The many adventures of Professor Craig Kennedy were chronicled by Arthur B. Reeve (October 15, 1880 - August 9, 1936). Reeve was an American mystery writer who created 82 Craig Kennedy mystery stories. The stories have a very Sherlock Holmes type feel, In fact Kennedy has been referred to as the "American Sherlock Holmes". Along with his reporter friend, Walter Jameson, Kennedy solves many crimes and unveils mysteries using science. This book contains twelve of Professor Kennedy's adventures. The interesting thing about these stories is Kennedy uses newly discovered science from his time period, which we take for granted today...

The passengers in the sleeping car of the Rome Express were just woken and informed that they will reach Paris soon, and a general bustle fills the train. Only one passenger cannot be awoken by the porter, no matter how loudly he knocks on the compartment door. At last, when the door is forced open, the occupant of the compartment is found dead - stabbed to the heart! The murderer must be found among the passengers...

An army officer, and a mysterious lady with a maid and baby in tow, are the only passengers on the Engadine express from Calais. The lady is afraid that someone is following her. Who is she? And what is her strange package? One suspicious conversation and two private detectives later Colonel Basil Annesley is determined to find out!

Good against evil; right versus wrong; the judicial system against the criminal world. The struggle is as old as mankind. Sometimes the lines are blurred as the 'good' punish the 'bad' - the warriors against crime have resorted not only to killing wrong-doers, but additionally subjecting them to "starvation or the withholding of fluid, by drowning, stoning, impaling or by exposing the wretched victims to the stings of insects or snakes." Newgate Prison was one of the most famous - or infamous - prisons in England from the middle ages until the nineteenth century. Griffiths, a prison administrator, takes us inside where we discover "man's inhumanity to man".

Good against evil; right versus wrong; the judicial system against the criminal world. The struggle is as old as mankind. Sometimes the lines are blurred as the 'good' punish the 'bad' - the warriors against crime have resorted not only to killing wrong-doers, but additionally subjecting them to "starvation or the withholding of fluid, by drowning, stoning, impaling or by exposing the wretched victims to the stings of insects or snakes." Newgate Prison was one of the most famous - or infamous - prisons in England from the middle ages until the nineteenth century...

The Shrieking Pit is one of Arthur Rees's earlier works, and is a good old fashioned murder mystery story. Grant Colwyn, a private detective, is holidaying in East Anglia when he notices a young man at a nearby table behaving peculiarly. 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 man's innocence one way or the the other?

Two London gentlemen ponder the evolution of humankind as they investigate a modern-day murder committed with an ancient tool. - Summary by Wanda White

The account of some adventures in the professional experience of a member of the Imperial Austrian Police. (from the text)

A man is found shot dead and the man to whom all evidence points insists he is innocent.

Sixteen year old Leslie Crane has come to the New Jersey shore as a companion to ailing Aunt Marcia, whose doctor has sent her there for a some quiet rest and recuperation. While the beach is lovely in October, Leslie quickly finds herself getting lonely with no one her own age to talk to. Little does she realize that she will not only soon make a new friend, but that they will both end up in the midst of a puzzling mystery centered around the closed up bungalow next door. Augusta Huiell Seaman is the author of over 40 historical fiction and mystery novels for older children most of which are currently out of print. The Dragon’s Secret was originally published in 1921.

A mysterious girl, a mysterious pool, and a mysterious businessman combine to send two Florida teens to adventureland in this pre-Nancy Drew tale for young people

When fourteen year old Sally Carter decides to share the secret she has discovered on Slipper Point with her new friend Doris Craig, she couldn’t possibly imagine where the solution to this intriguing mystery will lead them! Augusta Huiell Seaman is the author of over 40 historical fiction and mystery novels for older children most of which are currently out of print. The Slipper Point Mystery was originally published in 1919.

What is the secret of the old boarded up house? And what is the answer to the mystery of the long lost letter that is found in it? Best friends Joyce and Cynthia - along with their dog "Goliath", are determined to find out in this pre-Nancy Drew juvenile mystery for girls.Augusta Huiell Seaman was the author of over 40 historical fiction and mystery novels for older children.

Marcia Brett has noticed unusual activity at the ramshackle and seemingly abandoned mansion next door: a mysterious, veiled lady is seen coming and going out the front door, a different woman is glimpsed through a shuttered window, and most mysterious of all, a pretty, blond girl is seen briefly looking forlornly out an upper window! Along with her best friend, Janet McNeil, the two girls are determined to learn the secrets of the old house and befriend the young girl, but once they do, the secrets only increase. The girl has no idea why she is at this house or even who the women she is living with are! Has she been kidnapped? Are they relatives? No one seems to know.

The expressed goal of this book is to "write a truthful account of the miseries of criminal life" . Thus, this book tells the story of Philip, a child who grew up in the workhouse until running away to navigate the streets of London on his own. "Paved With Gold", or, the Romance and Reality of the London Streets is one of the most vivid books you would ever read. So hold tight and enjoy the ride. - Summary by Stav Nisser

Is a defense attorney bound to defend his client, or with his conscience, when he knows that the man he is defending is guilty of the charges against him after the trial has already commenced? And if friends hold a belief that he may have been aware of it before the trial commenced, yet they are endeared to the man and his family as upstanding and of the highest grade? Might it not become cause for blackmail, and therefore potential retribution? "The House of White Shadows" brings these issues to the forefront, while the reader learns of the background of the advocate, his family history, and the house in question...

Unravelled Knots is the third and final installment of the Old Man in the Corner stories by Baroness Orczy. After a break of several years, Polly returns to the ABC Tea Shop to find the Old Man at his usual table with his glass of milk and bit of string. With a just a little encouragement, he is ready to share more unique solutions to the unsolved mysteries that have baffled both the public and the police. Summary by J. M. Smallheer

Created by Baroness Orczy, author of the famous Scarlet Pimpernel series, The Old Man in the Corner was one of the earliest armchair detectives, popping up with so many others in the wake of the huge popularity of the Sherlock Holmes stories. The Old Man relies mostly upon sensationalistic “penny dreadful” newspaper accounts, with the occasional courtroom visit for extra laughs. He narrates all this information (while tying complicated knots in a piece of string) to a Lady Journalist who frequents the same tea-shop.

Lady Molly of Scotland Yard is a collection of short stories about Molly Robertson-Kirk, an early fictional female detective. It was written by Baroness Orczy, who is best known as the creator of The Scarlet Pimpernel, but who also invented two immortal turn-of-the-century detectives in The Old Man in the Corner and Lady Molly of Scotland Yard. First published in 1910, Orczy’s female detective was the precursor of the lay sleuth who relies on brains rather than brawn. The book soon became very popular, with three editions appearing in the first year...

Bored with his life as a wealthy businessman's only son, Travers Gladwin learns of a plot by a renowned art burglar to rob his house, so rather than thwart the planned burglary, he borrows a police uniform from a friend and decides to confront the robber by posing as an officer. When the burglar arrives at the house, he tries to pass himself off as Travers Gladwin. From there, things only get more complicated, including the arrival of the burglar's girlfriend who believes that her beau is the wealthy man's son. Comical and timely, the book was made into a movie multiple times, each hugely successful.

A stranger appears in the middle of the night at Heath Hover while John Seward Mervyn is tending the modest location in a wooded area near a pond. Legends abound regarding Heath Hover; legends such as one's inability to spend a full night at the Heath on certain nights of the year, and that the place was quite simply.... haunted. These were legends which Mervyn has set out to disprove. He would, however, soon find that these were but a few of the mysteries surrounding this peculiar locale. And what was beyond that cellar door that appeared to open by itself at the right times? A trip to the other side of the world might just hold the answers to the Heath Hover mystery.

Owen Clancy befriends a lad he saves from peril. He and his friend foil a nefarious plot. - Summary by Howard Skyman

A detective novel set in turn-of-the-century New York City, in which a young lawyer plays the sleuth. Packed with plot twists (and the ubiquitous romantic complication, of course). (

Mr. Lester, a private investigator, and his friend Godfrey are caught up in a strange case that takes them to a large estate in the country where at midnight they witness a mysterious "falling star" that appears to burst into a shower of sparks over two white robed figures standing in the air. There is a young lady in a flowing white dress and many more twists and complications before the mystery is solved.

Stevenson's introduction of the protagonist Lester (law clerk with New York firm Graham & Royce) finds him occupying a front row seat in the murder trial of Wall Street multi-millionaire Hiram Holladay. Scandalously, suspicion points very solidly on the banker's loving daughter, Frances. Lester proves himself a useful aide to the firm's senior partner, Mr. Royce, in his attempt to prove the lovely Frances innocent.

Three men are dead. Killed by a very powerful poison. Their deaths seem to be connected to a very old cabinet purchased in France and a notorious French criminal. What is the link? It is up to the lawyer Lester and the newspaperman Godfrey to pool their talents and solve the mystery.

The case involves a millionaire murdered in his study, suspicious servants, a beautiful niece, a private secretary and a will. enamored. A Holmes like detective is brought in to solve the mystery.

Eric Stannard, wealthy artist and portrait painter of international reputation is found dead in his studio, an etching needle protruding from his chest. The lights had gone out momentarily just before he was found by a footman and a long-time friend. Standing beside the victim is Joyce his wife and his model Natalie both seeming to be struck with terror and shock!! At first glance the suspects seem obvious...but what about the artist's son who is in love with Natalie, the neighbor in love with the wife, a burglar? Will a psychic help find the murderer? Or will it fall upon the great detective Alan Ford to solve this one? - Summary by Celine Major

Was it murder or suicide? All entrances to the study where the body was found were locked from the inside. The future college president and groom-to-be had no known cause for suicide, yet no clues in either direction appeared to make any sense. Was Anita, the Mystery Girl, who had just arrived in the New England college town, somehow been implicated? Had she any reason to ensure of the demise of the well-liked man? Perhaps some love letters between the two that nobody was to know about? And what of the mark of a ring on the deceased man's forehead? The college town was abuzz, and it seemed everyone had their own ideas of what actually happened. - Summary by Roger Melin

For one, I have never been one of those who apologize for my frank and never-ending delight in mystery stories. Their mazes have led me unwearied through miles of printed pages, and if only the problem has been worth while, and its pursuit has led along surprising ways, past shuddery thickets and over fearsome bridges, my soul has returned to sober affairs refreshed and content. In a word, here is a remarkable volume which shows us how the wheels go round, not by dogmatic statement, but by an amazing breadth and variety of citation and quotation, showing not only what great mystery writers have thought of their art, but illustrating by apposite examples how they secured their effects...

The Mystery: ”Mr. Stone," I began, "if three persons spent the night in an apartment so securely locked on the inside that there was no possible means of ingress, and if in the morning it was found that one of those three persons had been murdered at midnight, would you say that the guilt must rest upon either one or both of the other two persons?” The solution - who knows? Listen and enjoy. - Summary by Richard Kilmer

Instead of prison time, former governor, Samuel Appleby, sentences his former rival, Daniel Wheeler to imprisonment on his homestead with a very strange addendum. He then endeavors to convince Mr. Wheeler to endorse his son’s candidacy for governor with a promise of commuting his sentence. In the meantime, Samuel Appleby is murdered in Wheeler’s home. The discovery of the identity of the murderer has many twists and turns filled with love, devotion, gumshoe dialog, and weird circumstances that will delight the listener in a most unusual way.

A lawyer is leaving his office on the top floor of an office building. He sees the shadows of two men fighting through the clouded glass of an office door followed by a shot from the office across the hall. He goes to investigate. He finds no sign of either victim or assailant despite the fact that no one could have passed him in the hallway without being seen. A murder has been committed, that of the banker. Who is the murderer? A business associate, the banker’s beautiful ward, or a mysterious...

Imagine, if you will, a murder committed in a sealed room. A room which has been sealed from the inside, that is, with no possible means of exit, excepting a dangerous plunge through a window into a deep, foreboding lake with swirling eddies and rocks abound. Add to that image a wreath of flowers around the head and across the chest of the victim, a crucifix, an orange, a feather scarf tucked in here and there, two crackers, a handkerchief, and a feather duster. And a nail. Oh, and one more item to add to the curious array of arranged paraphenalia - a watch in a water pitcher by the bedside...

Published as the third volume in the Modern Criminal Science Series, Cesare Lombroso, renowned Italian criminologist, collected a wealth of information regarding the incidence, classification, and causes of crime. Crime calendars, the geography of crime, unusual events and circumstances leading to more frequent crime, political motivations and associations of criminal enterprise and an assessment of the real value and effectiveness of prisons and reform programs are all included in this three part volume. - Summary by Leon Harvey

A thorough treatise on different ways people have tried to defraud life insurance companies, with many entertaining examples. The present . . . volume is . . . commended as a trustworthy record to those for whose use and reference it is primarily intended—life insurance companies and agents, medical examiners, insurance lawyers, and medico-legal experts. . . . [It] is not confined to the exposure of the cunning contrivances and artifices of this class of schemers and plotters; it includes picturesque...

As a gifted writer with a strong interest in supernatural phenomena, Charles Dickens produced a string of ghost stories with enduring charm. Three of them are presented here, of which The Signal Man is one of the best known. Though quite different from his most celebrated realistic and humorous critical novels, these ghost stories, Gothic and grotesque as they are, are of good portrayal, and worth a read/listen. Summary by Vivian Chan

The Mystery of Edwin Drood is the final novel by Charles Dickens. It is a mystery indeed; the serial novel was just half completed at the time of Dickens’ death – leading to much speculation how it might have ended.The novel is named after Edwin Drood, one of the characters, but it mostly tells the story of his uncle, a choirmaster named John Jasper, who is in love with his pupil, Rosa Bud. Miss Bud is Drood’s fiancée, and has also caught the eye of the high-spirited and hot-tempered Neville Landless! Landless comes from Ceylon with his twin sister, Helena...

A House to Let is a novella originally published in 1858 in the Christmas edition of Dickens’ Household Words magazine. Each of the contributors wrote a chapter (stories within a story, and in the case of Adelaide Anne Procter, as a story in verse) and the whole was edited by Dickens. The plot concerns an elderly woman, Sophonisba, who notices signs of life in a supposedly empty dilapidated house (the eponymous “House to Let”) opposite her own, and employs the efforts of an elderly admirer, Jabez Jarber, and her servant, Trottle, to discover what is happening within.

The Ghost Breaker is a drama and haunted house horror complete with heroes, villains, and a Princess. The Ghost Breaker was originally a screenplay and would later be made a drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille.

The title and subtitle pretty much say it all. Twenty biographical sketches of people you would not want your son or daughter to marry.

Jewelry thefts, society parties, clairvoyance, and romance marks this mystery, which is set in England and the US in the early 20th century.

Lord Ernest Borrow and Captain Anthony Fenton think they know a secret – a secret that could make them both rich. En route, they are sidetracked by Sir Marcus Antonius Lark, a woman who thinks she’s Cleopatra reincarnate, a Gilded Rose of an American Heiress, and Mrs. Jones, a mysterious Irish woman with a past. Will they find the secret? Or will the trip up the Nile on the Enchantress Isis net them another discovery altogether?

Trying to get away from an engagement he had got himself into more or less against his will, Stephen Knight travels to Algiers to visit his old friend Nevill. On the Journey there he meets the charming and beautiful Victoria. She is on her way to Algiers to search for her sister, who had disappeared years ago after marrying an Arab nobleman. With the support of his friend, Stephen Knight decides to help the girl - but when she also disappears, the adventure begins...

One of the first horror novels, it tells the story of Melmoth, who sells his soul so he could have an extended life. Throughout the novel, he wanders around the world in search of someone who would replace him and lift his curse. It is known for its many sub-plots, the true horror it makes one feel, and its criticism of the Catholic church. This is certainly one of the most important books of all times, quoted in countless other works, and praised by authors and critics alike. - Summary by Wikipedia and Stav Nisser.

Charles Felix was the pseudonym of Charles Warren Adams, an English Lawyer and publisher and is now known to have been the author of "The Notting Hill Mystery", thought to be the first full length detective novel in English. The story first appeared as an eight part serial in a weekly magazine in 1862, and was subsequently published as a single volume novel in 1865. The story deals with the then newly emerging field of 'mesmerism' which we now know as hypnotism, and its use in the planning and execution of three truly devious crimes...

Miss Mabel Wilcox, the owner of a newly opened girl's boarding school, meets the wealthy Mr. Conway Fitzgibbon, who drops off his frail daughter to be educated there. When background checks are made, it is discovered that no well-to-do family by the name of Fitzgibbon exists! Supposed Matilda Fitzgibbon is a pseudo-heiress - a fake! What is Miss Wilcox to do?Published posthumously and prefaced by Charlotte Brontë's editor, W. M. Thackeray, these two chapters are the only existing fragments of Emma, the novel Brontë worked on until her untimely death. Since then, it has been "completed" twice by other authors

Mr. and Mrs. Langmore were found mysteriously murdered in their mansion one morning. Their daughter Margaret, who was at home at the time of the deaths, is quickly suspected of having committed the crime. However, her fiance Raymond Case will not believe in her guilt and convinces the famous detective Adam Adams to investigate.This book was written by Edward Stratemeyer, head of the Stratemeyer Syndicate, under the pseudonym of Chester K. Steele.

Colonel Ashley is confronted with a difficult case: The proprietor of a jewelry shop is found murdered, and a valuable diamond cross is stolen. Whodunnit, and how can the Colonel's expertise in fishing help to solve the case?

Roger Mifflin is the somewhat eccentric proprietor of The Haunted Bookshop, a second-hand bookstore in Brooklyn that is “haunted by the ghosts of all great literature.” Beginning with the arrival of a young advertising man and the mysterious disappearance of a certain volume from the shelves of the bookshop, a lively and often humorous tale of intrigue unfolds, generously sprinkled with liberal doses of Roger’s unique philosophy on literature and book selling.

Henry Beechtree, a newspaper correspondent for the British Bolshevist, is covering the latest otherwise sleepy session of the League of Nations in Geneva, when the newly elected President – a member of the Norwegian delegation – disappears mysteriously, adding some badly needed ‘spice’ to Henry's assignment. (Introduction by Cathy Barratt)

The Scarlet Archer of Agincourt is claimed by the Erkenwold’s as their family ghost. Tradition held that the death of an important Erkenwold was always heralded by the apparition of the Scarlet Archer. Now in the early years of WWII, the archer has made an appearance on the family estate on the US coast. Is it a ghost or something more sinister, and what does he or she want?This mystery novel was written by Daniel A Lord, S.J., who was a popular American Catholic writer. The subjects of the works in his bibliography range from religion, humor, plays, songs, mysteries and even politics...

A sacristan is found murdered in the sacristy and the safe robbed of valuable jewels. All clues seem to point to the priest as the murderer. But is the priest the guilty party - or is it the communist - the nazi - the Senator's wife - or someone else?This mystery novel, set in World War II Chicago, was written by Daniel A Lord, S.J., who was a priest and popular American Catholic writer. The subjects of the works in his bibliography range from religion, humor, plays, songs, mysteries and even politics. His most influential work was possibly in drafting the 1930 Production Code for motion pictures. (Introduction by Maria Therese)

On an American college campus, in the early years of World War II, a professor from Germany is murdered and the plans for a new bomb sight he had invented are missing. Who murdered the professor and stole the plans? And are the accidents, happening with alarming frequency to young student aviators from the campus, really accidents -- or is some unknown conspiracy afoot?This mystery novel was written by Daniel A Lord, S.J., a priest and popular American Catholic writer. The subjects of the works in his bibliography range from religion, humor, plays, songs, mysteries and even politics. His most influential work was possibly in drafting the 1930 Production Code for motion pictures. (

The death of a well known San Francisco doctor brings a charge of murder for his wife, but is it murder or suicide, and is she really his wife? The Continental Op is on the case in Dashiell Hammett’s “Zigzags of Treachery,” featured here along with two more novellas from the pages of Black Mask magazine, "The Girl with Silver Eyes" and “The Golden Horseshoe.” - Summary by Winston Tharp

The recent interest that's being generated in the pulp fiction writers of the 1920s has lead to many of the books of that genre being resurrected and read once again. For modern-day readers, these represent what are now called “airport-lounge reads” and ideal for those few hours that you have to kill waiting in an airport or railway station, while traveling or on holiday, when you don't want anything too heavy to weigh you down! Pulp fiction, so called because the books were generally printed on cheaper paper made from recycled wood pulp, had certain characteristics...

The first novel in her renowned series of detective fiction, Sayers introduces Lord Peter Wimsey, a bon vivant gentleman, whose hobby of playing detective is put to the test, as he is launched into his first official crime investigation. The mystery begins when the body of an unidentified man has been found in the bathtub of local architect Mr. Thipps. Adding to the peculiarity of the situation is the fact that the corpse is stark naked except for a pair of expensive pince-nez glasses. Due to the incriminating circumstances of the murder, the official investigator suspects Thipps to be the perpetrator of the bizarre murder...

Davy's Bend was a dying, lonely, uncared for river town. So when a stranger showed up one day and bought the old unoccupied house called 'The Locks' one dreary day, the inhabitants of the town were naturally very curious about the stranger, and very curious about his reasons for buying the old house. The Locks had been known for years to display at nighttime a single light showing up in one room, and there was one room in the house which was strictly off-limits to anyone. What was the history behind...

English romantic adventure starring a young American in London and inspired by the personal ads (agony columns) in the London papers. In this treacherous tale of murder and intrigue young American Geoffrey West tracks a killer from the posh dining room of the Carlton Hotel to the opium dens of London’s Limehouse district in search of the truth and the heart of his true love only to find the culprit all too close to home. Earl Derr Biggers is better known as the author of numerous Charlie Chan novels. The Agony Column was released as a movie under the name Second Floor Mystery in 1930. While this movie was in production, its two stars, Loretta Young and Grant Withers, eloped.

Giles Dudley is called upon by his cousin Henry Wilton to assist him in San Francisco, but the reason for the summons is not at all clear. Dudley answers the summons, only to find himself immediately wrapped in the middle of mystery and intrigue, the roots and ends of which he is utterly unaware. He has been given to care for a mysterious young boy whom he hasn't even seen. His cousin has mysteriously disappeared. Dudley's role in the mystery has him convinced that as he goes about trying to assist his cousin with whatever it was he wanted to accomplish, he does so completely blindfolded.