The year 18-- was a momentous one in Great Britain. Not only did the nation receive most of the world's royalty for months on end, but the well-to-do gentleman, Simon Carne spent much of the social season in London. On friendly terms with royalty, sponsored into society by Lord Amberly, formerly viceroy of India, Carne's horse won the Derby and his Yacht the Queen's Cup. But at the same time, a serious of notorious swindles, thefts and other crimes plagued London and the surrounding environs. The mysterious detective Klimo, did a thriving business by attempting to resolve the crimes...

Once Carolyn Wells began, or re-invented her writing career, 'The Clue' was her initial book which strayed from children's writings into mysteries and detective stories. It is also when we are introduced to her most famous of detectives, Fleming Stone. On the eve of her wedding day, Madeleine Van Norman, a beautiful young lady who is soon to come into her family fortune is found dead, apparently stabbed with an ominous blood-stained letter opener found nearby. There is nobody within the household...

In the second book of the Mary Louise Gay mysteries, Mary Lou and her best friend Jane are thrilled to be spending a whole month of their summer together at Shady Nook. But when suspicious fires threaten their relaxing holiday, they jump into their sleuthing ways to find the culprit. With so many interesting residents in this small town, they have their work cut out for them! - Summary by Cari Shorrock

Elective Affinities was Goethe's third novel. It depicts human relationships in a Romantic crucible, and is the sourcebook and inspiration for many literary and filmic adaptations and variations. - Summary by Nicole Lee

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 Dark Other is a horror novel by Stanley G. Weinbaum. The novel concerns Patricia Lane who is in love with Nicholas Devine, a quiet and gentle writer. Devine undergoes sudden changes becoming cold and calculating. Frightened by this, Lane consults psychologist Dr. Carl Horker who rescues her from Devine. Devine again attacks Horker, and overcomes him. He is then shot by Lane and rushed to a hospital where a surprise is found.

Is it true that people can literally be scared to death ? Is it possible to photograph astral projections ? What happens if you play with a pack of cards which belonged to a dead card-trickster ? These and more questions are raised and answered in ''The Seen and the Unseen'' , a collection of twelve short stories of a supernatural and uncanny nature by English author Richard Marsh , famous for such mystery/horror novels as ''The Beetle'' and ''The Goddess: A Demon''. So if you feel you are ready for some goosebumps before bedtime, snuggle up and have a listen. - Summary by Sonia

The second book by Huysmans concerning the religious development of the novelist Durtal, who in the first book experienced depravity and Satanism. In this book he struggles desperately to find a foothold in the Catholic faith. He is aided by his aesthetic sensitivities and the support of an understanding priest. But it is not until he undertakes a retreat in a Trappist monastery that he achieves depth of spiritual transformation.

After a night of drinking and gambling, John Ferguson has a terrifying dream of his neighbor being violently torn to shreds by an unknown attacker. When he wakes up, he sees a strange and bloodied woman climbing through his window, suffering from amnesia. These strange occurrences are brought to a chilling climax when, the next day, Ferguson learns that his dream came true, and his neighbor was indeed brutally murdered during the night! With suspicion mounting against the mysterious woman, Ferguson sets out to uncover her true identity and find the vicious killer in the process...

This story ran as a serial in 1852 in the New York Sunday Dispatch, and for more than 160 years was buried in obscurity, unknown to the world as novel written by Walt Whitman. Zachary Turpin, a graduate student specializing in Whitman's works, had seen in his notes a sketch of a novel including the characters Covert, Wigglesworth, Smytthe and Jack Engle, but no work including these characters had ever been found. After poring over endless pages of newspapers of the era however, Turpin found this advertisement for an upcoming serial: “A RICH REVELATION...

Old Mrs. Solomon Smith considers herself "nothing but an ignorant old woman" who didn't have the advantages others did when growing up. However, those around her know that she's actually full of biblical wisdom and the experience of walking with Christ through the years. She shares her wisdom -- and more importantly, Christ -- to those she meets in everyday life, in a wise and gentle manner. She touches lives wherever she goes. But can her life and example touch the heart of Laura, a young woman who loves and respects her, but doesn't seem interested in religion?

Following a shipwreck Stella is preparing to die but is unexpectedly rescued. A love triangle of an unusual sort develops where an inventor of the mobile phone, back in 1900, who is engaged, becomes involved with a woman who has a passionate mystical influence on him. The story explores the nature of death and how we should look forward to it as being a great step to a greater world.

Malcolm MacPhail has lived, for all of his twenty or so years, in a fishing village on the north coast of Scotland. He lives with his grandfather and, though he has never met his parents, has no curiosity about the details of his birth. However, others in the town have their own curiosity, and their own suspicions, about where this highland man and his infant grandson came from, those twenty or so years ago. When the local marquis and his daughter come to live in their grand estate just outside the town, unoccupied for many years, events begin to move which introduce to them the humble Malcolm, and which may shed some light on Malcolm's past while changing the course of his future.

The Bryant family - widowed Mrs. Bryant and her children Benjamin, Caroline , and little Daisy - is on the thin edge of poverty due to debt incurred when Mr. Bryant was alive. We follow the family, especially Ben and Daisy, as they help shoulder some of the burden. Prominent in the story are children's dolls, which are the means to some of the family's income. - Summary by TriciaG

The Markets of Paris is a remarkable work, and is the one which Zola calls his very best novel, and of which he is far more proud than of any others in his Rougon-Marquart series – prouder than of L’Assommoir. It must have been in his early manhood, when poor and friendless, he lived among the people, that much of the information which makes these pages so startlingly vivid, was acquired. How many mornings, long before dawn, must he have visited these markets – how many hours and days must he have spent there, to have mastered the habits, manners and ways of these people, who are a class by themselves, and of whom we do not lose sight, from the beginning to the end of the book...

A widow has been murdered in the home of a relative on a foggy night in London town when all residents were off on to the theatre, and one to run an errand involving the title bauble. Who done it? Old dark house mystery full of period cliches is pulp fun for the new year. - Summary by Matt Pierard

The industrial revolution led to the rise of manufacture and, thus, the cotton mill factories. This important novel tells about the plight of Michael Armstrong, one of the boys who is forced to work there. The aim of the novel was to expose the public to the conditions of thousands of "infant labourers" around the northern mill towns. The novel drew much criticism, of course. Yet, nonetheless, it is a forgotten masterpiece, perfect for fans of Oliver Twist and North and South. It is a brave novel, full of truth and honesty, yet probably not for the faint of heart. - Summary by Stav Nisser.

This is a collection of the parables of the new testament. - Summary by Lynda Marie Neilson

The Pink Shop operates outside the limits of the law by a mysterious woman concealed under a black veil. Follow the twists and turns as you unravel the secrets hidden behind the closed doors of The Pink Shop. Ask yourself: what would you give to retain eternal beauty?

"If, two years ago, when I was sixteen, I hadn’t wanted money to buy a white frock with roses on it, which I saw in Selfridge’s window, a secret crisis between the United States and Mexico would have been avoided; and the career of a splendid soldier would not have been broken.” Read here what happened to the girl, the soldier, and the white frock. - Summary by Carolin

Arkady Dolgoruky, is a 19-year-old intellectual. He is the illegitimate son of a landowner and dreams to become rich. In his quest to fulfil his dream, he meets people who teach him many kinds of ideologies. Thus, the work reflects Russian society. - Summary by Stav Nisser and Wikipedia.

A classic Victorian sensation novel filled with romance, mystery, and murder with the emphasis on romance. -summary by Celine Major

A classic Victorian sensation novel filled with romance, mystery, and murder with emphasis on romance. - summary by Celine Major

A classic Victorian sensation novel filled with romance, mystery, and murder with emphasis on romance. - summary by Celine Major

Strangers and Pilgrims follows the journey of Elizabeth Lutterell from a vain, beautiful and self-centred although good-hearted 19 year old to a mature woman. She begins her journey to maturity when she meets the Rev. Malcolm Forde, whose influence opens her eyes to the trivial and selfish ways of the wealthier levels of society. When her genuine love for Malcolm Forde is thwarted and she becomes trapped in a cold, loveless marriage of convenience, she suffers illness, tragedy and regret. Will she find ultimate happiness? A hugely prolific and popular author, M...

When an Oxford undergraduate meets by chance, a mysterious stranger, during a walking tour of France, he does not know that the unusual charismatic being he has made the acquaintance of, is in fact a disguised alien being, named Aleriel. Coming from the planet of peace, Venus, this space traveler claims to be visiting Earth for the first time. Thus begins an unusual interplanetary friendship, that takes our Oxford graduate on an amazing adventure, first into the war-torn streets of Paris, then across the English Channel, to busy London and finally on to tranquil Oxford...

This is a 1913 collection of ten short detective stories by a not well known writer. Jack Lanagan is a police reporter for a daily newspaper in San Francisco, who has the confidence of the chief of police and access to all sorts of levels of city life. - Summary by David Wales

Sequel to Miss Dee Dunmore Bryant. Being 20 minutes late after a day out with the Kedwins and Ben and Daisy, her siblings, starts a series of events in motion that lead Caroline Bryant to Philadelphia...and to people and situations she could never have foreseen. - Summary by TriciaG

Honora Klaper is beautiful, distinguished, smart, and charming. A woman who turns heads. She is on an errand. No, it is not an errand to get a man. No, it is not an errand to make money. It is a revolutionary errand: to get an education! Not just "an education", she wants to be educated in Cambridge University. Set in a time when education of women was uncommon, and written by a lady who was educated in Cambridge herself, this book tells about the rewards and the struggles of a woman to win an education. - Summary by Stav Nisser.

The second original tragedy written by Gothic writer Matthew Lewis, Adelgitha; or, The Fruits of a Single Error is a markedly more serious affair than his melodramatic output, dealing as it does with a fallen woman who is mercilessly blackmailed by a ruthless tyrant when she spurns his advances. Set in Otranto during the High Middle Ages, and featuring fictionalized depictions of historical rulers Robert Guiscard and Michael Ducas , Adelgitha is an archetypal Gothic drama that, while not especially refined or meritorious in terms of quality, still manages to thrill in that deliciously overwrought way that Lewis knew how to sell...

Young Dr Ellis, a struggling new physician, is enjoying a quiet evening smoking and enjoying conversation with his journalist friend Cass, when their mysterious neighbour, Mrs Moxton, bursts in upon them with startling news - her husband has been murdered! Rushing to the scene, the two men discover Mr Moxton, stabbed in the back. They investigate the body thoroughly, but find no real clues to his assailant except for a mysterious series of markings, scrawled in blood on the dead man's sleeve. - Summary by Don W. Jenkins

Written by one of the most prolific authors of the 19th century The Fatal Three although not as sensational as some of her other novels serves up some very fascinating characters. It also raises some very interesting questions regarding moral & religious education, Victorian marriage laws, mental illness and how one's upbringing can determine one's fate. Delightful country homes and exquisite scenery provide the usual perfect backdrop for this enjoyable read by Mary Elizabeth Braddon. - Summary by Celine Major