The Secret of Father Brown

G.K. Chesterton

Have you wondered how the great detectives solved their cases? In The Secret of Father Brown, while visiting Flambeaus house Father Brown meets a curious American who has to know as some of his countrymen think Father Brown is using mystical powers. The fourth of the Father Brown detective story collections has something the first three did not: a framing sequence at the beginning and end, in which Father Brown explains to a curious person his method for solving crimes he becomes the criminal. In this collection he becomes several jewel thieves and murderers, all of whom carry out their crimes in bizarre circumstances. Father Brown, or rather Chesterton, takes opportunity on occasion to indulge in a bit of Catholic apologetic or homiletic, but it never takes over the story: it makes Father Brown that much more a priest and not just a mystery-solving machine.

The Story of Doctor Dolittle

Hugh Lofting

The small, plump and shy Dr. Doolittle is a wonderful doctor whose love of animals deprives his patients. But after his parrot Polynesia teaches him to speak in animal languages, the Doctor becomes famous in the animal world, and travels around the world and even to the Moon! The doctor and his pets go to Africa to save the kingdom of monkeys from the plague. This book is for various age. Even an adult like it.

The War in the Air

Herbert George Wells

Bert Smallways is the unlikely protagonist, a kind of Edwardian Mod, not interested in a steady career, always looking for a good time, riding his proto-scooter down to Brighton at the weekends. When Bert is accidentally scooped up by a German fleet, on its way to launch a surprise attack on the United States, he finds himself with a front row seat to the greatest war that has ever been the war in the air! This new war is to be a different sort of war than all the wars that came before it, unprecedented in its ferocity and destructiveness. The art of war has completely changed with the coming of airplanes, which the author very eloquently brings out. The War in the Air is a story of the awful devastation following a conflict between two first-class powers with the resources of the air at their command. It is one of the most brilliant and successful of Mr. Wellss studies in futurity.

Firebrand Trevison

Charles Alden Seltzer, Charles Alden Seltzer

Charles Alden Seltzer was one of 20th century Americas most prolific authors, and his specialty was Westerns that were so popular in the country in the decades after the frontier had been completely settled. In addition to the books he wrote, Seltzer would have a role in dozens of films as well, making him one of the most instrumental figures in the genre. "Firebrand Trevison is a story about a ranch owner who runs afoul of a land grabber, both of whom are in love with the same girl, the daughter of a railroad owner. Firebrand Trevison is a different kind of cowboy. He stands up for what he believes in despite the law. When Corrigan tries to swindle all the local homesteaders from their land its Treviston who saves the day. Twists and turns in the plot keeps the reader guessing.

The Ear in the Wall

Arthur B. Reeve

The scientific detective known as the American Sherlock Holmes pursues a ruthless arch villain in this high-stakes suspense novel. The Exploits of Elaine is a collection of short stories about a beautiful young woman Elaine, whos father was murdered by the mysterious gang leader The Clutching Hand, and who is subsequently terrorized by him and his gang. Using the latest advances in forensic science, the professor Craig Kennedy and his loyal sidekick, newspaper reporter Walter Jameson, uncover the exotic and deadly scheme behind the murders. But when the Clutching Hand and his band of evildoers kidnap Elaine, Kennedy must shed his lab coat and leap into action before its too late.

Plays

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

Chekhov extracts from his everyday life the themes of frustration that apply to all of us the difficulty of creating a happy existence, problems of love, the extinction of hope. His pyems are full of tragedy. The theme of the suffering of the current generation. While he hopes the next generation will have a better life. In almost all the plays there is an alcoholic, unrequited love, unhappy marriage, people are irresponsible financially.

The Wolf-Leader

Alexandre Dumas

During the absolutism in France, the young clog-maker Thibaudt has a deep desire to belong to the aristocracy. One day he saves the life of a wolf, who fled from the baron Jean de Vez and his hunting party. A while later Thibaudt imagine his amazement: the wolf transformed himself into a human and offers him a pact. The wolf promises to grant Thibaults wishes in exchange for a hair on his head. As Thibault wishes harm upon more and more people, the hairs on his head become red and wiry. Thibaults life only gets worse, however; he is able to take revenge on his enemies, but the villagers suspect him to be a werewolf. The Wolf-Leader, a novel by Alexandre Dumas, was originally published in 1857. In the lengthy but entertaining introduction, Dumas explains that the novel is based on folktales he grew up hearing in his hometown of Villers-Cotterts. This particular tale was told to him by a gamekeeper who often took him hunting as a young man. The novel contains elements of horror, fantasy, and science fiction, yet it times is also quite comic.

Ursula

Honoré de Balzac

Ursula novel is one of the pillars of the Scenes of Provincial Life section of Honoré de Balzacs story cycle The Human Comedy. Through a series of tragedies and coincidences, a kind and pious teenager named Ursula has been taken in by an octogenarian wealthy doctor, Denis Minoret. Inspired by Ursulas goodness, Minoret decides to make her his chief heir. This incites the ire of his other relatives, and a ruthless war for Minorets estate breaks out. In this book Balzac examines the manners and morals in the French provinces and penetratingly depicts the small-mindedness, avarice, and envy of the provincial lower middle classes. In Ursula, no limitations based on morality or decency will hold these people back in their effort to acquire wealth and influence.