Daniel Stashower - Böcker

A collection of letters between Arthur Conan Doyle (author and creator of Sherlock Holmes) and his mother, covering most of his life, written between 1867 and the year of her death in 1921.Doyle was raised almost solely by his mother in Dickensian circumstances, (his father latterly suffered from dipsomania and epilepsy and so spent much of his later life in asylums).Since Sherlock Holmes's inception in 1887, he has been one of the best-known and widely read literary characters, and the subject of more radio and television shows and motion pictures than any other fictional character in history. Although Doyle and his Holmes continue to be much written about, talked about and adapted, this is the first time that this material, along with other personal papers, has ever been made available.Conan Doyle although most famously remembered for Holmes, was also a physician, sportsman, public figure, war correspondent, pioneer of science fiction, psychic investigator, and prominent spiritual missionary.These letters reveal fascinating portraits of Doyle: his trip to the Arctic aged 21 where he served as a ship's surgeon on a whaling ship; his unprofitable stint as a Harley Street doctor and his decision to abandon this in favour of writing, more money and the opportunity to help his mother to look after his many younger brothers and sisters; his friendships with J.M.Barrie (among others); his attempts to write material other than Holmes; and his involvement in the spiritualist movement – something that his mother, a devout Roman Catholic, was completely against.‘Mam’ as he called her, was his most loyal confidant, and his letters functioned to a certain extent as confession and cleansing penance, until his mother’s death in 1921.The collection is annotated by Daniel Stashower, award-winning mystery novelist and author of the recent Conan Doyle biography "Teller of Tales", and Jon Lellenberg, the U.S agent for the Conan Doyle estate.

Ingeniously contrived and shrewdly executed by some of the finest talents at work in crime fiction today--Anne Perry, Loren Estleman, Gillian Linscott, Edward D. Hoch, Peter Tremayne, Stuart Kaminsky, Jon L. Breen, Bill Crider, Howard Engel, Carolyn Wheat, and L. B. Greenwood--the eleven stories in this premier volume celebrate the keen mind and singular manners of the Great Detective. "This collection is of the highest order and should be required for every Sherlockian shelf."--Minneapolis Star Tribune "A worthier gift for any mystery aficionado cannot be imagined."--Chicago Sun-Times "Uniformly faithful to the spirit of Doyle's creation."--Publisher's Weekly

New York City in 1897 and young Harry Houdini is struggling to make it in the brutal entertainment business, when detectives call on him to attempt the most amazing feat of his fledgling career: solve the mystery of a toy tycoon murdered in his posh Fifth Avenue mansion. It's a challenge which Harry - never at a loss for self-confidence - is more than willing to accept.

Struggling young performer Harry Houdini is working for the renowned Kellar "Dean of American Magicians" in turn-of the-century New York. When his master's astonishing illusion the Floating Lady goes horribly wrong, Houdini, along with his wife Bess and brother Dash, must solve the deadly conundrum and figure out how the young lady died from drowning rather than a fatal fall...

The Great Harry Houdini is still struggling to make a name for himself in turn-of-the-century New York. He sees an opportunity for glory in exposing the tricks of the medium Lucius Craig - if only he can work out how the medium managed to conjure a "spirit" while tied to a chair by Houdini himself or how the apparition was able to stab an audience member to death and then disappear.

Boston had its Strangler. California had the Zodiac Killer. And in the depths of the Great Depression, Cleveland had the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run.On September 5th, 1934, a young beachcomber made a gruesome discovery on the shores of Cleveland’s Lake Erie: the lower half of a female torso, neatly severed at the waist. The victim, dubbed “The Lady of the Lake,” was only the first of a butcher’s dozen. Over the next four years, twelve more bodies would be scattered across the city. The bodies were dismembered with surgical precision and drained of blood. Some were beheaded while still alive.Terror gripped the city. Amid the growing uproar, Cleveland’s besieged mayor turned to his newly-appointed director of public safety: Eliot Ness. Ness had come to Cleveland fresh from his headline-grabbing exploits in Chicago, where he and his band of “Untouchables” led the frontline assault on Al Capone’s bootlegging empire. Now he would confront a case that would redefine his storied career.Award-winning author Daniel Stashower shines a fresh light on one of the most notorious puzzles in the annals of crime, and uncovers the gripping story of Ness’s hunt for a sadistic killer who was as brilliant as he was cool and composed, a mastermind who was able to hide in plain sight. American Demon reconstructs this ultimate battle of wits between a hero and a madman.