Bruce Manning – författare

"Do not doubt me, my friends; you shall all be dead before morning."

New Orleans, 1930. Eight guests are invited to a party at a luxurious penthouse apartment, yet on arrival it turns out that no one knows who their mysterious host actually is. The latter does not openly appear, but instead communicates with the guests by radio broadcast. What he has to tell his guests is chilling: that every hour, one of them will die. Despite putting the guests on their guard, the Host''s prophecy starts to come horribly true, each demise occurring in bizarre fashion. As the dwindling band of survivors grows increasingly tense, their confessions to each other might explain why they have been chosen for this macabre evening-and invoke the nightmarish thought that the mysterious Host is one of them. The burning question becomes: will any of the party survive, including the Host . . . ?

The Invisible Host (1930) established one of the best-loved and most durable forms in classic mystery fiction. It was famously to reappear in Agatha Christie''s And Then There Were None (1939). How much Christie''s novel is indebted to its predecessor is open to conjecture (and the subject is discussed in our new introduction, by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans). Whatever the verdict, readers will delight in The Invisible Host, an innovative and most unusual mystery from the golden age of crime fiction. It was adapted into a play, and a Hollywood movie as The Ninth Guest (1934).

"Thou Shalt Not Kill."

All New Orleans is disturbed at the rumour that one of its civic treasures, a fragment of the Gutenberg Bible, has been stolen. But when the rumour becomes a fact and is followed by a series of murders so hideous that every paper''s headlines screamed each new phase of the case, the concern changes to panic. Each new crime centres on the same group of people: wealthy, respected and influential. Yet the police and District Attorney struggle to find a definite clue on which to base an arrest.

Each of the suspects could benefit from the death of the murder victims, and each new clue further embroils the seemingly most innocent. In the deft weaving of the plot, and in the vivid delineation of District Attorney Dan Farrell-honest, capable and trustworthy-the journalist Wade-shrewd and persistent-Terry Sheldon-rich, impulsive and hot-headed-and Winifred Gonzales, with a charm too rich for youth and face too young for age, the authors have provided a set of characters the reader will remember long after the book is finished.

The Gutenberg Murders was originally published in 1931. This new edition includes an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.

"A woman in a red raincoat killed Linton Barclay."

Paradise Island, the brightest spot of all playgrounds edging the Gulf of Mexico, caters gladly to those who can afford to pay well for their entertainment. Twelve miles from the mainland, it has, under the suave management of Brett Allison, come to be known for sports, gaming tables, and the Peacock Club.

For some time Federal authorities have suspected a connection between the Island and the increased activities in the drug traffic along the coast, but when Major Jack Raymond, stocky as the cigars he smokes, and Andrew Dillingham, scion of one of the south''s oldest families, are sent to investigate, they encounter in the person of lovely Eva Shale, whose wealth comes from an unknown source, an enigma of the first order.

A tropical storm, so common to the locale, which sweeps the island, brings with it a murder which fastens its suspicious fingers upon every resident of the Peacock Club-save Daisy Dillingham who does as she pleases, says what she pleases, and for years has been dreaded, adored and obeyed.

Two and Two Make Twenty-Two was originally published in 1932. This new edition includes an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.