Collected Short Stories (Vol. 5). Collected Short Stories. Volume 5

Arthur Conan Doyle

If ever a writer needed an introduction Arthur Conan Doyle would not be considered that man. After all, Sherlock Holmes is perhaps the foremost literary detective of any age. The Sherlock Holmes Collection: 4 Novels (The Study in Scarlet, The Sign of Four, The Valley of Fear, The Hound of the Baskervilles) and 43 Short Stories. They are all told as Dr. Watsons memoirs and are excellently written. The Hound of the Baskervilles, a haunting novel of murder on eerie Grimpen Moor, which has rightly earned its reputation as the finest murder mystery ever written. The Valley of Fear matches Holmes against his archenemy, the master of imaginative crime, Professor Moriarty. Each story has a completely different plot which goes on smoothly till the end.

The Mystery Girl

Carolyn Wells

The cozy college town of Corinth, New England is the setting for this classic locked-room mystery by Carolyn Wells, author of The Clue. In the middle of the election of a new president of the University the favorite candidate is found dead. Is it murder or suicide? All entrances to the study where the body was found were locked from the inside. The future college president and groom-to-be had no known cause for suicide, yet no clues in either direction appeared to make any sense. Its up to Detective Fleming Stone and his remarkable ingenuity to decipher the storys twin puzzles; the mystery of the locked-room death and the true nature of... The Mystery Girl. One of Carolyn Wells most well-known novels, The Mystery Girl is an enjoyable, intriguing read that will surely leave you glad for having picked it up.

Dzieje grzechu

Stefan Żeromski

Tragiczne dzieje Ewy Pobratymskiej. Dziewczyna pochodzi ze zubożałej szlacheckiej rodziny. Ma romans z żonatym Łukaszem, któremu jej matka wynajmuje pokój. Kiedy mężczyźnie nie udaje się uzyskać rozwodu, zostawia Ewę i wyjeżdża z miasta. Ewa wpada na jego ślad i podąża za nim. Żeromski ukazuje zawikłane losy kobiety, która poprzez porzucenie przez ukochanego popada w depresję i stacza się. Morduje swoje dopiero co narodzone dziecko, spotyka się z podejrzanymi mężczyznami, zostaje prostytutką. Dzieje grzechu w momencie publikacji wywołały sprzeczne oceny. Wśród publiczności literackiej powieść stała się niezwykle popularna. Krytyka zaskoczona tematyką utworu dopatrywała się dewiacji znakomitego talentu. Orzeszkowa podejrzewała pisarza o erotomanię, a Reymont uważał powieść za pozbawiony sensu i idei pomysł. Wszystkie te reakcje wywołało pierwsze tak odważne w polskiej literaturze ukazanie tematyki seksualnej i destrukcyjnej siły miłości. Warto przekonać się po latach, co było przyczyną tak skrajnych emocji.

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

James Joyce

James Joyce first wrote Portrait as a one-thousand page novel, full of well-developed scenes and long explanations of Stephens motives, but he decided to trim it into a short book with a new sort of style. The novel tells the story of the first twenty years of Stephen Dedalus a young Catholic boy growing up in late 19th century Ireland. As the title suggests, this is the story not just of a young man, but of a boy developing into an artist. His search for knowledge and undestanding, and the decline of his familys circumstances, lead him to revelations on the nature of art and politics. His personal renaissance makes him feel unwelcome in his own nation, and forces him to decide whether to leave and accept exile, or to stay and fight. An semi-autobiographic novel, featuring a fictionalized character as Joyces alter-ego, it traces his formative childhood years that led him ambivalently away from a vocation in the clergy and into that of literature.

W kraju Mahdiego (Tom 1). W kraju Mahdiego. Łowca niewolników

Karol May

Książki Karola Maya przyciągają czytelników egzotycznymi sceneriami i ekscytującymi przygodami rozgrywającymi się na tym tle. W kraju Mahdiego to seria opowieści o Karze ben Nemzim oraz jego służącym i przyjacielu Halefie. Bohaterowie podróżują po krajach Bliskiego Wschodu, poznają przy tym różnych ludzi, odkrywają tajemnice i umykają licznym czyhającym na nich niebezpieczeństwom.

La Barre-y-va

Maurice Leblanc, Maurice Leblanc

Le manoir délabré de La Barre-y-va est lespace dévénements mystérieux et horribles. Rentant tard du théâtre un soir du mois daot, le vicomte Raoul dAvenac découvre son appartement éclairé. Il y est visité par une jolie fille qui lattend en détresse. Catherine Montessieux, la jeune femme qui en est lhéritiere, ne peut plus dormir tranquillement. Une vieille demi folle lavertit dun péril quelle ne peut préciser. Et maintenant laventurier devenu détective va entreprendre de résoudre la plus inextricable des énigmes...

The Quirt

B.M. Bower

B.M. Bower was an American writer of Western novels and short stories who wrote over 55 novels. Several of her stories were subsequently adapted and made into movies. This story of the cow country concerns the efforts of the Sawtooth Cattle Company, who number their cattle by the tens of thousands, to eliminate the smaller outfits around. Al Woodruff, the evil eye of the Sawtooth, is efficient in his particular line of work, which is the reason why Brit Hunter of the Quirt ranch calls life in the Sawtooth country extra hazardous. Action and adventure there are a-plenty.

Hamlet. Królewicz duński

William Shakespeare

Dramatyczna opowieść o władzy, szaleństwie, zawiści, zbrodni i... miłości. Duch poprzedniego króla Danii zdradza swemu synowi, młodemu królewiczowi Hamletowi tajemnicę o morderstwie, którego padł ofiarą. Hamlet symuluje obłęd, aby upewnić się w intencjach nowego króla i dowieść mu popełnionych czynów, a następnie zrealizować ojcowskie zalecenie i dokonać zemsty.

Игрок (Gracz)

Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский, Fiodor Michajłowicz Dostojewski

В романе, как в зеркале, отразились собственные сомнения, переживания и чаяния автора. Человек азартный, игрок по природе, по складу характера, Достоевский каждый раз словно бросал вызов судьбе, играл с ней, и она отвечала ему тем же. Испытывая серьезные материальные трудности и обещая написать новый роман, писатель заключил с издателем контракт, согласно которому должен был сдать текст в определенный срок, в противном случае лишался прав на издание своих сочинений. 201eИгрока201d он надиктовал за 26 дней своей стенографистке, по совету друзей вызвавшейся помогать знаменитому литератору. Работа была сдана четко в срок, а молодая ассистентка стала женой, с которой в счастливом браке Достоевский прожил до конца жизни. Увлекательный сюжет, любовные коллизии и тяга к игре как смысл бытия 2013 основные темы романа, способного захватить читателя целиком не хуже, чем самая увлекательная игра.

The House of the Schemers

Fred M. White

There were various rumors about house No.13. There were no lights, badly painted blinds were always lowered, windows were black over the years. The feeling of loneliness and secrecy permeated the interior of No.13. Surprisingly there lived a young beautiful lady, about 20 years old. However, she was very frightened. And all this darkness was displayed on it.

Le livre de la pitié et de la mort

Pierre Loti

Pour le lecteur moderne, le nom de Pierre Loti est presque oublié, et au tournant des XIX XX siecles. ses uvres ont été lues et raffinés esthetes et large lectorat. Le livre Mercy and Death contient les meilleures uvres de lécrivain, attisées par le parfum magique des aventures errantes et romantiques. En mettant en valeur des peintures exotiques dans ses uvres, P. Loti déploie de superbes drames damour sur leur fond.

The Confidence-Man. His Masquerade

Herman Melville

A post-modern masterpiece; a century ahead of its time. The novel portrays a Canterbury Tales-style group of steamboat passengers whose interlocking stories are told as they travel down the Mississippi River toward New Orleans. The novel is written as cultural satire, allegory, and metaphysical treatise, dealing with themes of sincerity, identity, morality, religiosity, economic materialism, irony, and cynicism. And the novel itself tests the confidence of the reader as each character slides away beneath the muddy prose waters of the river. Melville introduces characters who change identities so rapidly that the reader is confronted with a portrait of the American frontier as perceived through a series of disguises.

The Riddle of the Spinning Wheel

Thomas W. Hanshew

Hamilton Cleek is a renaissance man for the ages: an intellectual giant with the brawn of ten men, he serves as a consulting detective, often helping Scotland Yard with particularly challenging cases. With the power to distort and transform his visage and mimic any mannerism he desires, Cleek, with the assistance of his cockney assistant Dollops, makes a super natural detective! In The Riddle of the Spinning Wheel, a young woman concerned that the turmoil in her family could lead to her fathers murder seeks help from Mr. Cleek of Scotland Yard. Her fear comes to pass when a room is pitched into darkness and the strange sound of a spinning wheel is the omen of death. Cleek finds himself at the center of a confounding whodunit. Will this be the mystery that finally pushes him over the edge?

Brentwood

Grace Livingston Hill

Brentwood is a romance novel of a young woman adopted by a well to do couple. Marjorie Wetherill had always known she was an adopted child; her adoptive parents, the Wetherills, whom Marjorie loved deeply, had made no secret of it. But when she faces her first Christmas alone after her parents deaths, she starts to wonder about finding her first family. A letter among Mrs. Wetherills things gives her the key to start a search that will change her life. Is Marjorie strong enough to learn of the past and face the reality of meeting her birth relations? Grace Livingston Hill is the beloved author of more than 100 books. Read and enjoyed by millions, her wholesome stories contain adventure, romance, and the heartwarming triumphs of people faced with the problems of life and love.

Behind That Curtain

Earl Derr Biggers

Biggers third book in the Charlie Chan series involves the detective in a case that spans decades and continents, culminating in the city of San Francisco. This time Charlie pulls aside the curtain that conceals a mystery far in the past. The plot links a present day murder with another murder some year previously, combined with a series of disappearances of young women. Charlie Chan is still trying to leave San Francisco after a vacation that turned into a job of detection. Once again hes kept from leaving by a case: the murder of Sir Frederick Bruce, ex-head of the Criminal Investigation Unit at Scotland Yard. Despite his retirement, Sir Frederick cant resist pursuing certain unsolved cases to their end. His end comes before his success, and its Charlie Chans fate to carry on. How Charlie gets involved is a part of the deliciously complex plot that the reader can look forward to.

Queen Lucia

E.F. Benson

The village of Rieseholm worships Queen Lucia. She completely commands the village, the ever-benevolent dictator of all things that really matter. However, someone had the pleasure of overthrowing a queen so great. And it was Olga Braisley, an opera singer from London. She is a real celebrity, not at all like that queen. Can she do it?

Mr Blettsworthy on Rampole Island

Herbert George Wells

Often called the father of science fiction, British author Herbert George Wells literary works are notable for being some of the first titles of the science fiction genre. Mr. Blettsworthy on Rampole Island is a 1928 novel by H. G. Wells. It tells the story of a young Englishman Arnold Blettsworthy who, after being betrayed by a business partner, is advised to go travelling in an attempt to recover from his severe disillusionment. During the voyage the ship is wrecked and Mr. Blettsworthy gets on Rampole island inhabited by unfriendly savages. However, instead of being full of relaxation and recuperation his trip is filled with nautical mutinies, cannibals, and much that is not what it seems. The novel combines several authors favorite themes, namely, love, marriage, politics, adventure and science fiction.

The Yellow Face

Fred M. White

A young, ambitious lawyer, Jack Masefield has his own problems and suspicions. He is in love with a beautiful young Clair and is convinced that her guardian, the famous criminologist Spencer Anstruther, is himself a criminal and plays some kind of mysterious game, and that posters on the streets are part of his scheme. This book captures from the start. And each page that you flip reveals new and new secrets.

The Loudwater Mystery

Edgar Jepson

This novel was first published in 1920 and is along the lines of a classic whodunnit. Lord Loudwater is brash, short tempered and always bullying people. He was loved by none, feared by many and hated by all. When he is inexplicably found fatality stabbed with a letter opener, the list of suspects seems endless. Unfortunately for Detective Flexen, who is to investigate the case, Lord Loudwater was not a very agreeable sort of fellow and almost every person in his vicinity had a motive for the crime. Was it his young wife or her lover, his former fiancé or even one of the servants? If you like the old style crime novels where you are presented with a puzzle and have to try and work out who the killer is, then you should like this.

Na kresach lasów. Powieść

Wacław Sieroszewski

Na kresach lasów to powieść Wacława Sieroszewskiego prezentująca obraz życia mieszkańców Jakucji krainy w północnej Rosji na tle syberyjskiej przyrody. Do małej wioski dociera polski zesłaniec, którego tubylcy biorą na Rosjanina. Wraz z nim poznajemy obyczaje Jakutów i przekonujemy się, jak hermetyczna jest to społeczność, jak bardzo odmienna i jak trudno czasem znaleźć zrozumienie.

As You Like It

William Shakespeare

One of the earliest comedies of Shakespeare. And at the moment one of the most relevant. The plot of the play is built on dressing a woman into a man, on the love of a man for a woman, a woman for a disguised woman, and so on. The second comedy plan shows how different family relationships can be one step from love to hate. And the fact that you are one blood does not mean anything, good relations are more important.

Na srebrnym globie. Rękopis z Księżyca

Jerzy Żuławski

Pierwsza część Trylogii księżycowej Jerzego Żuławskiego jednego z pionierów polskiej fantastyki naukowej. Napisana w formie pamiętnika z wyprawy, opowiada o misji kolonizacyjnej na Księżyc i tworzeniu tam nowego społeczeństwa. Fantastyczny sztafaż pozwala snuć refleksję o zmaganiach człowieka z własnymi słabościami i mechanizmach rządzących ludzkimi relacjami społecznymi.

Faraon

Bolesław Prus

Starożytny Egipt, XI wiek przed naszą erą. Państwem zarządza młody faraon Ramzes XIII. Następca tronu zamierza przeprowadzić reformy, które poprawią los poddanych. Tymczasem skarbiec faraona jest pusty, rośnie też zadłużenie państwa pożyczającego ogromne sumy od Fenicjan. Niezbędne do reform środki młody władca zamierza zdobyć podczas wojny z bogatą Asyrią. Planom Ramzesa sprzeciwiają się jednak kapłani, którzy mają znaczący wpływ na politykę państwa i którzy posiadają bogactwa ukryte w podziemnym labiryncie. Ramzes podejmuje walkę z kapłanami, której celem jest przywrócenie pełni władzy faraonom. Nie docenia jednak wiedzy i siły swych przeciwników...

The Mystery of Edwin Drood

Charles Dickens

As in many of Dickenss greatest novels, the gulf between appearance and reality drives the action. Set in the seemingly innocuous cathedral town of Cloisterham, the story rapidly darkens with a sense of impending evil. Charles Dickenss final, unfinished novel is in many ways his most intriguing. A highly atmospheric tale of murder, The Mystery of Edwin Drood foreshadows both the detective stories of Conan Doyle and the nightmarish novels of Kafka. Though The Mystery of Edwin Drood is one of its authors darkest books, it also bustles with a vast roster of memorable-and delightfully named-minor characters: Mrs. Billikins, the landlady; the foolish Mr. Sapsea; the philanthropist, Mr. Honeythunder; and the mysterious Datchery. Several attempts have been made over the years to complete the novel and solve the mystery, but even in its unfinished state it is a gripping and haunting masterpiece.