This volume contains another set of six, to continue the collection for the Twelve Days of Christmas.A Partridge in a Pearl Tree – A crown containing the famous Partridge Ruby of Burma goes missing before Christmas, and so does the nun who was wearing it.The Two Turtledoves – Will the famous photograph and its subjects have a negative effect on Holmes’s success as a detective?The Three French Henchmen – Watson works with Mycroft Holmes and his agents to foil Professor Moriarty’s gang, after Holmes’s ‘death’ at the Reichenbach Falls.The Four Calling Birds – An American Men’s Quartet, on a visit to London, seek the detective’s help to prove their innocence of a murder.The Five Gold Rings – Holmes and Watson seek the stolen gift of Olympic Rings from King Edward to the King of Belgium.The Six Geese at a Gander – Holmes must stop an assassination attempt at a Christmas Eve dinner where British nobility are the primary guests, but the target is unknown.The answers to these questions and more lie within. Sit back and enjoy this second volume of Sherlock Holmes: Further Adventures for the Twelve Days of Christmas. 

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Book SynopsisThe Baker Street Classics Sherlock Holmes collection is a retro-inspired full set of Conan Doyle’s wonderful tales of the inimitable “consulting detective” at work. Featuring original illustrations from editions of the 1920s, this collection will adorn any booklover’s shelf and transport the reader back in time to Holmes’s bustling Victorian London; the misty moors of Dartmoor; the dizzying heights of Reichenbach; and the cozy living room of 221b Baker Street.Trade ReviewThere are few characters from the Victorian era that can possibly have the same resonance today than a certain Sherlock Holmes who, along with his able assistant Dr Watson, and an assorted cast of inept policemen and nefarious villains still regularly seeps into modern life and parlance. The concept of any amateur detective these days being ‘Sherlockian’, the famous deerstalker, violin, pipe and casual drug use, and oft-misquoted lines and ‘catchphrases’ are among the many legacies that show how much Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s most famous creation will forever be ingrained in the psyche of the nation. And so it was with huge interest that I heard about a new collection of the complete works, released by Baker Street Press. No matter how many times I’ve read the canon, it still fascinates me to this day and demonstrates what a truly remarkable character Conan Doyle created, despite his somewhat hit and miss results outside of the Holmes stories. This collection of nine hardback books is just utterly beautiful to behold. There’s something special, perhaps even more so in this day and age, about holding a quality version of one of your favourite books and simply immersing yourself in it. And this new release delivers more than any that I’ve ever had my hands on. Each of the nine books features the original cover illustrations from the 1920s, which more than makes up for the fact that there are no illustrations inside. Each of the four standalone novels and five collections of short stories are here, acting as the perfect retro antidote to the most recent recreation of the stories, the really quite awful series starring Benedict Cumberbatch, for which I appreciate I’m in a large minority for taking a serious dislike to. The collection begins with A Study in Scarlet, which I have to say isn’t a favourite of mine, neither is The Sign of Four that followed, and for me it’s when the short stories kick in that I find Holmes at his mercurial best, and his frustrating worst, as Conan Doyle struggled to satisfy the insatiable demand at the time for the monster that he had created. Despite ‘killing off’ a character who had become the bane of his life, Conan Doyle thankfully brought Holmes back to life after his seeming demise at the Reichenbach Falls, and the stories have seldom been far from the public’s mind, especially through the films of Basil Rathbone and the peerless depiction by Jeremy Brett in the 1980s and 1990s. I really cannot recommend this new set highly enough to those with even a passing interest in the original stories, through to those who already have several copies of the Sherlock Holmes stories on their bookshelves. If you think you have the definitive version of the books, then think again, as Baker Street Press have outdone themselves with this release. -- https://www.on-magazine.co.uk/arts/book-review/crime/sherlock-holmes-deluxe-classic-series/

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Book SynopsisThe world’s greatest detective, Hercule Poirot – legendary star of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile and A Haunting in Venice – puts his little grey cells to work solving a baffling Christmas mystery.Trade Review‘Sophie Hannah's latest case for Agatha Christie's Belgian detective is a dark psychological thriller with an ingenious resolution and it certainly takes the kitsch out of Christmas.—Daily Record ‘If you want a Christie for Christmas, you coundlt do bvetter than this.’—Alex Michaelides ‘Infused with such love and energy … Poirot is exactly as Christie created him, with a vitality that recalls her very best novels.’—Daily Telegraph “Perfect…a pure treat for Agatha Christie fans.”—Tana French ‘A magnificently intricate puzzle for Poirot’s famous little grey cells.’—Daily Mail “What Sophie and Agatha have in common is a rare talent for fiendish unpredictability: they make you see how the impossible might be possible after all.”— Sunday Telegraph “The latest in Sophie Hannah’s series of mysteries featuring Agatha Christie’s beloved detective is a magnificently intricate puzzle for Poirot’s famous little grey cells.”— Daily Mail “I was thrilled to see Poirot in such very, very good hands.”— Gillian Flynn, bestselling author of Gone Girl “Does Sophie Hannah’s Poirot live up to our expectations? Yes, he does, and markedly so … Poirot is still Poirot. Poirot is back.”— Alexander McCall Smith “Sophie Hannah is genuinely Christie’s heir.”— The Scotsman

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Book SynopsisThe inspiration for A Haunting in Venice – now a major motion picture.When a Hallowe’en party turns deadly, it falls to Hercule Poirot to unmask a murderer…Trade Review‘A thundering success… a triumph for Hercule Poirot.’–Daily Mirror ‘Complex and sinister, with echoes of old legends and no flagging of the accustomed verve.’–Sunday Telegraph

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"As always, the Todds deftly juggle clues and red herrings, leading Bess and readers on a brisk chase... Their intimate knowledge of rural England and the Great War period inject Bess' first-person account with a hefty dose of verisimilitude." -- Wilmington Star News "The seventh book in an excellent series featuring Bess Crawford." -- Contra Costa Times "Bess' seventh case... does its strong, determined heroine credit." -- Kirkus Reviews

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Book SynopsisMurder and an attempted cover up that rouses Prince Rostov's suspicions in St George's College, Oxford, where mismanagement and factional rivalry have led to the urgent need to raise funds.

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Book SynopsisWhen New Yorker Alex Nadal inherits his aunt''s farm near Barcelona he is more than intrigued. First, because his aunt appears to have died twice - once at the end of the Spanish Civil War and again sixty years later - and secondly because he is curious about his Catalan roots, about which his father has always maintained a stony silence.But his arrival on Spanish soil is not a prodigal''s return; indeed he is made to feel very unwelcome. He asks too many questions which are met with either hostility or silence, until Alex begins to understand that in this sun-baked and ancient land the past is not history but merely unfinished business. And in the end it''s a simple ultimatum: finish it or it will finish him.Trade ReviewAn assured and absorbing first novel with a background of Barcelona so vivid you can almost touch it * The Telegraph *There is a great deal to like in this sophisticated novel... (Burgen's) touch is light, though the theme is dark * Catalonia Today *Captures the vibrancy, tensions and flavours of the Spanish city while giving us a well written and intriguing mystery * Manchester Evening News *Both a love letter and a character study of Barcelona, woven into a classic suspense plot -- Caroline Cummins * January Magazine *Burgen... does a fine job paying homage to Catalonia in his first novel * Publishers Weekly *

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Book SynopsisAs the inscription on his tombstone reveals, Wilkie Collins wanted to be remembered as the "author of The Woman in White," for it was this novel that secured his reputation during his lifetime. The novel begins with a drawing teacher's eerie late-night encounter with a mysterious woman in white, and then follows his love for Laura Fairlie, a young woman who is falsely incarcerated in an asylum by her husband, Sir Percival Glyde, and his sinister accomplice, Count Fosco.This edition returns to the original text that galvanized England when it was published in serial form in All the Year Round magazine in 1860. Three different prefaces Collins wrote for the novel, as well as two of his essays on the book's composition, are reprinted, along with nine illustrations. The appendices include contemporary reviews, along with essays on lunacy, asylums, mesmerism, and the rights of women.Trade ReviewThis is an excellent edition of The Woman in White. It has been prepared with great thoroughness by two editors well versed in Collins studies and give the earliest published version of Collins's text. It provides a lengthy introduction covering most of the important issues raised by the novel. The annotations have been carefully researched and the various appendices succeed in furnishing the reader with exactly the right sort of contextual and background matter to give a better understanding of the story." - Andrew Gasson, Chairman, Wilkie Collins Society"To convey the sensationalism of The Woman in White, Bachman and Cox wisely choose the original, serialized version as their copy text. A thoughtful introduction places the novel in context, explaining its importance to sensation fiction, outlining its concern with the problem of identity and with constructions of madness, and discussing its narrative structure as well as its later stage adaptation. The appendices are especially useful, with their material on Victorian gender ideologies and Victorian psychology, including letters, articles, and reports illuminating the 'panic' over false incarceration for insanity." - Lillian Nayder, Bates CollegeTable of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgements Introduction William Wilkie Collins: A Brief Chronology A Note on the TextThe Woman in WhiteAppendix A: Prefaces to the Novel Preface, 1860, Sampson Low, Son & Co., Three-volume Edition Preface to the Present Edition, 1861, Sampson Low, Son & Co., One-volume Edition Preface. La Femme en Blanc, 1861, trans. E.D. Forgues, J. Hetzel (Paris) Appendix B: Sample Page from All the Year RoundAppendix C: Commentary and Reviews of The Woman in White The Opinions of Charles Dickens Unsigned Review, Saturday Review (25 August 1860) Unsigned Review [E.S. Dallas], The Times (30 October 1860) “Awful Apparition,” Punch (6 April 1861) Unsigned Review [Mrs. Oliphant], Blackwood’s Magazine (May 1862) Edmund Yates, “Mr. Wilkie Collins in Gloucester Place,” in Celebrities at Home (1879) Wilkie Collins, “How I Write My Books: Related in a Letter to a Friend,” The Globe (26 November 1887) F.W. Waddy, “He Wrote ‘The Woman in White,’” Once a Week (24 February 1872) Appendix D: The Woman Question From William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765–69) From Sarah Stickney Ellis, The Women of England,Their Social Duties, and Domestic Habits (1839) From John Ruskin, Sesame and Lilies, 1865 (1907) From Caroline Norton, A Letter to the Queen (1855) Appendix E: The Lunacy Panic of 1858 and the Mesmeric Mania of 1851 “Lady Bulwer Lytton,” The Times (19 July 1858) “Commission of Lunacy,” The Times (27 July 1858) [Editorial], The Times (28 July 1858) “The Tragedy of Acomb House,” The Sunday Times (1 August 1858) “The Mad-House System,” The Sunday Times (15 August 1858) “Lunatic Asylums and the Lunacy Laws (By a Physician),” The Times (19 August 1858) “Commission in Lunacy,” The Sunday Times (29 August 1858) “Law and Lunacy,” Punch (25 January 1862) “Mesmerism; Its Dangers and Curiosities,” Punch (24 February 1844) Anonymous, “Electro-biology,” Westminster Review (1851) Wilkie Collins, “Magnetic Evenings At Home” (Letter I), The Leader (17 January 1852) Select Bibliography

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Book SynopsisArthur Conan Doyle’s second Sherlock Holmes novel is both a detective story and an imperial romance. Ostensibly the story of Mary Morstan, a beautiful young woman enlisting the help of Holmes to find her vanished father and solve the mystery of her receipt of a perfect pearl on the same date each year, it gradually uncovers a tale of treachery and human greed. The action audaciously ranges from penal settlements on the Andaman Islands to the suburban comfort of South London, and from the opium-fuelled violence of Agra Fort during the Indian ‘Mutiny’ to the cocaine-induced contemplation of Holmes’ own Baker Street.This Broadview Edition places Doyle’s tale in the cultural, political, and social contexts of late nineteenth-century colonialism and imperialism. The appendices provide a wealth of relevant extracts from hard-to-find sources, including official reports, memoirs, newspaper editorials, and anthropological studies.Trade Review“In this erudite and provocative edition, Shafquat Towheed offers fans of both Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle an intricate account of the intertextual histories at the heart of The Sign of Four. Arguing for the inextricability of its colonial plots with its work as detective fiction, Towheed builds a persuasive case for The Sign of Four as Mutiny fiction, positioning it as pivotal to the imperial career of ‘British’ fiction per se. Readers of this edition will be gripped by the colonial pathways Towheed reveals, the politics of citation he uncovers, and the entanglement of home and empire he tracks in the making of the novel. This is postcolonial interpretation at its very best.” — Antoinette Burton, University of Illinois, Urbana-ChampaignTable of Contents Acknowledgements Introduction Arthur Conan Doyle: A Brief Chronology A Note on the Text The Sign of Four Appendix A: Domestic Context Appendix B: Colonial Contexts: Accounts of the Indian “Mutiny,” 1857–58 Appendix C: Colonial Contexts: The First and Second Anglo-Afghan Wars Appendix D: Colonial Contexts: The Andaman Islands Appendix E: Contemporary Reviews Select Bibliography

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Book SynopsisFor twenty-year-old Li Johnson, a job as a cruise ship waiter was supposed to be a way to get over his fathers death and earn enough money to go back to college. Instead, Li is struggling to maintain his sanity while coping with the demands of a sadistic maître d and a boatload of entitled rich jerk passengers. Li just wants to keep his head down and survive his job from hell, but when he finds a passenger sunburned to a crisp on the Sunbathing Deck, something about the scene just doesnt add up. Before he knows it, Li is on the track of a murderer and if Li doesnt find the real killer soon, he might just get framed for the crime -- or worse, lose his crappy job. A brand-new classic in the amateur detective genre, ''Sunny Side Up'' is a traditional murder mystery for the 21st century, with a glamorous setting, a gallery of suspects, clues that will keep readers guessing to the last page, and a delightful new hero in Li Johnson, the millennial minimum wage manhunter, who brings sleuthing to the service economy.

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Book SynopsisWhen sixty-eight year old Sarah Miller moves into the Cunningham Village retirement community, she is mourning the loss of the husband, her young grandson, and the place that has been home for forty-two years. But Sarah is a survivor. As she reaches out into the retirement community that is to become home, she finds friends, activities, new hobbies, a possible love interest, and of course, crimes to solve and murderers to track down. The tenth instalment of this fun, friendly series of cozy mysteries contains a new friend, trunks full of vintage fabric, credit card fraud, a budding romance, and murder—and Sarah and her friends are at the centre of it all. Trade ReviewThe last instalment of the series and one that includes murder, mystery and the most wonderful fabrics. One thing the author has done with this novels, is describe the quilts brilliantly. The colours, the condition, the poverty and the history behind each one give these books a feeling of the love that goes into making each quilt, and the necessities that brought them into being. Of course the drama, along with murder come hand in hand with all the books. But I really want the reader to know about the quilts. The characters. The friendships. the dogs and cats and most of all the love, that each story brings. Quilts are made of patchworks of fabric and the ties that bind each one are usually ones of family. Carol Dean Jones has brought all these things together and each book, with their own elements of life, bring the ups and downs that we would usually encounter... along with the added thrill of a mystery. I have loved this series, I will definitely miss each of the ladies, Charles and Barney. Each book has a quilt to make along with instructions included, and I think any sewist can achieve. Quilts like life are not perfect, but they are personal and relevant to the maker of the quilt and the person who is gifted one. -- Tracy Shephard * Postcard Reviews *

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Book SynopsisWhen sixty-eight year old Sarah Miller moves into the Cunningham Village retirement community, she is mourning the loss of the husband, her young grandson, and the place that has been home for forty-two years. But Sarah is a survivor. As she reaches out into the retirement community that is to become home, she finds friends, activities, new hobbies, a possible love interest, and of course, crimes to solve and murderers to track down. In the third instalment of this fun, friendly series of cozy mysteries, Sarah and her friends go on a quilting cruise, where they find a gambling debt gone bad, a missing passenger presumed dead and a touch of romance.Trade ReviewBook 3 in this fabulous series, Sarah is on a quilting cruise with the ladies from Running Stitches. Sarah's life is changing, she is finding new opportunities and meeting some amazing people. One of the best things about these cozy mysteries are the characters we get to know. This is a descriptive read, following Sarah on her cruise, and I was transported to the ports and the Caribbean islands and felt as if I was cruising alongside her. With Charles by her side she meets many people, some of whom are quite strange, and when armed Police officers board the ship and the passengers are told that they cannot leave the ship things get mysterious. A missing man, the FBI and even Charles gets to do a little digging. Once again this was a fun read, and I really didn't expect the twist at the end. Quite unique and unexpected. I think the quilt pattern included in this novel is my favourite so far. the SunBurst quilt is a wall hanging and the colours are amazing. -- Tracy Shephard * Postcard Reviews *

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Book SynopsisFor everyone nostalgic for the Obama/Biden administration, HOPE NEVER DIES re-casts the president and vice-president as amateur sleuths in a quirky mystery-adventure. He s an honest man in a city of thieves. He has no patience for guff, foolishness, or malarkey. He is United States Vice President Joe Biden. And when his favorite railroad conductor dies in a suspicious accident leaving behind an ailing wife and a trail of clues Amtrak Joe unwittingly finds himself in the role of a private investigator. To crack the case (and uncover a drug-smuggling ring hiding in plain sight), he ll team up with the only man he s ever fully trusted the 44th president of the United States, Barack Obama. Together they ll plumb the darkest corners of Wilmington, Delaware, where enemies lurk around every corner. And if they re not careful, the blood on the tracks may be their own. This quirky, comic mystery begins six months after the 2016 presidential election, as Obama and Biden are struggling to define their post-White House identities and question what truly remains of their legendary bromance. Published as a trade paperback original and designed to echo tough-guy thrillers (think JACK REACHER, LETHAL WEAPON, TRUE DETECTIVE), HOPE NEVER DIES is essentially the first published work of Obama/Biden fanfiction and a terrific beach read for anyone distressed by the current state of affairs in Washington, DC.Trade ReviewStep aside Holmes and Watson; back off Poirot and Hastings. A new pair of amateur sleuths are hitting town this month: Barack Obama and Joe Biden. The Guardian [Hope Never Dies is] a roughly 300-page work of political fanfiction, an escapist fantasy that will likely appeal to liberals pining for the previous administration, longing for the Obama-Biden team to emerge from political retirement as action heroes. But it s also at times a surprisingly earnest story about estranged friends who are reunited under strange circumstances. Alexandra Alter, New York Times While readers are sure to get a kick out of the codenames and inside jokes used playfully throughout, Hope Never Dies is an intriguing saga that doesn t sacrifice momentum for winks and nods. Entertainment Weekly Deeply weird and very funny. The Wall Street Journal

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Book SynopsisMarch 2020. Gina Gray returns to the Lake District to share COVID isolation with her oldest friend, Eve. They are joined by Gina’s teenage granddaughter, Freda, who is finding her own home too crowded for comfort. Locked down in the countryside, Gina is not expecting murder or mystery, but life without drama and challenges doesn’t suit her and knitting, baking and creativity with home-grown vegetables soon lose their appeal. Very soon she manages to find mysteries both at home and further afield. Why did Eve really invite her here? What is going on with the strange couple whose garden backs on to theirs? What has happened to the cat? Why is Freda being so secretive about her history project? Most importantly, who murdered a teenage girl on a riverbank in an upmarket London suburb, and how can Detective Superintendent David Scott possibly track down the killer without Gina's help? Told in three narrative voices – Gina’s, Freda’s and David Scott’s – Chronicles of the Time explores these interlocking mysteries against a background of personal tensions and strained relationships in the strangest of times – the lockdown months.

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