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Mystery Novels |
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By: Guy Boothby (1867-1905) | |
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![]() Guy Boothby’s character Doctor Antonio Nikola was one of the first great diabolical criminal masterminds. He was a Victorian forerunner to Fu Manchu and a sometime literary rival to Sherlock Holmes. He was ruthless in his pursuit of his objectives which range from world domination to cheating death. Irrespective of his villainy and moral turpitude he was bound by a self imposed code of chivalry, He was generous in both victory and defeat which made him a character you want to like rather than hate... | |
![]() Guy Boothby's fourth novel of five about the svelte mysterious anti-hero Dr Nikola sees him progress further on his search for immortality. Here we find him deep in the wilds of Northumbria conducting an experiment of longevity and restoration of youth with another somewhat naive assistant. He is pursued by his Chinese enemies who will stop at nothing to achieve his demise. In this novel he displays a slight hint of emotion regarding his assistant's love affair with a beautiful Spaniard. Once again you are left wondering whether you like him or detest him, his relentless pursuit of arcane knowledge at all cost continues. |
By: H. Beam Piper | |
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![]() The Lane Fleming collection of early pistols and revolvers was one of the best in the country. When Fleming was found dead on the floor of his locked gunroom, a Confederate-made Colt-type percussion .36 revolver in his hand, the coroner’s verdict was “death by accident.” But Gladys Fleming had her doubts. Enough at any rate to engage Colonel Jefferson Davis Rand—better known just as Jeff—private detective and a pistol-collector himself, to catalogue, appraise, and negotiate the sale of her late husband’s collection. | |
By: H. C. (Herman Cyril) McNeile (1888-1937) | |
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By: H. L. (Harry Lincoln) Sayler (1863-) | |
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By: H. M. Egbert (1879-1960) | |
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![]() Jacqueline seems to have contracted a touch of amnesia, as she is found in an apartment with a dead man, and with a weapon in her hand. But she remembers nothing of any incident, remembers not her name nor where she comes from, not even why she is where she was found. She only remembers her father, and that he is in danger. Action and adventure soon follow, as Paul Hewlett and Jacqueline attempt to get answers to her questions, taking them on a journey into Quebec and points northward, and Paul knows that they are being followed during their trip... |
By: Harold L. Goodwin (1914-1990) | |
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![]() Seventh entry in the Rick Brant Science Mystery Adventure series has Rick and buddy Scott using infrared technology on the trail of smuggling no-goodniks in the vicinity of Spindrift Island, Rick's home and location of his dad's laboratory, off the New Jersey & New York coast. |
By: Harold MacGrath (1871-1932) | |
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![]() The Pagan Madonna, one of Harold MacGrath's numerous novels, set in Shanghai, tells a story of intrigue, murder, and illicit art “collecting.” The paths of Jean Norman, a Red Cross nurse from the United States, Ling Foo, a shifty pawn shop keeper, and Anthony Cleigh, millionaire art collector, cross and recross in growing intrigue over a string of beads. It is a world where “. . . every move you make is governed by Chance--the Blind Madonna of the Pagan . . . .” (Introduction by Don Jenkins) | |
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By: Harris Burland (1870-1926) | |
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![]() Head over heels in love with the amazingly beautiful Mrs. de la Mothe, Jack Portheous is led to embezzle a large sum of money from the bank at which he works, and plans to elope with her to South America. On the eve of their planned departure, however, Jack finds his wife dead in their house, and as he blames himself for her death, he decides to cancel everything. Marie de la Mothe is not a woman to be trifled with, however, and she immediately gives him away to his employer, sending Jack off to prison for years. After finishing his prison term and spending several years abroad, Jack returns to England, with nothing on his mind but the thought of revenge.. - Summary by Carolin |
By: Henry Augustus Hering (1864-1945) | |
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![]() 'He's one of us,' the burglar explained. 'You see, we are men who have pretty well exhausted the pleasures of life. We've all been in the Army or the Navy, all of us are sportsmen, and we are bachelors; so there isn't much excitement left for us. We've started a Burglars' Club to help things on a bit. The entrance fee is a town burglary, the subject to be set by our president, and every other year each member has to keep up his subscription by a provincial line.' Humour, crime and adventure in Victorian London. - Summary by Rapunzelina |
By: Henry Curties (1860-) | |
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By: Henry James (1843-1916) | |
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![]() Christmas Eve. Guests round a fireside begin telling each other ghost stories. One of them relates a true incident involving the governess of his little nephew and niece. Strange events begin to take place, involving the housekeeper, a stranger who prowls round the grounds, a mysterious woman dressed in black and an unknown misdemeanor committed by the little nephew. The Turn of the Screw by Henry James was published in 1893 and it remains one of the best-known and admired works of this great American writer... | |
![]() A dramatic tale of passion and unrequited love, involving a deathbed promise, murder and a cover-up, all of which takes place in a tight-knit community of people. - Summary by |
By: Henry Kitchell Webster (1875-1932) | |
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![]() New friends Drew and Jeffrey are drawn into the investigation of the mysterious death of Dr. Marshall. Romance and intrigue abound and you'll be kept guessing up to the end as to who the murderer could be. |
By: Herbert George Jenkins (1876-1923) | |
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![]() A collection of short stories that chronicles the first year of the Malcolm Sage Detective Bureau. | |
![]() John Dene comes to England with a great invention, and the intention of gingering-up the Admiralty. His directness and unconventional methods bewilder and embarrass the officials at Whitehall, where, according to him, most of the jobs are held by those "whose great-grandfathers had a pleasant way of saying how-do-you-do to a prince." Suddenly John Dene disappears, and the whole civilised world is amazed at an offer of £20,000 for news of him. Scotland Yard is disorganised by tons of letters and thousands of callers... |
By: Herman Landon | |
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![]() A woman is apparently murdered in a New York auditorium under very suspicious circumstances one evening during a performance. Helen Hardwick happened to be in attendance that evening, as she had written the play that was being performed, and she was the only person to have caught a glimpse of something peculiar just before the murder. She also heard an ominous laughter which would continue to haunt her. Was it coincidence that the 'retired' Gray Phantom arrived in the city immediately after the murder... |
By: Herman W. Mudgett (1861-1896) | |
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![]() An account written by the infamous serial murderer H. H. Holmes in an attempt to exonerate himself while being tried for numerous crimes in Moyamensing Prison, Philadelphia. - Summary by Autumn |
By: Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) | |
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By: Horatio Alger, Jr. (1832-1899) | |
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![]() A poor family is surprised with an infant on their doorstep on New Year’s Eve with a note and monetary support requesting them to raise the child. Eight years later, the child is stolen and the family is put into more trouble trying to find her. This is a story of how love and good morals are reward with a fairy tale “happily ever after” ending. |
By: Hugh Walpole (1884-1941) | |
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![]() “Quite a number of years ago there was an old rickety building on the rock above Seatown in Polchester, and it was one of a number in an old grass-grown square known as Pontippy Square. In this house at one time or another lived three old ladies,… It was a windy, creaky, rain-bitten dwelling-place for three old ladies….” During the mid 1920s Walpole produced two of his best-known novels in the macabre vein that he drew on from time to time, exploring the fascination of fear and cruelty. The Old Ladies is a study of a timid elderly spinster exploited and eventually frightened to death by a predatory widow. |
By: Hugo Münsterberg (1863-1916) | |
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![]() Eight sketches by one of the pioneers of applied psychology, which highlight the mind of the witness on the witness stand, and how one can be an unreliable eyewitness. The last essay, on the prevention of crime, takes another direction. - Summary by TriciaG |
By: Hulbert Footner (1879-1944) | |
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By: Hutchins Hapgood (1869-1944) | |
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![]() I met the ex-pickpocket and burglar whose autobiography follows soon after his release from a third term in the penitentiary. For several weeks I was not particularly interested in him. He was full of a desire to publish in the newspapers an exposé of conditions obtaining in two of our state institutions, his motive seeming partly revenge and partly a very genuine feeling that he had come in contact with a systematic crime against humanity. But as I continued to see more of him, and learned much... |
By: International Military Tribunal | |
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![]() Recognizing the importance of establishing for history an authentic text of the Trial of major German WWII war criminals, the International Military Tribunal, consisting of members from Great Britain, the USA, Russia, and France, directed the publication of the Record of the Trial. This volume contains basic, official, pre-trial documents together with the Tribunal’s judgment and sentence of the defendants. |
By: Isabel Ostrander (1883-1924) | |
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By: J. Jefferson Farjeon (1883-1955) | |
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![]() A thriller about a down-and-out sailor finding his way in London. The book followed a successful play that was filmed by Alfred Hitchcock, and even made into a silent film. Its humour is irresistible. - Summary by Czandra |
By: J. S. Fletcher (1863-1935) | |
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![]() After seven years of silence, Guy Markenmore returns to his family home at Markenmore Court. Knowing his father Sir Anthony to be close to death, he is anxious to reassure his younger siblings that he will not make any claim to the family money even if he can't help inheriting the old man's title. Sir Anthony dies later that evening, but the question of the inheritance becomes academic when Guy is murdered whilst crossing the downs. It is now up to detective Blick to track down the person responsible for Sir Anthony’s death. - summary by Sharon Kilmer |