The Lost Million

William Le Queux

See! Itsits in my kit-bag, over there! The thingthe Thing at which the whole world will stand aghast! The thin, white-faced, grey-bearded man lying on his back in bed roused himself with difficulty, and with skinny finger pointed at his strong but battered old leather bag lying in the corner of the small hotel bedroom.

Roads of Destiny

O. Henry

O. Henrys unique style of writing will introduce you to story filled of mystery, suspense and of course a decision. A decision which will lead a certain main character to three roads of which he must choose from. A collection of 22 short stories: Roads of Destiny, The Guardian of the Accolade, The Discounters of Money, The Enchanted Profile, Next to Reading Matter, Art and the Bronco, Phobe, A Double-dyed Deceiver, The Passing of Black Eagle, A Retrieved Reformation and others. The title story of the volume Roads of Destiny, a story allegorical in nature, deals with that all important moment of choice: the decision to act, speak, or dress in a way which seems to determine the whole course of a life. O. Henry builds his own concept suggesting that the choice is not so much among different fates as among different versions of the same fate.

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.

A Pair of Blue Eyes. A Novel

Thomas Hardy

The heroine of the novel is a young Elfrid. She can easily charm anyone with the look of her blue eyes. In her life, two appear, a young architect and an experienced writer. Former friends become rivals, and Elfrida is faced with a painful choice.

The Luck of the Spindrift

Max Brand

A Novel of Adventure. A quest for a fabulous treasure. The ordeal of Sam Culver. He gets mugged and shanghaied aboard the ship Spindrift. A race for exquisite pearls belonging to a man who is about to die. Prolific in many genres Max Brand wrote historical novels, detective mysteries, pulp fiction stories and many more. "The Luck of the Spindrift" is not the usual Max Brand Western - its a South Seas treasure hunt adventure. The plot is well constructed with well drawn subsidiary characters and provides a number of interesting twists.

Up and Down

E.F. Benson

This is another work of art from Benson. The novel describes many events in England: the First World War, the mentality of that time, the life of the British and visitors there. The first half of the book describes reflections on war. The denouement we can see more sentimental.

The Old Curiosity Shop

Charles Dickens

1839. It tells the story of Nelly Trent and her grandfather as they wander the English countryside, north of London, trying to evade Daniel Quilp, probably Dickens most evil villain. Nells grandfather has borrowed money from Quilp to support a gambling habit and has lost everything, including the curiosity shop. But Quilp isnt sitting still, his spies are everywhere. Meanwhile a stranger is also looking for Nells grandfather. Dickenss depiction of the fate of his main characters is famously harrowing and unfailingly suspenseful, but not the least of its charms is that it is embellished with a supporting cast of figures as grotesque and colorful as anything in the Old Curiosity Shop itself.

Studium w szkarłacie

Arthur Conan Doyle

Doktor medycyny John H., weteran wojenny, powraca do Londynu. Tu poznaje ekscentrycznego detektywa amatora Sherlocka Holmesa. Wkrótce potem Holmes dostaje list od oficera Scotland Yardu z prośbą o pomoc w rozwikłaniu zagadki morderstwa Enocha Drebbera. Jego zwłoki znaleziono w pustym domu. Na ciele denata brak obrażeń, w kieszeniach pozostały pieniądze, na ręce złoty zegarek. Przyczyna zgonu pozostaje nieznana. Tym większą zagadkę stanowi napis rache (po niemiecku: zemsta) uczyniony krwią na ścianie. Sherlock Holmes i doktor Watson rozpoczynają śledztwo. Ślady prowadzą wiele lat w przeszłość do Ameryki, sekty mormonów i zemsty za zło sprzed wielu lat.

The Croquet Player

Herbert George Wells

A soul-corrupting evil invades the remote English village of Cainsmarsh, infesting the minds of the local residents. Dark events are plaguing its people. An elderly woman stiffens in dread at her own shadow; a terrified farmer murders a scarecrow; food prepared by others is eyed with suspicion; family pets are bludgeoned to death; loving couples are devoured by rage and violence. People are becoming suspicious of every move each other makes. Children are coming to school with marks on them. A spirit-corrupting evil pervades the land, infesting the minds of those who call Cainsmarsh home... Is this vision real, or a paranoid fantasy? And is the call to resist the danger itself a danger? These are questions that disturb the calm of an indolent croquet player who happens to hear the tale of the unlucky village. H. G. Wellss ambiguous story of horror is a modern classic, a prophetic, disturbing glimpse of the primitive distrust and violence that gnaw at the heart of the modern world.

The Boy Fortune Hunters in China

L. Frank Baum

The fourth in a series, The Boy Fortune Hunters in China appeared in 1909, published by Reilly & Britton under Baums pseudonym, Floyd Akers. Unlike most of L. Frank Baums work, the series is told in first person narrative by the protagonist, 16 year-old Sam Steele. Sams father is a sea captain who was reported killed in a shipwreck. After being cheated of his inheritance, he finds his uncle and they set sail in the Pacific. Here, Sam Steele and his two pals, Joe and Archie, have fished a wounded Chinese Prince out of the ocean. Prince Kai Lun Po rewards the boys with detailed directions on how to plunder his family tomb of its treasure and he gives them his blessing to do so. All the boys have to do is get to China, hoodwink the palace staff, and get past Fo-Chu, the Sacred Ape that guards the treasure! Come adventuring with young Sam on one of his most exciting and dangerous adventures in China!

The Interloper

E. Phillips Oppenheim

Oppenheim was famous for his hundreds of spy and espionage novels. This is not one of them. Its billed as a novel of social intrigue and as a story of revenge without violence and moves quickly. Duke Henry Chatfield with his family, and family lawyer Sir Stephen are riding through central Italy when the car breaks down in Pellini, where, 20 years earlier, the Dukes brother had a mistress and illegitimate child. Dukes daughter Monica is intrigued by a young Englishman named Francis taking his vows before disappearing into a monastery. She tries to convince him not to shut himself away but fails. Three years later, the family lawyer discovers that Francis is in fact the legitimate Duke, and encourages him to return to England. How Francis treats his relations, and his new found wealth and position form the plot of this 1927 novel.

Leśna Różyczka (Tom 11). Leśna Różyczka. Wyścig z czasem

Karol May

Wyścig z czasem to dziewiąty tom przygód z cyklu Leśna Różyczka, czyli prześladowania dookoła świata. Kto tym razem stanie na drodze mężnych bohaterów? Niegodziwi ludzie czy dzikie siły natury? Drużynie przyjdzie zmierzyć się i z jednym, i z drugim niebezpieczeństwem, aby podjąć wyzwanie odnalezienia zapierającego dech w piersiach, tajemniczego skarbu.

Beatrice

H. Rider Haggard

Beatrice is one of the most emotional works written by Henry Rider Haggard. There are no crazy adventures, frightening battles or supernatural events, but there is everything for the soul, for easy reading. It tells of the ill-fated love between Beatrice Granger, an unmarried Welsh teacher, and Jeffrey Bingham, a wretchedly married lawyer who lives in London. It all starts after Beatrice saved Jeffreys life in a canoe accident during a huge storm. This is a story about a tangled love triangle, and possibly a pentagon.

Tętniące serce

Selma Lagerlöf

Powieść szwedzkiej laureatki literackiej Nagrody Nobla porusza rzadko spotykany w literaturze temat miłości ojcowskiej silnej, niezłomnej, nieco szalonej, na pewno wzruszającej. Relacja ojca i córki naznaczona jest bliskością, zaufaniem, a także tęsknotą, którą trudno ugasić. W tle życie i obyczaje prowincjonalnej szwedzkiej wspólnoty z drugiej połowy XIX wieku.

The Deliberate Detective

E. Phillips Oppenheim

The adventures of Mr. Stanely Brooke, The Deliberate Detective. E. Phillips Oppenheims detective Stanley Brooke unearths the strange and criminous underbelly of London, but the greatest challenge he tackles is how to capture the heart of his beautiful but grim partner, Constance. This detective contributed to the foundation of the genres history. The collection also includes the following stories: The Rescue of Warren Tyrrwell, The Princess Pays, The Other Side of the Wall, The Murder William Blessing, The Disappearance of Monsieur Dupoy, The Spiders Parlor, The Silent People, and The Glen Terrace Tragedy.

Four-Square Jane

Edgar Wallace

Four-Square Jane is a daring and successful crook, created by the pen of Edgar Wallace, a famous British author of mystery genre. Her resourcefulness is boundless and she employs outstanding cunning to get away with a series of risky crimes performed with admirable cleverness, which cannot but evoke admiration. Four-Square Jane is not even a typical love story though there is a marriage in it. Often the women in this era detective novel start out strong but end up falling in love with someone and being controlled by some man. Jane takes life on her own terms and doesnt let anyone push her around.

La Bte humaine

Émile Zola

Cest lun des romans les plus profonds et les plus tragiques. Lauteur a essayé de faire ce que peu de gens avaient auparavant. Le sujet principal était létude du monde intérieur du maniaque meurtrier. Le personnage principal a fait de son mieux pour faire face a la soif de violence.

Feuer im Schloß

Edgar Wallace

Der Alte ist ein geisteskranker Verbrecher, unter Verwahrung im Sanatorium von Sketchley Hill bei London. Doch dann bricht er aus. Nach 24 Jahren hat der Der Alte genug, er erschlägt den Wärter und bricht aus der Irrenanstalt auf Sketchley Hill aus. Nur wenig später trifft Lord Arranway auf einen Einbrecher in seinem Schloss. Wäre nicht Lady Arranway, hätte er den Verbrecher auf der Stelle erschossen. Und doch brennt das Schloss einige Zeit später bis auf die Grundmauern nieder. Nachdem das Schloss von Sketchley niederbrennt, wohnen Lord Arranways, seine Frau und seine Gäste im Gasthaus von Mr. Lorney. Einer der Gäste Lord Arranways wird ermordet...

The Canterville Ghost

Oscar Wilde

A family of flag-flaunting United States acquire an historic English mansion from the thoroughly prim, thoroughly British Lord Canterville. Throw in a murderous, aesthetically-minded ghost with a penchant for high drama and theater, and you have a classic, joy-inducing tale of clashing cultures, progress vs. tradition, and Wildes self-mockery of his own philosophy of decadent aestheticism. Wilde emphasized differences in culture by creating special characters and then pitting the unsophisticated tastes of the patriotic Americans patriotic as their children are named Washington and Virginia against the Brittish esteem of traditions. More telling, given the storys ending and that the events are closely placed within the historical context of conflicting views and several wars, the overall theme of forgiveness reads surprisingly fresh, even in todays time.

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

Jules Verne

This time, the author pays attention to marine life. And how beautiful this world is! How many colors are hidden under the water column, how many mysteries, to which you can add the mysteries of the disappeared ships. So, in addition to an excursion into the animal world, the reader gets some idea of historical events, in particular geographical discoveries, from the end of the 18th to the middle of the 19th centuries.

The House on the River

Fred M. White

Barnes Place the house, fascinated everyone who saw it. However, his host, Ralph Enderby, didnt care much about him and saw the house as a week-end office where he entertained his friends and weaved those business schemes which had made his name a byword amongst the City men who knew. One evening Enderby, as always was not at home. This took advantage of an attacker who tried to steal something from the safe. It turned out that it was a girl who was unhappy with the frauds of Ralph Enderby and in the safe was evidence that he wanted to ruin the life of a young woman.

Clubfoot the Avenger

Valentine Williams

Clubfoot the Avenger is a delightful treasure hunt on the Pacific island from the fearless Major Oakuvuda. The circumstances of how Okuvud gains knowledge of the treasures and the subsequent pursuit of the sworn enemy of Okuvud, clubfoot, made for a swift, intense and fascinating reading highlighted by romantic interest and a satisfactory ending.

The Double Traitor

E. Phillips Oppenheim

The Double Traitor is an espionage novel set in the days leading to the first World War. The main character is Francis Norgate, an aspiring British diplomat who falls in disfavor with his superiors for defending a woman while stationed in Berlin. The resulting scandal causes Norgate to be recalled. On the way home, he meets a German gentleman, Selingman, who claims to be a crockery salesman. But, Selingman is not what he appears to be. Disillusioned by the English government, Norgate allows himself to be recruited by Selingman. Oppenheim tells a good story a little romance, a little adventure turn of the century tales of success and failure, gain and loss.

Italian Hours

Henry James

The Italian Watch is a book of travel writing by Henry James. Everything in the book indicates that James enjoyed this luxury to its fullest. Throughout the book, he is constantly returning to the beauty and delights of Italian life, despite being too often significant shortcomings. Venice and Rome are undergoing the most extensive treatment.