Classic Thrillers

Ernest Malik had been right when he had looked at Maigret with a smile that was a mixture of sarcasm and contempt. This wasn't a case for him. He was out of his depth. This world was unfamiliar to him, and he had difficulty piecing it all together. Peacefully tending his garden in the countryside, Maigret is called upon to investigate a rich family with skeletons in their cupboard - and finds himself confronted by lies, snobbery and malice.

Briseis has a gift: she can grow plants from tiny seeds to rich blooms with a single touch. When Briseis’ aunt dies and wills her a dilapidated estate in rural New York, Bri and her parents decide to leave Brooklyn behind for the summer. Hopefully there, surrounded by plants and flowers, Bri will finally learn to control her gift. But their new home is sinister in ways they could never have imagined - it comes with a specific set of instructions, an old-school apothecary and a walled garden filled with the deadliest botanicals in the world.

Nicolae Polscaru, a three-and-a-half-foot-tall dwarf, is tossed into a Hollywood swimming pool by four drunken screenwriters, who take bets on how long he can tread water. Minor Jackson, his OSS training still fresh a year after World War II's end, beats the bullies senseless and pulls Nicolae from the water. A friendship is born. Jackson is broke, his spying days over, and Nicolae offers him a job.

A celebrated writer by the time the war broke out in 1914, Maugham had the perfect cover for living in Switzerland. Multilingual and knowledgeable about many European countries, he was dispatched by the Secret Service to Lucerne - under the guise of completing a play. An assignment whose danger and drama appealed both to his sense of romance and of the ridiculous. Ashenden is a collection of stories rooted in Maugham's own experiences as an agent, reflecting the ruthlessness and brutality of espionage, its intrigue and treachery, as well as its absurdity.

A Ms. Mary Morstan arrives at 221B Baker Street with a case for Sherlock Holmes and his companion, Dr. John Watson. Some ten years prior, her father, Captain Arthur Morstan, returned to London while on leave from his post in India—only to go missing. Adding another layer to the mystery are six pearls in her possession, having received one per year since 1882. The sixth and most recently received pearl was accompanied by a letter asking for a meeting, claiming Ms. Morstan is a wronged woman.

A sinister case of deadly poisoned chocolates from Sodbury Cross's high street shop haunts the group of friends and relatives assembled at Bellegarde, among the orchards of 'peach-fancier' Marcus Chesney. To prove a point about how the sweets could have been poisoned under the nose of the shopkeeper, Chesney stages an elaborate memory game to test whether any of his guests can see beyond their 'black spectacles'; that is, to see the truth without assumptions as witnesses.

The Duke of Denver, accused of murder, stands trial for his life in the House of Lords. Naturally, his brother Lord Peter Wimsey is investigating the crime - this is a family affair. The murder took place at the duke's shooting lodge and Lord Peter's sister was engaged to marry the dead man. But why does the duke refuse to co-operate with the investigation? Can he really be guilty, or is he covering up for someone?

'No sign of foul play,' says Dr Carr after the post-mortem on Agatha Dawson. The case is closed. But Lord Peter Wimsey is not satisfied... With no clues to work on, he begins his own investigation. No clues, that is, until the sudden, senseless murder of Agatha's maid. What is going on in the mysterious Mrs Forrest's Mayfair flat? And can Wimsey catch a desperate murderer before he himself becomes one of the victims?

In a world of demons, goblins, witches, sirens, werewolves, vampires, and so much more, it can be difficult to determine who is guilty of what and why. Chris White is a detective who fearlessly investigates this supernatural world, himself a unique product of it. He will take any case brought to him, but has a particular affinity for helping those who inhabit the poor districts of his city. From strange rituals and runaway vampires, to fighting sorcerers and confronting a demon lord, this paranormal detective will face any challenge-even a dance with the devil.

The dark side of glamorous expat life in Paris is brought to life in this new translation. Try to imagine a guest, a wealthy woman, staying at the Majestic with her husband, her son, a nurse and a governess...in a suite that costs more than a thousand francs a day.... At six in the morning, she's strangled, not in her room but in the basement locker room.... In all likelihood, that's where the crime was committed.... What was the woman doing in the basement? Who could have lured her down there, and how?

The assignment begins with a simple errand - a parcel to deliver. But to Alan Stewart, standing on a deserted road in Iceland with a murdered man at his feet, it looks anything but simple. The desolate terrain is obstacle enough. But when Stewart realises he has been double-crossed and that the opposition is gaining ground, his simple mission seems impossible....

A young cabaret dancer in a black silk dress leads Maigret into a seamy world of nightclubs, drug addiction and exploitation on the streets of Montmartre. 'He opened the door for her and watched her walk away down the huge corridor, then hesitate at the top of the stairs. Heads turned as she passed. You sensed she came from a different world, the world of the night, and there was something almost indecent about her in the harsh light of a winter's day.'

Everything has a cost. And every act of magic exacts a price from its user---maybe a two-day migraine, or losing the memory of your first kiss. But some people want to use magic without paying, and they Offload the cost onto innocents. When that happens, it falls to a Hound to identify the spell's caster---and Allison Beckstrom is the best there is.

Maigret grapples with the American justice system on a trip to Arizona in this new translation, novel 32 of the new Penguin Maigret series. The FBI man was convinced, in short, that Maigret was a big shot in his own country but that here, in the United States, he was incapable of figuring out anything.... Well, Maigret happened to believe that men and their passions are the same everywhere.

Accompanied by his trusty sidekicks, Pete Pienaar, John S. Blenkiron and Sandy Arbuthnot, Richard travels across war-torn Europe searching for a man with a secret. A prophet by reputation, the man possesses key information that could guarantee British victory, and he goes by the name of Greenmantle.

من الصعب تخمين كيف أُطلق على الدار اسم ‘قمة الجبل المشمسة’؛ إذ لا شيء يوحي بالجبال وقممها هنا؛ فالأرض مستوية، وهي بالتأكيد أكثر ملاءمة لقاطني الدار من كبار السن, كما يوجد بالدار حديقة فسيحة، وإن لم يكن بها شيء مميز. وكانت الدار نفسها عبارة عن قصر كبير نسبيًّا على الطراز الفيكتوري القديم، لكنه في حالة جيدة, إذ كانت ثمة بعض الأشجار وارفة الظلال التي تبهج الناظرين، ونبات اللبلاب الذي يحيط بالدار، بالإضافة إلى شجرتي أروكاريا اللتين تضفيان على الأجواء إحساسًا غريبًا, وتتراص عدة مقاعد في أماكن ملائمة للاستمتاع بضوء الشمس، كما توجد شرفة مسقوفة تجلس عليها السيدات المسنات لاتقاء الرياح الشمالية.

قوطعت وجبة عشاء هيركيول بوارو في أحد مقاهي لندن عندما تسر له امرأة شابة بأنها على وشك أن تقتل، كانت المرأة تشعر بالهلع الشديد، ولكنها رجت بوارو ألا يحاول العثور على قاتلها وعقابه، وأصرت على أن العدالة ستتحقق بمجرد أن تموت في وقت لاحق من تلك الليلة، نما الى علم بوارو أن ثلاثة من نزلاء أحد الفنادق الأنيقة في لندن قد قتلوا، وتم وضع أزرار أكمام في فم كل منهم، هل هناك علاقة بين المرأة المذعورة وجريمة القتل ؟ بينما كان بوارو يحاول حل خيوط ذلك اللغز كان القاتل يجهز غرفة أخرى من غرف الفندق من أجل ضحيته الرابعة، لغز شديد الغموض لن يحل خيوطه الاالمحقق البلجيكي الموهوب وخلايا مخه الرمادية الصغيرة.

أشعر بالكثير من الامتنان إلى الأشخاص الرائعين التالية أسماؤهم، والذين كرسوا أنفسهم من أجل إلهام الآخرين: جيمس بريكارد، ماثيو بريكارد، هيلاري سترونج، كريستيان ماكفيل، جوليا وايلد، ليديا ستون، نيكي وايت، وجميع العاملين في مؤسسة أجاثا كريستي المحدودة، دافيد براون، كايت إلتون، لاورا دي جيسيبي، سارة هودجسون، فليس دينهام، وإلى جميع العاملين في مؤسسة هاربر كولينز في المملكة المتحدة، دان مالوري، كايتلين هاري، جينيفر هارت، كاثرين جوردون، دانييل بارتلت، لياتي ستيهليك، مارجو ويزمان، وفريق عمل ويليام مارو، بيتر شتراوس، وماتيو تيرنر من مؤسسة روجر وكولريدج ووايت.

تُعد أجاثا كريستي أكثر الروائيات انتشارًا، حيث نُشرت أعمالها على نطاق واسع على مر العصور وبكل اللغات، ولم يتفوق عليها في المبيعات سوى مؤلفات شكسبير؛ فلقد بيعت أكثر من مليار نسخة من رواياتها باللغة الإنجليزية ومليار نسخة أخرى بمائة لغة أجنبية. كتبت أجاثا كريستي ثمانين رواية من أدب الجريمة ومجموعات قصصية قصيرة وتسع عشرة مسرحية وكتابَيْ سيرة ذاتية وست روايات أخرى كتبتها تحت اسم مستعار، هو ماري ويستماكوت".

Chief Inspector Macdonald has been invited to a treasure hunt party at the house of the Graham Coombe, the celebrated publisher of Murder by Mesmerism. The clues of the hunt have been devised by Coombe's thriller-writer friends, disguised on the night under literary pseudonyms. The fun comes to an abrupt end, however, when 'Samuel Pepys' is found murdered in the telephone room in bizarre circumstances.