XYZ. A Detective Story

Anna Katharine Green

A brief early American detective novella written in 1883 by Anna Katharine Green that tells the story of a detective who arrives in a small town in Massachusetts in an attempt to investigate counterfeiters possibly connected to a series of mysterious letters addressed only to X Y Z. While he is questioning the postmaster, he learns of the Benson family and their super secretive lifestyle. They are rich and reclusive. The detective feels there is something amiss and switches his investigation to them the letters and counterfeiting is dropped. That eventuates in murder. He steps into the very shoes of the person being framed for the crime, with some interesting results.

The Cat Burglar and Other Stories

Edgar Wallace

A collection of 7 short mystery/romance stories by the great story-teller Wallace which contains the following works: The Cat Burglar, The Pick-Up, Discovering Rex, The Clue Of Mondays Settling, Establishing Charles Bullivant, Sentimental Simpson, White Stocking. The Cat Burglar takes place in the British capital. Here we can see family jealousies, intrigues and double games, all because of a mysteriously disappeared emerald. Sentimental Simpson is the story of a house breaker with a soft heart. Although Wallace wrote many stand alone novels it is, perhaps, for his series based material-always popular with readers-that he remains best known. He was one of the most popular and prolific authors of his era.

Pan Wołodyjowski

Henryk Sienkiewicz

Pan Wołodyjowski to trzecia z trzech powieści historycznych będących częścią Trylogii Henryka Sienkiewicza. Akcja utworu rozgrywa się w latach 16681673 w okresie wojen z Turcją. Po śmierci narzeczonej pułkownik Michał Wołodyjowski z rozpaczy wstępuje do zakonu. Pan Zagłoba znajduje jednak sposób, by mały żołnierz znów wrócił do służby. Przypadkowo na leśnej drodze rycerze spotykają siostrę pana Michała i jej dwie podopieczne Krzysię i Basię. Wołodyjowski zabiera panie do domu, który Ketling przed wyjazdem powierzył jego opiece. Powrót gospodarza burzy nadzieję Michała na szczęście u boku Krzysi. Jednak druga z panien nie będzie miała wątpliwości co do wyboru swego serca...

Отцы и дети (Ojcowie i dzieci)

Иван Сергеевич Тургенев, Iwan Siergiejewicz Turgieniew

201eОтцы и дети201d 2013 знаменитый роман Тургенева, ставший одним из самых известных русских произведений в истории о взаимоотношениях поколений. Споры главного героя Евгения Базарова, называющего себя нигилистом, и отрицающего всеобщие представления о жизни, искусстве, морали, человеческой природе, и его антагониста Павла Кирсанова, аристократа в полном значении этого слова, составляют центральную проблематику романа. Но сюжетная линия строится больше на внутреннем конфликте самого Базарова. Только что отрицавший все устоявшиеся понятия герой, не веривший в любовь, смеявшийся над своим другом, способным на нежные чувства, вдруг сам глубоко и страстно влюбляется. И всё вдруг переворачивается с ног на голову 2013 с любовью Базаров совладать не в силах, она оказывается сильнее самых твердых убеждений...

The Kidnapping of Madame Storey

Hulbert Footner

Love humor writing? Cant get enough of classic adventure tales? First published in 1902, The Adventures of Gerard are the autobiographical reminiscences of an old fictional brigadier soldier who served under Napoleon. He never hesitates to embellish his own bravado, importance, and attractiveness to the ladies, to such an extent that it cant help but be humorous. Etienne Gerard, a hussar of the French Army, is dashing, flamboyant, and unbelievably full of himself. The book is divided into chapters containing different segments of his life as a soldier under the leadership of Napoleon together with his personal exploits and the romance that swept his way in between. These short stories are historically interesting, the action is cleverly done and exciting, and the hero and his comic comportment are very entertaining.

Barnaby Rudge. A Tale of the Riots of Eighty

Charles Dickens

Based around the Gordon riots of 1780 as seen through the eyes of the simple but good-hearted Barnaby Rudge. This is Dickens fifth novel and it was his first attempt to write an historical novel and was inspired by the Walter Scotts novels. It is the most neglected, but most rewarding tale of treachery, forbidden love, abduction and the dangerous power of the mob. Barnaby Rudge is a half-witted young innocent simpleton who is devoted to his talkative raven, Grip. When he gets caught up in the mayhem of the Gordon riots and a mysterious unsolved murder, his life is put in jeopardy. And, as London erupts into riot, Barnaby Rudge himself struggles to escape the curse of his own past. With its dramatic descriptions of public violence and private horror, its strange secrets and ghostly doublings, Barnaby Rudge is a powerful, disturbing blend of historical realism and Gothic melodrama.

The Author of Beltraffio

Henry James

In this story, a mother allows her only child, a seven-year-old boy, to die of diphtheria only so that he will never be subjected to the corrupting influence of the books written by his father, which she deeply condemns. Anyone who imagines motherly love and at least once saw the torment of a child restlessly darting in his crib, fighting for every breath, would never have invented such a monstrous story. The French call it litterature. By this word they denote works created on the basis of a cheap literary effect, devoid of any likelihood.

The Coming of the Law

Charles Alden Seltzer

Charles Alden Seltzer (15 August 18759 February 1942) was an American writer. He was a prolific author of western novels, had writing credits for more than a dozen film titles, and authored numerous stories published in magazines, most prominently in Argosy. The Coming of the Law is a story of a young eastern newspaper man who goes West to a small town, and takes charge of a run-down newspaper, fights against an association of cattle rustlers for the benefit of the small ranchers, and wins. The hero is very much of a hero and manages to keep the peace and do justice without using his revolver. A little above the average of western stories, interesting, very exciting in parts and with some good local color. This is a western as only Seltzer could write it.