Literatura
Joseph Smith Fletcher
A quaint and idyllic English community is rocked to its very core when a dead body of a man is found and foul play is suspected. Did he fall or was he pushed? The inquest records a verdict of death by misadventure but more than one person is dubious about the death. But with few clues to go on and no likely suspects, it appears that the brutal crime may remain unsolved. Theres another murder, lots of behind the scenes investigation into burial and marriage records, questionable parentage, questionable motives, changed names, poisonings, twists and turns galore. This classic from the golden age of detective fiction will suck you in and keep you guessing until the very last page.
B.M. Bower
B. M. Bower was the first woman to make a career of writing popular westerns. Her works, featuring cowboys and cows of the Flying U Ranch in Montana, reflected an interest in ranch life, the use of working cowboys as main characters, the occasional appearance of eastern types for the sake of contrast, a sense of western geography as simultaneously harsh and grand, and a good deal of factual attention to such matters as cattle branding and bronc busting. The Parowan Bonanza is one of her stories. This short but engaging novel contains all of the elements that made B. M. Bowers books a mainstay of the genre of classic Westerns.
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
A small collection of stories. The general theme of the stories is the diversity of emotions that the main characters experience, and by the end it turns out to be a bit painful. A variety of subjects, simple but wonderful, honed by irony. Most stories of unhappy marriages. The main characters can get married because of unhappy love or unexpected pregnancy.
Arthur Griffiths
Thrilling detective novel taking place in the Engadine Express from Calais to Lucerne. It is a well-planned, logical detective story of the better sort, free from cheap sensationalism and improbability, developing surely and steadily by means of exciting situations to an unforeseen and satisfactory ending. A mysterious woman, followed by two detectives, shows up at the last minute to book a compartment for her servant, an infant and herself. The lady is afraid that someone is following her. What is her secret and who is she? And is she a criminal or a victim? Find the answers to these questions and others on a thrilling railway journey spanning Europe.
The Passing of the Sphinx Emerald
Henry Bedford-Jones
The final series about the strange and mysterious gem The Passing of the Sphinx Emerald constitutes a veritable Outline of History or perhaps Highlights of History would be more accurate. For this reason the greatest event in all history could not be left out. Here, then, we see in Santa Fe, the story of this malign and magic jewel, which began in Ancient Egypt, comes to its strange conclusion.
The Passionate Friends. A Novel
Herbert George Wells
Although most famous for his sci-fi, Wells best work often deals with ordinary people having big thoughts in picturesque settings. The Passionate Friends is a fine representative example of this. Wells uses the changing relationships among childhood friends as the media for his thoughts on human relations on personal and global scales, and of what it all means. On the death of his father, Stephen Stratton writes a long and deeply personal letter to his son, hoping that, as his son becomes a man, he can benefit from Stephens experience and wisdom. As Stephen sets down his lifes history, he tells the remarkable story of his former lover, Lady Mary. With a lust for freedom and a fierce desire not to be owned by a man, she is a woman living ahead of her time until marriage threatens to ruin her. First published in 1913, The Passionate Friends is an inspiring love story between father and son, and man and woman.
E. Phillips Oppenheim
The Passionate Quest is the story of Rosina, Philip and Matthew, who work in rural England in the glass factory owned by Rosinas uncle. All three dream of a different life: Rosina wants to be an actress, Philip a poet, and Matthew hopes for a career in high finance. They all go off to London in the passionate quest for their dreams. This 1927 novel by Edward Phillips Oppenheim where problems arise in a family business. Oppenheim inherited a leather company from his father and ran it for 20 years before he became a full time author. The business of leather features in a number of his novels. He was acutely aware of class behavior and distinctions. An enjoyable read!
F. Scott Fitzgerald
A Hollywood hack who has fallen on hard times since the end of the Silent Era, Pat Hobby spends his time hanging out in the studio lot attempting to devise schemes to get more work and earn on-screen credits. Entertainingly artless and insensitive; by turns lazy and scheming, Hobby keeps his head just above water as the decades leave silent film behind. F. Scott Fitzgeralds collection of 17 humorous short stories paints a comic portrait of a man unwilling to accept his fate as a thing of the past.
Sara Jeannette Duncan
This is a novel about how the British colonizers of late Victoria in Calcutta fall in love with the wrong people. Hilda Howe is a travel-loving actress clearly on her way to the top of her profession before she meets Stephen Arnold, a Catholic priest.
John Buchan
We wonder that so great a man as Abraham Lincoln should spring from humble people but who knows what his more distant ancestry might have been? In a series of dramatic chapters, Mr. Buchan tells what he imagines to have been the ancestry of Lincoln. The Path Of The King is a series of short vignettes, loosely connected, starting in Scotland before the Normans arrived and involving the people who where in conflict with their Scandinavian cousins. It ends in America with the aftermath of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. In the journey from the start to the end we visit various historical events and figures, such as France and Joan of Arc. This collection of fourteen short stories shows John Buchans talent for heroic adventures. Hightown under Sunfell is set in the time of the Vikings, whilst The End of the Road surrounds the period of Abraham Lincoln. Other tales cover periods in between. If you ever read one book by John Buchan this should be it, a true masterpiece of historical fiction.
The Pathfinder. or The Inland Sea
James Fenimore Cooper
In the third installment of the Leatherstocking Tales, Cooper takes his main character, here called the Pathfinder (Natty Bumppo) and examines his role as an explorer for British/Colonial forces in the forests and islands around the Great Lakes. The story is a classic historical adventure/romance and Bumppo falls in love, for the first and only time in the five novels, only to see his choice fall in love with another man a younger man and good friend of Nattys. The Pathfinder remains a classic and entertaining account of the American wilderness and of aspects of human experience in the New World. Probably the best of the five Leatherstocking novels.
E. Phillips Oppenheim
E. Phillips Oppenheim was a British writer known for his thriller novels. He is credited with writing over 100 novels including suspense, international intrigue, romance, parables, and comedies. His protagonists are known for their love of luxury, gourmet meals, and their enjoyment of criminal activities. The Pawns Count is a novel during World War I and intrigue. German, Japanese, British and Americans play roles in this novel. A chemist, Sandy Graham, has discovered a new powerful explosive, but he lets it slip in a London restaurant that he has made the discovery. So it should come as no surprise, really, when he goes to the lavatory to clean up and never comes back out. Several highly cultured spies from different governments set out to find him and the formula. Read this rather short book to find the answers.
Charles Nordhoff
Very engaging tale of the South Seas, by the author of Mutiny on the Bounty, who was quite familiar with the area. This book has the same seafaring merit but is set in the pearl atolls of the southwestern Pacific. Into The Pearl Lagoon Charles Nordhoff wove his love and knowledge of the South Pacific islands and their people. It is his only story written through the eyes of young people. It is an adventure story about a California young boy, Charlie Selden who leaves his fathers ranch and is taken by his sailor uncle to the South Pacific on a pearl-hunting trip: encounters with sharks and pirates ensue. The Pearl Lagoon is an adventure book for boys especially, furnished with semi-autobiographical details. The story rings true today and is in all ways entertaining!
The Pearl of Lima. A Story of True Love
Jules Verne
This is a short romantic romance. The Pearl of Lima one of the lesser-known works of Verne, and for good reason. This is one of his short novels, with a very simplified plot lovers with crossed stars and a very sharp ending. This book is romantic and intended for those who love classic prose.
Max Brand
Max Brand (1892-1944) is the best-known pen name of widely acclaimed author Frederick Faust, creator of Destry, Dr. Kildare, and other beloved fictional characters. Prolific in many genres he wrote historical novels, detective mysteries, pulp fiction stories and many more. His love for mythology was a constant source of inspiration for his fiction, and it has been speculated that these classical influences accounted in some part for his success as a popular writer. "The Pearls Of Bonfadini" is an adventurous historical romance set in 16th-century Italy. The main character is Tizzo, a master swordsman, known as "Firebrand" because of his flaming red hair and flame-blue eyes.
E. Phillips Oppenheim
If you have a fondness for mystery you should find this novel to be an entertaining read. Lord Alceston, the Earl of Harrowdean, statesman, philanthropist, nobleman, is murdered in his own study on the night of a great ball given at his home. On the same night a mysterious woman is murdered in the slums of East London. The valet disappears. Thus begins a moody and dramatic tale of love, jealousy, and revenge. This is the second published novel by E. Phillips Oppenheim and deals with a rigid Victorian moral code which is hard to comprehend today. Oppenheim dictated many of his later novels, but the careful writing, lengthy descriptions, and close observation of characters are beautifully expressed in this early work.
R. Austin Freeman
The Penrose Mystery, fist published in 1936, is definitely up to the high standard of the wonderful Dr. Thorndyke series. Penrose is an eccentric old man in possession of some dazzling gems, which he wont insure. When Dr. Thorndyke is alerted to a burglary at his house, a scrap of paper is found with the word lobster on it along with two Latin words. Meanwhile, Penrose has fled in panic after a car accident. The police believe hes gone into hiding to avoid a manslaughter charge after a hit-and-run accident. Finding him is a forlorn hope, theres so little to go on. But Thorndyke has a way of seeing significance in the merest bits of dirt inside a tire or oddments in a pocket... Polton, Dr. Thorndykes lovable lab assistant, has an important presence in the plot, less this time for his remarkable technical skills than for his fondness for fixing antique clocks.
Jack London
“The People of the Abyss” is a book by Jack London, an American novelist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and an innovator in the genre that would later become known as science fiction. The People of the Abyss (1903) is a book by Jack London made up of his firsthand account of life in the East End of London. George Orwell was inspired by The People of the Abyss, which he had read in his teens. In the 1930s, he began disguising himself as a derelict and made tramping expeditions into the poor section of London. The influence of The People of the Abyss can be seen in Down and Out in Paris and London and The Road to Wigan Pier.
Edgar Wallace
The setting is Nigeria a century ago, and British District Commissioner R.G. Sanders oversees the tribes. He discovers that Bosambo has been acting as chief without approval, but is so impressed with his skills Sanders allows him to remain in place, but Sanders heads to England to marry and unrest follows. The classic Commissioner Sanders stories about Africa by Edgar Wallace. This is the second collection in the series, following Sanders of the River. Wallace served in Africa and he gets the background right. Both books were written in the same year, when world powers were vying for colonial honor. Great humor, lots left to the readers imagination, but delightful stories about individuals and their interactions with Commissioner Sanders, British authority figure.
Edgar Rice Burroughs
“The People That Time Forgot“ is a novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, an American fiction writer, who created such great characters as Tarzan and John Carter of Mars. The People That Time Forgot is a fantasy novel, the second of his Caspak trilogy. The trilogy includes “The Land That Time Forgot”, “The People That Time Forgot” and “Out of Time's Abyss”.
Max Brand
Kildare saves the life of a skater who had a car accident. But even though her leg is broken, she cannot walk, and she is trying to sue Kildare for negligence, and Kildares entire career and reputation are now based on the correct diagnosis in the courtroom.
Fred M. White
Sebastian Wilde really was a great man. He seemed to be paralysed from his hips downwards, which, indeed, was the case, though his arms were vigorous enough and his affliction had not robbed him of the brightness of his eyes or blunted the edge of his amazing intellect. He had no friends and visitors; he was pleased, in his words, to work quietly on the task of his life and, perhaps, when this is completed, he can go out of his obscurity and again take his place in the great world. However, what could such a noble person hide?
B.M. Bower
In The Phantom Herd from 1916 we follow a film director Luck Lindsay who wants to make an authentic western, therefore using the Happy Family boys and some of their friends as actors instead of professional actors. There are many difficulties along the way, some of which bid fair to be insurmountable and they are up against big problems, mostly the weather and deadline. The story is absolutely thrilling and at the same time Bower, with the help from a real western actor, has made a great research on how you made films in those early silent film days. One of many recommended works by this prolific author.
Aidan de Brune
There is always a special thrill of excitement about a mystery story, especially when the main characters cover their tracks successfully. The Phantom Launch is an Australian story through and through, its main setting being Sydney and Melbourne, and the swiftness and sureness with which both the launch people and amateur sleuths act will keep the reader breathless. Wireless plays an important part in this story. We defy any reader to guess the perpetrators of the crimes and the secret of the launch until the colorful and prolific Australian writer Aidan de Brune? reveals them.