Traditional Detectives

For the staff of the library at the center of The Widening Stain, it's easy enough to dismiss the death of a woman who fell from a rolling ladder as nothing more than an unfortunate accident. It's more difficult, however, to explain away the strangled corpse of a man found inside a locked room, surrounded by rare and obscure erotica.

The story begins with a visit to 221B Baker Street from Steve Dixie, a black man and a cowardly ruffian who warns Sherlock Holmes to keep away from Harrow. Although Dixie has come to intimidate Holmes, Holmes secures Dixie's future cooperation by threatening to tell what he knows about the suspicious Perkins death involving Dixie. Dixie's boss is Barney Stockdale, and he must be connected with the Harrow Weald case, of which Holmes has just learnt from a message from Mary Maberley, a lady who lives at Three Gables, a house at Harrow Weald.

Holmes is visited by Mrs. Merrilow, a landlady from South Brixton who has an unusual lodger who never shows her face. She saw it once accidentally and it was hideously mutilated. This woman, formerly very quiet, has recently taken to cursing in the night, shouting "Murder, murder!" and "You cruel beast! You monster!" Also, her health has taken a turn for the worse, and she is wasting away.

Holmes is enjoying his retirement in Sussex when one day at the beach, he meets his friend Harold Stackhurst, the headmaster of a nearby preparatory school called The Gables. No sooner have they met than Stackhurst's science teacher, Fitzroy McPherson, staggers up to them, clearly in agony and wearing only an overcoat and trousers. He collapses, manages to say something about a "lion's mane", and then succumbs. He is observed to have red welts all over his back, possibly administered by a flexible weapon of some kind, for the marks curve over his shoulder and round his ribs.

Sherlock Holmes is hired by a retired art supply dealer from Lewisham, Josiah Amberley, to look into his wife's disappearance. She has left with a neighbour, Dr. Ray Ernest, taking a sizeable quantity of cash and securities. Amberley wants the two tracked down.

In January 1903, at Baker Street, James M. Dodd sees Holmes about a missing friend, Godfrey Emsworth. Dodd and Emsworth served together in the Imperial Yeomanry in South Africa during the Second Boer War, which has only just ended. Emsworth was wounded during this war. Dodd has not seen him since the report of his injury leading Dodd to believe something is amiss.

This audiobook contains the first three adventures of A. E. W Mason’s enigmatic and mercurial Sûreté detective, Inspector Hanaud—a key inspiration for Agatha Christie’s celebrated sleuth Hercule Poirot. First, Hanaud investigates the murder of wealthy Mme Dauvray at the fashionable French resort of Aix-les-Bains. Then, during a visit to London, Hanaud unravels a case of theft and murder following a costume party at a prestigious hotel.

A reporter drowses off at his typewriter, to awaken to a very strange presence that has the appearance of a misshapen man. The "creature" appears not to be of this world, but when it begins to speak in a very strange voice it obviously knows George the reporter, and it has a story to tell.

When DCI Freya Bloom is called to a crime scene early one Sunday morning, little does she know that the friendships she has counted on so many times will be called into question and her time in the Lincolnshire fens could be coming to an untimely end…along with her career. The victim, a retired woman named Linda Wilson, lies at the edge of a small forest atop the Lincoln edge, a steep escarpment that runs throughout Lincolnshire.

The Valley of Fear is the fourth and final Sherlock Holmes novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It is loosely based on the Molly Maguires and Pinkerton agent James McParland. The story was first published in the Strand Magazine between September 1914 and May 1915. The first book edition was copyrighted in 1914, and it was first published by George H. Doran Company in New York on 27 February 1915, and illustrated by Arthur I. Keller. The novel starts with Sherlock Holmes receiving a cipher message from Fred Porlock, a pseudonymous agent of Professor Moriarty.

The Adventure of the Naval Treaty, one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 12 stories in the cycle collected as The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. Doyle ranked The Adventure of the Naval Treaty 19th in a list of his 19 favourite Sherlock Holmes stories. Holmes explains that several clues all pointed to Joseph: the thief knew the ways of the office well, given that he had rung the bell before seeing the treaty; Phelps had shown his relatives around the office; Joseph had dined in London that evening, and took the 11:00 PM train to Woking.

The Two Barques is a short story by Arthur Conan Doyle first published in the Pearson's Magazine in march 1897. 2nd story of the Captain Sharkey saga. In Kingston, an elderly logwood-cutter saw Captain Sharkey's pirate barque, the Happy Delivery, careening at Torbec on the south-west of Hispaniola, as well as Sharkey himself, with four men, buccaneering on the outlying island of La Vache. Stephen Craddock, an adventurer comes to the Governor Sir Edward Compton with a plan for the extirpation of Sharkey.

"The Adventure of the Reigate Squire", also known as The Adventure of the Reigate Puzzle or "The Adventure of the Reigate Squires", was one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventure of the Reigate Squires was first published in 1893. It is one of 12 stories in the cycle collected as The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. Doyle ranked "The Adventure of the Reigate Squire" twelfth in his list of his twelve favorite Holmes stories. The elder Cunningham's confidence is broken after his arrest and he tells all.

The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle is one of 56 short Sherlock Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the seventh story of twelve in the collection The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. It was first published in Strand Magazine in January 1892. As London prepares for Christmas, newspapers report the theft of the near-priceless gemstone, the "Blue Carbuncle", from the hotel suite of the Countess of Morcar. John Horner, a plumber and a previously convicted felon, is soon arrested for the theft. Despite Horner's claims of innocence, the police are sure that they have their man.

The Problem of Thor Bridge is a Sherlock Holmes murder mystery by Arthur Conan Doyle in The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes, first published in 1922 in The Strand Magazine (UK) and Hearst's International (US). Neil Gibson, the Gold King and former Senator from "some Western state", approaches Holmes to investigate the murder of his wife Maria in order to clear his children's governess, Grace Dunbar, of the crime. It soon emerges that Mr. Gibson's marriage had been unhappy and he treated his wife very badly. He had fallen in love with her when he met her in Brazil, but soon realised they had nothing in common.

A collection of stories from the most famous Western author of all time! Desert Death-Song is a compilation of some of Louis L’Amour’s greatest stories, many of which might otherwise be difficult to find. Whether he was writing under his early pen name, Jim Mayo, or his own, L’Amour’s stories are unforgettable, touching on rough and rugged American ideals, and set in the untamable frontier of the Western United States.

There will never be another Western writer like Louis L’Amour. A legendary author and indisputably the greatest storyteller in his genre of all time, L’Amour captivated millions of readers and has sold well over three hundred million copies of his works, which includes nearly ninety novels and countless short stories. Mistakes Can Kill You highlights an essential selection featuring nine of L’Amour’s earlier short stories, sometimes written under the pen name Jim Mayo, that exemplify the rugged morality of the best Western writing.

November 1917. William Moreland is in mid-flight. After nearly 20 years, the notorious thief known as the Ridgerunner has returned. Moving through the Rocky Mountains and across the border to Montana, the solitary drifter, impoverished in means and aged beyond his years, is also a widower and a father. And he is determined to steal enough money to secure his son’s future.

The end of the colonies' fight for independence ushers in a fresh and even more glorious struggle to build the new nation. It is an epoch ripe with the energy of a country in its springtime. Two young heirs to a family dynasty turn their eyes west - the frontier beckons. It took a special breed to give up the comfortable life along our eastern seaboard. Who knew what lay beyond? But when Abraham Kent fell in love with his beautiful stepsister, he knew that leaving was the only course open to him.

A collection of stories capturing what it means to be a cowboy.

The penultimate volume in John Jakes’s stirring Kent Family Chronicles finds America booming in its postwar prosperity. With this newly secured peace comes an opportunity for the Kent family to reconcile and to thrive, both personally and financially. Gideon Kent takes up his father’s vow to reunite the family, but when he brings his father’s widow back into the fold, the repercussions seem insurmountable.

The gruesome corpse of a young woman is found beside a long Montana highway called the Hi-Line. Her jaw and teeth are missing, and she is impossible to identify. Full of anger and without a clue, Du Pre begins to hunt the countryside for her murderer. As more dismembered corpses - all young women - are discovered, the small ranching community goes into shock.

Webb Calder fought the newcomers who rushed to claim grasslands where Calder cattle grazed. But he could not resist Lilli - a proud and lovely young immigrant, loyal to the homesteader's cause, and to her husband.Still, a Calder kept what he had and got what he wanted. Where a man stands for what he believes, there Stands a Calder Man.

Pour un noël pas comme les autres, rejoignez Sanchez et retrouvez l'univers déjanté de la saga du "Livre sans nom". Quand une Dame Mystique décide d'apprendre les bonnes manières à notre Sanchez préféré, les conséquences sont terribles... Entre un dîner de noël d'entreprise, une relation amoureuse qui bat de l'aile et une attaque de terroristes assoiffés de sang, notre anti-héros finit par se retrouver pris dans un véritable piège... de cristal ! Sa lâcheté et son mauvais esprit seront-ils des armes suffisantes pour lui permettre de se tirer d'affaire ?

The Kents' saga expands as its first heroine takes center stage in the relentless struggle to build the family dynasty opening twenty-two years after the events of The Seekers, John Jakes's fourth Kent Family novel spans the blood-soaked era of America's relentless expansion into the West. Amanda Kent, daughter of Gilbert Kent and Harriet Lebow, is one of the few women to escape the massacre at the Battle of the Alamo.

The definitive volume in Jakes’s best-selling series finds the Kent family reaching to finally embrace its legacy - and its futureIn the final installment of the Kent Family Chronicles, the remaining Kents seek to fulfill Philip Kent’s original American dream. As Gideon Kent’s health deteriorates, he fears for the future of his family.

This addictive John Jakes adventure blends the Kents’ ruthless push for an empire with murderous betrayal and the Civil War’s life-altering culmination. With the Civil War reaching its gory climax, the divided Kent family is pushed to the edge of complete destruction. With the advent of the transcontinental Union Pacific Railroad, the Kents continue to fight for their foothold among America’s wealthy founding families. While their private, insular war rages, young Jeremiah Kent is tempted by a calculating Southern belle into a trap of deceit, lust, and murder.

Tilling Green was a charming little village nestling in the Ledshire countryside. Not at all the sort of place you would expect to find an anonymous letter writer. And when one of the recipients, a young woman, was found drowned in the lake belonging to the Manor House, Miss Silver was persuaded to go and investigate. Valentine Grey was marrying one Gilbert Earle, but on the night of Valentine's pre-wedding party Jason Leigh, Valentine's former love, returned after months without a word.

One man finds himself torn between two cultures in this sweeping tale of frontier life in post–Civil War era Texas. In the years following the American War Between the States, the once vacated military presence in west Texas is on the rise to protect the waves of settlers moving into the region. Living peaceably with the Mescalero Apache, half-breed former military scout Holton Lang promotes the tentative harmony between the US cavalry and the Native American population.

The great Calder empire stretched across the Montana plains as far as the eye could see. Everyone knew a Calder's word was law, and that one day Chase Calder would carry the family name to new glories. But for handsome, arrogant Chase Calder there was also beautiful Maggie O'Rourke. She came to him in innocence and stirred in him a deep, insistent longing.