The Brigand

Edgar Wallace

The Brigand (1927) is a collection of a dozen fast-paced, frothy crime capers set in a Britain still reeling from 1926s General Strike. An excellent collection of connected short stories all about likeable conman Anthony Newton. Newton returning from the Great War and unable to find employment decides start redistributing wealth in his own way. Deprived of a legal source of income and faced with homelessness and hunger he decides to become a brigand a sort of modern-day Robin Hood and trick rich capitalists into parting with their ill-gotten gains. Some of the ruses are clever, some only mildly interesting. This effectively boils down to a series of elaborate cons and heists with crooked and corrupt capitalists as his targets.

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?

Dodo. A Detail of the Day

E.F. Benson

Previously, the situation is slightly different from today. Many ladies in search of a better life did not married out of love, but behind the material part of men. So in our history, the frivolous queen marries due to money and status and ultimately pays for it. The author, as always, makes us empathize with our main character.

Kądziel

Maria Rodziewiczówna

Podczas gdy w Polsce coraz głośniejsze stają się postulaty emancypacji kobiet, samotna matka Taida Skarszewska stara się pogodzić zarządzanie majątkiem z wychowywaniem dwóch synów. Według niej należy pogodzić bycie gospodynią z niezależnością.

Собачье сердце (Psie serce)

Михаил Афанасиевич Булгаков, Michaił Afanasjewicz Bułhakow

201eСобачье сердце201d 2013 одно из самых любимых читателями произведений Михаила Булгакова. Вас ждет рассказ о необыкновенном эксперименте гениального ученого. Известный московский профессор Преображенский решается на эксперимент по пересадке гипофиза умершего бездомного пьяницы и хулигана Клима Чугункина милому псу Шарику, найденному на улице. Очеловечивание произошло, но эксперимент, увы, не удался. Вместо доброй собаки на свет появляется безобразный, тупой и агрессивный Полиграф Полиграфович Шариков, который унаследовал от своего «донора» лишь дурные черты. Цепкая натура дебошира и разгильдяя 2013 к несчастью, мерзкая, наглая, неблагодарная 2013 подавляет благородное собачье сердце, и профессору ничего не остается, как совершить обратное превращение...

Bettys Happy Year

Carolyn Wells

What a gorgeous day for a sleigh-ride! Did you ever see such sunny, twinkling snow, and such crisp, crackly air? It fairly snaps off as you breathe it! Betty McGuire stood on the steps of the veranda as she spoke. Her mother, in the doorway, was smiling down at her, and her pony, Dixie, was jingling his bells and pawing at the snow and ice in the driveway below. It was the first trial of the pretty new cutter, and the joyous excitement of the occasion made Bettys cheeks as red as her scarlet tam-o-shanter cap, or her red cloth coat with its high fur collar. Betty drew on her driving-gloves, still talking to her mother. Isnt it a darling sleigh, Mother? Did you ever see such a pretty one? And Dixie is so proud of it. Its a beauty, Betty. I know youll enjoy it. Are you taking Tilly for a ride? Bettys Happy Year is a thrilling tale for younger ladies by Carolyn Wells, written in 1910.

The Lady in the Car. In Which the Amours of a Mysterious Motorist are Related

William Le Queux

The Prince broke open a big box of choice Petroffs, selected one, lit it slowly, and walked pensively to the window. He was in a good mood that morning, for he had just got rid of a troublesome visitor.

The Metal Monster

Otis Adelbert Kline

Originally published in 1931, The Metal Monster is a classic science-fiction novel by Otis Adelbert Kline (1891-1946), best known for his interplanetary adventure novels set on Venus and Mar. When the most powerful artillery, deadly bacteria and explosives known, and the most destructive methods available fail to be effective against some enemys unknown weapon of war, it is time, very frequently, to turn to some simple means of combat and attack. Paradoxically, though, it is the simple thing that is so difficult to hit upon. In fact, like some of the greatest discoveries and inventions, the most destructive chemical solutions are often discovered by sheer accident. For instance, who could ever have thought purposefully of the chemical that was finally adopted by the hero of this story?