The Shrieking Pit

Arthur J. Rees

Another classic book of murder mystery and mayhem skillfully written with an in depth journey to find out who really did the evil deed and why. The Shrieking Pit is one of Arthur Reess earlier works. American private detective Grant Colwyn is on a leisurely holiday in a fashionable seaside hotel in Norfolk when one morning during breakfast the strange behavior of one of the other guests catches his attention. The young man later leaves the hotel without paying his bill, and turns up in a nearby hamlet in the Norfolk marshes where he takes lodgings at the village inn. The next day, another guest at the inn is found dead, and the young man is missing. Can Colwyn sort out the mystery and prove the young mans innocence one way or the other?

The Passionate Quest

E. Phillips Oppenheim

The Passionate Quest is the story of Rosina, Philip and Matthew, who work in rural England in the glass factory owned by Rosinas uncle. All three dream of a different life: Rosina wants to be an actress, Philip a poet, and Matthew hopes for a career in high finance. They all go off to London in the passionate quest for their dreams. This 1927 novel by Edward Phillips Oppenheim where problems arise in a family business. Oppenheim inherited a leather company from his father and ran it for 20 years before he became a full time author. The business of leather features in a number of his novels. He was acutely aware of class behavior and distinctions. An enjoyable read!

A Chicago Princess

Robert Barr

The Chicago Princess is a historical novel with a romantic line, written by Robert Barr. Robert Barr (1849-1912) was a British-Canadian short story writer and novelist, who published the first Holmes parody, The Adventures of Sherlaw Kombs in 1892. A novel The Chicago Princess first published in 1904. After working several years in foreign affairs, and after winning and then losing a fortune, Rupert Tremorne is stranded in Nagasaki, at the end of his wits and in some debt. His only chance is to take the post as private secretary to the Millionaire Mr. Hemster, and to sail on with him on his yacht. Sailing around Asia is big adventure for anyone, but it is a special one for Tremorne, because besides Mr. Hemster and his staff, there are the beautiful Miss Gertrude Hemster and her companion Hilda Stretton on board. And suddenly, Tremorne has his hands full with those two ladies.

A Daughter of Astrea

E. Phillips Oppenheim

BEHOLD! cried Sabul Ahmid, with an upward sweep of his bare, brown arm, behold the Sacred Temple of the people of Astrea! I stood up in the boat, my portfolio under my arm. High on the mountains side, crowning a thick mass of laurel undergrowth, and flanked by a grove of deep, cool, byana trees, was the building to which my servant was pointing. The material whereof it was fashioned I could not at that distance determine. Only in the broad, tropical sunlight it flashed forth, a glorious and spotless white, as flawless and perfect as the purest marble or alabaster. Little minarets rose from the flat roof; and flowering shrubs, planted along the mountain terrace above, drooped about it, a brilliant scintilla of purple coloring. My fingers began to crave for my pencil. I turned to my guide with beaming face.

Drums of the Sunset

Robert E. Howard

Drums of Sunset was published in eight parts. Steve and Hard Luck, his newfound companion (or is he? The curious should check those back issues linked above!), are hot on the trail of a host of criminals ranging from Navajoes to a ring of counterfeiters. Pieces of the mystery that have plagued Steve for six installments are starting to come together. And oh, the CLIFFHANGER! Steve and Hard Luck are locked in mortal combat with a rowdy group of Native Americans.

The River of Stars

Edgar Wallace

During 1907 Edgar Wallace (1875-1932) travelled to the Congo Free State, to report on atrocities committed against the Congolese under King Leopold II of Belgium and the Belgian rubber companies, in which up to 15 million Congolese were killed. Isabel Thorne of the Weekly Tale-Teller penny magazine, invited Wallace to serialize stories inspired by his experiences. These were published as his first collection Sanders of the River (1911), a best seller. This volume, grouped with the Sanders Africa books of Wallace does not contain the usual Sanders-short stories, but is a novel, Sanders is only a minor character on the edge of the proceedings. Small-time crooks go to Africa to find a diamond river, but before and after this journey, they constantly get in their own way, with sometimes fatal consequences...

Sternentau. Die Pflanze vom Neptunsmond

Kurd Lasswitz

Der Roman Sternentau thematisiert den Besuch von Aliens auf der Erde. Auf einem Spaziergang entdeckt die junge Harda eine unbekannte Pflanze, die nicht von der Erde stammt. Sie reproduziert Elfen, deren Fähigkeiten bis zum Gedankenlesen reichen. Aber sind diese Elfen gut oder böse? Ein im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes fantastischer Roman.

The Man With the Black Feather

Gaston Leroux

There is something psychological about this story. The look of one of the heroes falls on a mysterious man. He was dressed in black, his appearance was the deepest despondency. Leroux did an excellent job of creating the bad guy we all worry about, which is really not that bad when you recognize him.