Kryminał

The Exploits of Elaine

Arthur B. Reeve

Detective Kennedy and his sidekick Walter Jameson are called in by a District Attorney to look into the murder of an actress in the middle of shooting a movie called The Black Terror. What follows is figuring out the puzzling trail of a calculating killer. Kennedy performs detailed tests in his laboratory and he eventually finds what caused the death of the film star, but he must still go through lots of adventures until he finds the murderer as well. The book is highly entertaining for those who are already familiar with Reeves novels. If you liked this one, maybe you will want to read other Craig Kennedy stories there are more than 80 of them and they are all as exciting and well-written as The Film Mystery.

The Exploits of Pudgy Pete

E. Phillips Oppenheim

The Exploits of Pudgy Pete story was written in 1927 by E. Phillips Oppenheim. Peter Bragg and his tormentor from school days George Angus, join forces to run a modern Enguiry Agency in London. The cases which come to them are complex, romantic, dangerous, humorous, and clever. Together the two solve social and criminal problems, and find their romantic mates. These short story collection by Mr. Oppenheim containing also: Drama in the Dolls House, A Comedy in Divorce, Lady Katherines Better Nature, Three to Four, The Ninety-Ninth Thread and others. These stories were originally written as separate magazine stories, then published together.

The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsene Lupin, Gentleman Burglar

Maurice Leblanc

A contemporary of Arthur Conan Doyle, Maurice Leblanc was the creator of the character of gentleman thief Arsene Lupin who, in France, has enjoyed a popularity as long-lasting and considerable as Sherlock Holmes in the English-speaking world. This is the delightful first of twenty volumes in the Arsene Lupin series written by Leblanc himself. The collection includes nine stories dealing with various complicated plots in which Lupin proves himself to be the consummate escape artist. In the first story titled The Arrest of Arsene Lupin, told by a man who comes to admire the gentleman burglar, Lupin is apprehended on board a cruise ship. The later stories deal with his prison term, escape from jail and further adventures. One of the most famous Arsene Lupin stories, The Queens Necklace is also included here. The two immortals meet in the ninth story, Sherlock Holmes Arrives Too Late and naturally, Lupin manages to outwit the English bloodhound!

The Eye of Istar. A Romance of the Land of No Return

William Le Queux

Thrice hath the Fast of Ramadan come and gone since the Granter of Requests last allowed my eyes to behold the well-remembered landscape, scarcely visible in the pale light of dawn. Hills, covered with tall feathery palms, rose abruptly from the barren, sun-scorched plain, and, at their foot, stood the dazzlingly-white city of Omdurman, the impregnable and mysterious headquarters of Mahdiism, while beyond, like a silver ribbon winding through the marshes, the Nile glided, half veiled by its thin white cloud of morning vapours.

The Eyes of Max Carrados

Ernest Bramah

Short mysteries involving the blind detective Carrados. Max Carrados is one of the most unusual detectives in all fiction. He is blind and yet he has developed his other faculties to such an amazing degree that they more than compensate for his lack of sight. The Eyes of Max Carrados opens with a somewhat defensive essay which chronicles astonishing feats of the blind. Carrados himself outdoes them all and perhaps combines a few too many amazing abilities for real conviction. Here is a collection of the best of Max Carrados, a set of stories featuring a series of baffling puzzles to challenge the greatest of detectives. They are written by Ernest Bramah with great wit, style and panache.

The Face in the Night

Edgar Wallace

The Face in the Night was written in the year 1924 by Edgar Wallace. Leaving her chicken farm and moving to London to seek her sister, Audrey Bedford is caught passing the Queen of Finlands stolen necklace, and allows herself to be sent to prison for a year rather than implicate her guilty sibling. Once released, she takes a position as scribe to the mysterious Mr. Malpas, who lurks in his electrically-automated apartment and only allows himself to be seen from across a darkened room. When Malpas neighbor, the Australian Mr. Marshalt is murdered in the lair, Audrey is enmeshed in a tangle of lost diamonds, a long-burning feud, the fate of her father, and the affections of Captain Dick Shannon, Chief Inspector of Scotland Yard.

The Fallen Leaves

Wilkie Collins

Full of noble aspirations, a young graduate of the American Christian Community, Amelius Goldenhart, comes to his homeland in England. Here he falls in love with Regina, the niece of the wealthy merchant Farneby, but, having learned selfishness and cruelty, the hypocrisy of the world, he gives his heart to the destitute, lonely girl Sally one of the representatives of the fallen leaves of bourgeois society.

The Father Brown Stories

G.K. Chesterton

Brown is a short, inconspicuous provincial priest in a ridiculous wide-brimmed hat and an old umbrella. It is amazing how the author twisted the plot in an incredible way, fitting such a complex structure consisting of small details and nuances into such a small amount of stories. At the same time, Father Brown finds himself in the crime scene quite by accident. Either this is a social reception, then it comes back from the funeral, then by invitation. And always his figure in the crowd causes the least interest, and, more often, the bewilderment of others. And his analytical and deductive abilities forced others to drop his jaw to the floor from an incredible denouement of history.

The Feathered Serpent

Edgar Wallace

The Feathered Serpent is a mystery-thriller novel penned by the remarkably prolific Edgar Wallace. A number of people receive threatening cards emblazoned with the device of a feathered serpent, a device that we later find is associated with ancient Aztec religion and with a cult that still exists in Mexico and Central America. Reporter Peter Dewin suspects the card mysteriously left in the handbag of actress Ella Creed is a publicity stunt. He soon discovers that a wealthy artist, a boxing promoter and a nouveau riche stockbroker share her fear. Then, after leaving the house of millionaire philanthropist and African explorer Gregory Beale, Daphne Olroyd is followed. The Feathered Serpent case will eventually lead to murder and two kidnappings. Who is behind the crimes of The Feathered Serpent?

The Fellowship of the Frog

Edgar Wallace

The Fellowship of the Frog is a typical, fast-paced Edgar Wallace thriller. The plot centers around the identity of an arch-criminal who is using down and outs to do his dirty work. The Frog is a menace to Society. A criminal mastermind who has organized the tramps of Britain into an unlawful army. He murders, he robs, he blackmails... He must be stopped. But who is he? There is no shortage of suspects and no shortage of twists. Richard Gordon, a prosecutor, and Sgt. Elk, set out to unmask the head Frog and bring him to justice. But it seems that the Frog has some insiders at Scotland Yard, who help captured criminals escape and who help misdirect the forces of justice.

The Female of the Species

H.C. McNeile

The story revolves around revenge. First, the main character, Bulldog Drummond, kills his stormy enemy, Carl Peterson. And his mistress wants revenge for Peterson. Suddenly, Drummonds wife is kidnapped, but the criminal leaves traces. By which the main character is trying to find his wife. This chase takes place all over England, leading to an ominous house and a torture chamber.

The Fighting Scouts

Edgar Wallace

The second of Edgar Wallaces two short story collections about Scottish airman Tam during World War I. In this book Tam is joined by a new young American protégé Billy Best. The stories of Tam the pilot are not mysteries. They are the entertaining stories of the exploits of a cockney aviator who supposedly was Charles Lindberghs childhood inspiration to fly. Tam is a real person, and all the adventures set forth have actually happened, though names and places are necessarily fictitious. In these stories Mr. Wallace describes a rare character, a Glasgow mechanic who becomes a Royal Flying Corps pilot. Wonderful entertainment and highly entertaining.

The Filigree Ball

Anna Katharine Green

The Filigree Ball centers around the Moore mansion in Washington DC, a creepy house with a terrible library. Over several generations, three dead bodies have been found there on the hearthstone. Aside from bruises from the fall, there were no signs of violence. The police have inspected the death-dealing room and its sinister settee many times over and found no explanation. But its not all those bodies in the library that bring the police to the Moore house this time. Its the suicide of young Veronica Moore, now Mrs. Jeffrey, a bride of only three weeks. Fans of early detective fiction, and Anna Katharine Green in particular, will not want to miss The Filigree Ball.

The Film Mystery

Arthur B. Reeve

The Gold of the Gods was first published in 1915. By then, Arthur Benjamin Reeves series of mysteries involving Professor Craig Kennedy and his sidekick, journalist Walter Jameson, had become something of a household name. Altogether, he wrote 18 novels featuring these two characters, and several short stories. Our story follows a theft of an ancient Inca dagger from an archeology professor. He asks Kennedy to assist in bringing it back. But there are threats beyond ones of mortal men, which follow that relic dagger. Kennedy now must follow the trail of blood, spilled by the dagger. Will he overcome the darkness that he is about to face?

The Final Count

H.C. McNeile

Drummond was a hard muscular and most powerful man. He was a magnificent boxer, a lightning and a deadly shot with a revolver, and utterly lovable. There is a person in the world who has a colossal brain, unshakable nerve and unlimited ambitions. However, there is a kink in his brain, which has turned him into a completely unfair criminal. For him, killing means nothing more than some kind of fun. Drummond must defeat such a criminal.

The Financier

Theodore Dreiser

The protagonist of the novel, Frank Kovperwood, begins to do business at school, and as an adult, he moves on to stock speculation. And although he is tried for breaking the law, and he ends up in prison, the hero does not feel guilty at all.