The Riddle of the Mysterious Light

Thomas W. Hanshew

In The Riddle of the Mysterious Light, consulting detective Hamilton Cleek is en route to meet with Scotland Yard detective Narkom when hes intercepted by a roving gang of nefarious neer-do-wells. Can he muster his mighty intellect and physical prowess and hatch a plan to escape his captors? Hamilton Cleek is the central figure in dozens of short stories that began to appear in 1910 and were subsequently collected in a series of books. Cleek is a detective as remarkable as Sherlock Holmes. He has, however, the prime quality of always being in an apparently hopeless tangle of circumstances, and he has also the genius of getting out. The Cleek stories were written by Thomas W. Hanshew, until his death in 1914. His wife, Mary E. Hanshew, then took over this popular pulp mystery series.

Desert Gold

Zane Grey

Which is the true treasure, love or money? Prospecting in an Arizona border town, Richard Gale sees the possibilities of passion and gold when he finds himself trying to save a beautiful Spanish heiress. Love, adventure, and more wait in the Old West of Zane Greys western classic Desert Gold. When Richard Gale arrives in the border country of Arizona, he hopes for a brand new start. He soon finds himself embroiled in local trouble, however, when he and an old friend a Texas Ranger attempt a daring rescue. The victim, the daughter of a murdered rancher, has been kidnapped by a cruel bandit named Rojas. Challenging him means almost certain death for Richard, but as he escapes with the beautiful seorita into the desert, his adventure turns into something unexpected.

The Flirting Fool

Aidan de Brune

De Brunes novel The Flirting Fool is a thrilling court-room melodrama previously only published as a newspaper serial. The story is fast-paced with some surprising twists, well written and great to read. Readers of Aidan de Brunes novels may always count on a story of absorbing interest, turning on a complicated plot, worked out with dexterous craftsmanship. Nineteen novel length serials, two novella serials, and eighteen short stories, all except one published in Australian and New Zealand newspapers between 1926 and 1935. Other novels by De Brune were reputedly published in the USA under various pseudonyms, but these have not been traced.

Old-Ugly Face

Talbot Mundy

The Tibetan lama, with a great sense of joy, leads two people from the west to enlightenment, fighting with enemies in Tibet in this interesting story of adventure and spiritual discoveries. This is Mundis latest novel, The sequel to the dramatic dragon gates. The Nazi expedition in Tibet is torn apart by American and British agents of the special services.

Les Quarante-cinq

Alexandre Dumas pere

Les Quarante-cinq est le troisieme tome de la trilogie des Guerres de Religion dAlexandre Dumas. La période historique décrite est fascinante, style du romancier est comme toujours intrigant, Dumas veut tout décrire et tout montrer. Henri III est le roi treize ans apres le bain de sang de la Saint-Barthélemy en une triste année de 1585. Il est le roi dans une France plus que jamais écartelée par les conflits religieux. Le destin de la France tient parfois un fil capricieux...

On the Spot. Violence and Murder in Chicago

Edgar Wallace

Set in Chicago, and written in 1931 by Edgar Wallace, On the Spot truly reflects the horror of gang life in Prohibition Chicago. Tony Perelli, the gang boss, recruits men for his gang and women for his bed with the same ruthlessness and rapidly arranges for their disposal when they become a nuisance. But Minn Lee, the half-Chinese widow, is a little too much for him, and as she gradually learns the extent of his treachery, she plans a revenge... The constant threat of death, the interaction between cops and gangsters, love gone wrong, love gone right, loss of youth, bootlegging, prostitution... its all here and beautifully handled by Edgar Wallace.

Mr. Laxworthys Adventures

E. Phillips Oppenheim

The man was awaiting the service of his dinner in the magnificent buffet of the Gare de Lyon. He sat at a table laid for three, on the right-hand side of the entrance and close to the window. From below came the turmoil of the trains. In appearance he was of somewhat less than medium height, of unathletic, almost frail, physique. His head was thrust a little forward, as though he were afflicted with a chronic stoop. He wore steel-rimmed spectacles with the air of one who has taken to them too late in life to have escaped the constant habit of peering, which had given to his neck an almost storklike appearance.

Educated Evans

Edgar Wallace

Educated Evans is the first novel in the Evans series. These stories combine Wallaces talent for humor with his hallmark detective story themes. The eponymous principal character is a London racing tipster. Garrulous and delightfully ignorant of most of the subjects about which he professes to have knowledge, Evans provides the comic foil for the towering figure of The Miller, a formidable police detective named for his perpetual habit of chewing upon a length of straw. Together the pair form an uneasy partnership as they undertake various adventures in the worlds of racing and petty criminality.

On the Night Express

Fred M. White

Rupert Bascoe and Wakefield are the main characters of the story. They rode in the night express. They were familiar, even more, they had an affair. However, Miss Wakefield did not trust her partner. Let us dive into the past of our heroes and find out that Miss Wakefield had a tough action. Therefore, she constantly carries a weapon with her, like a wristwatch. But is it correct that she took it on a trip?

Die Verwandlung

Franz Kafka

Gregor Samsa wacht eines Morgens als Käfer auf kein Alptraum, sondern traurige Realität. In Tiergestalt hält Gregor Samsa der Welt den Spiegel vor. Trotz seines friedfertigen und unschuldigen Lebens als Ungeziefer wird er von seiner Familie verstoßen und schließlich in den Tod getrieben. Kafkas Verwandlung ist die groteske Parabel einer stillen Revolte gegen die Unmenschlichkeit. Ein schweigender Protestschrei, der am Ende ohnmächtig bleibt, aber bis heute eines der aufregendsten Werke der Weltliteratur.

The House in the Mist

Anna Katharine Green

In The House in the Mist, weary traveler Hugh Austin happens upon a house in a village whilst seeking shelter on a misty night. The house is open, and initially the reception he gets is quite strange to him, he then realizes that he was taken for the relative of a dead man and that the gathering he encounters is a meeting of relatives regarding an inheritance that was left. By the time they find out the deceased had long-held vengeance on his mind, it is too late. The House in the Mist is a short story by Anna Katharine Green which is included in her collection Room Number 3 and Other Detective Stories. She is credited with shaping detective fiction into its classic form, and developing the series detective.

The Forsaken Inn

Anna Katharine Green

The Forsaken Inn by Anna Katharine Green is an exceptional novel of gothic horror set in late 18th-century Revolutionary America. Told from the perspective of a Mrs. Truax, the owner of an inn, The Forsaken Inn is a locked-room mystery that keeps readers guessing about what has happened. Edwin Urquhart, loved by two sisters, chooses to marry the elder. Arriving at the Forsaken Inn for their honeymoon, they occupy an apartment containing a secret chamber. That night, the young bride is murdered and buried in this secret room. Did her new husband commit the crime or is something much more sinister afoot? Yet, many people saw that bride leave with her husband. How can this be?

The Ambassadors

Henry James

The novel comes from what is called Jamess late period. The writing is mannered, baroque, complex, and focused intently on the psychological relationships between his characters. There is very little plot here in the conventional sense. Much of the interest in the narrative is centred on the limitations of the principal character, from whose point of view the story is told. Lambert Strether is a morally upright, middle-aged American who feels that life has passed him by. He wants to do the right thing, but finds himself somewhat out of his depth when he visits Paris which Walter Benjamin called the capital of the nineteenth century. In general, The Ambassadors describes a visit to Europe in the early 20th century by Americans to find and retrieve a wayward family member, and the complex cross-cultural interactions between the Americans and the Europeans.

The Sundial

Fred M. White

John Charlock had found out that all he had longed and hoped for since the early days was nothing more than vexation of spirit. Charlock made his way upwards. He had known what it was to starve. He often slept in parks. And now everything has changed, and he has become almost unsurpassed as a portrait painter. Glory and happiness came to him thanks to his brush and pencil. And at the same time, he seems to have found the only woman who could make him happy.

Przygody dobrego wojaka Szwejka podczas wojny światowej

Jaroslav Hašek

Przygody dobrego wojaka Szwejka podczas wojny światowej to wciągające perypetie Józefa Szwejka z Pragi, sprzedawcy psów i pucybuta. Wydarzenia odwołują się do realiów historycznych i doświadczeń czeskiego autora Jaroslava Haška, tworząc przesycony ironią obraz świata początku XX wieku. Obfitość anegdot i cynicznego humoru nie przesłania antywojennego i antyaustriackiego wydźwięku powieści.

Black Wind Blowing

Robert E. Howard

In Black Wind Blowing, Howard lays it on so thick I half suspected he was trying to do a spoof on the genre. But then, his normal storytelling was always full of bizarre images, hyperactive violence and heavy use of adjectives so this story is probably just an extreme example. It helps too, that Black Wind Blowing has enough wild premises to build at least two or three effective horror stories on. If youre not moved by whats going on at the moment, by the next page the story has shifted gears in a weirder direction.