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A hardboiled novel of luck and ironyYou Play the Black and the Red Comes Up follows the wanderings of a Depression drifter (Dick) as he bums his way from Oklahoma to Los Angeles in search of his son and runaway wife. There he commits one crime, plans another, and is ironically arrested for something he didn't do. Populated with memorable characters like the mad L.A. Deco, decadent film director Quentin Genter, divorcee Mamie, Patsy, who gilds her sandals with radiator paint and a string of crooks, shysters, and loopy saints – You Play the Black and the Red Comes Up was a bestseller when originally published in 1938, a lost noir classic.

Contains 'The Innocence of Father Brown', 'The Wisdom of Father Brown' and 'The Incredulity of Father Brown'."I caught him, with an unseen hook and an invisible line which is long enough to let him wander to the ends of the world, and still to bring him back with a twitch upon the thread."Father Brown is a detective like no other. A catholic cleric blessed with incredible detection abilities, he is frequently confronted with crimes that only he can solve. G.K. Chesterton was already a literary heavyweight before he created Father Brown and to him these were "ephemeral" and light stories, but the Father Brown series has become his most lasting and memorable work. Along with volume 2, this is the only truly complete edition that includes 'The Donnington Affair', 'The Vampire of the Village' and 'The Mask of Midas' as well as original illustrations.

A priest who's also a master criminalConstantine Dix is a model English clergyman. Fine, upstanding, of moderate habits and fully committed to helping society's least fortunate as someone of his calling should be. But there's one major difference between Dix and other clergymen – he is also one of the most talented thieves in all of England.These twelve stories are a key addition to twentieth century detective and crime fiction.

Before the Saint, or James Bond… there was Bulldog Drummond. The original daredevil adventurer.Bulldog Drummond"Demobilized officer, finding peace incredibly tedious would welcome diversion. Legitimate if possible; but crime, of a comparatively humorous description, no objection. Excitement essential." This is the advertisement that Captain Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond, D.S.O., M.C., a wealthy former WWI officer of the fictional His Majesty's Royal Loamshire Regiment, places in a newspaper. After the First World War, rife with daring escapades, peacetime is too tame for Bulldog and his friends so he decides to spend his new-found leisure time as a private detective of sorts. His first reply comes from a beautiful young woman, who sends him racing off to investigate what at first looks like blackmail but turns out to be far more complicated and dangerous. The rescue of a kidnapped millionaire, found with his thumbs horribly mangled, leads Drummond to the discovery of a political conspiracy of awesome scope and villainy, masterminded by the ruthless Carl Peterson. The Black GangThe second book of the quadrilogy sees 'Bulldog' Drummond tackle bribery and blackmail that is undermining England's democracy, so he forms the Black Gang, to foil the perpetrators. They set a trap to lure the criminal mastermind behind these subversive attacks to England. All is going to plan until Bulldog Drummond accepts an invitation to tea at the Ritz with a charming American clergyman and his dowdy daughter. The Third RoundThe death of Professor Goodman is officially recorded as a tragic accident, but at the inquest, no mention is made of his sensational discovery – a new formula for manufacturing flawless diamonds at low cost, which strikes 'Bulldog' Drummond as rather strange. His suspicions are further aroused when he spots a member of the Metropolitan Diamond Syndicate at the inquest. He soon untangles a sinister plot of greed and murder, which brings him face to face with his archenemy. The Final CountRobin Gaunt's new invention was terrifyingly, unimaginably powerful: a weapon of chemical warfare which caused "universal, instantaneous death". When Gaunt disappeared from his rooms, leaving no trace but a faint bitter smell, the police suspected that he had sold out to the other side. But Bulldog Drummond believes otherwise. Convinced of Gaunt's innocence, he can think of only one man ruthless enough to use the invention to hold the world to ransom, and he is determined to track him down before it is too late. Then he receives an invitation to a lavish dinner-dance aboard an airship that is to mark the beginning of his final battle with his arch foe.

Murder in a crowded public place and no one saw a thing...A man slowly sinks to the ground standing in line to obtain a ticket to a stage musical. And he has a silver dagger neatly plunged into his back. But how was he stabbed when no one around him witnessed the crime? With the wit and guile that have made Inspector Grant a favourite of crime buffs, the inspector sets about discovering just how a murder occurred among so many witnesses, none of whom saw a thing.The Man in the Queue (aka Killer in the Crowd) is the first of the author's novels starring the popular Inspector Alan Grant.

Step into the realm of supernatural detectives!A collection of supernatural detective short stories by the author M.P. Shiel. Prince Zaleski the mysterious exiled Russian, spends his time in his ruined abbey, surrounded by strange artefacts, including a partially unwrapped mummy. He solves cases mostly without even having to leave the abbey – when he "might sometimes be induced to take an absorbing interest in questions that had proved themselves too profound, or too intricate, for ordinary solution". "Zaleski is Sherlock – demented" – HG WellsCumming's King Monk Shiel's The Pale Ape and Other Pulses collection presented a second extraordinary figure, Cummings King Monk who has a longer section with three component short stories that have been called Shiel's "subversive take on the crime story genre".

"This isn’t an ordinary murder. The dead man was the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the murder was in the House of Commons." The clock is Big Ben, above the Houses of Parliament. The Chancellor of the Exchequer is ready to present his non populist budget. Arriving a little late, he makes his preliminary speech, sipping from a glass of claret-and-seltzer as he talks. But it is a speech he is never to finish – for Edgar Reardon suddenly topples to the floor, dead. Battling to keep any scandal to a minimum, Inspector Ripple and Amos Petrie uncover a conspiracy that goes to the very heart of government – and a murder so ingenious as to shock even an investigator of his experience with its audacity.Below the Clock returns to classic Golden Age writing with an ingenious whodunit set at the heart of the political establishment.

Meet Charlie Chan.The House without a Key The novel deals with the murder of a Boston socialite in Hawai?i. The story revolves around the victim's nephew John Quincy Winterslip, a bond trader, who came to the islands to try to convince his aunt Minerva, to return to Boston but soon falls under the spell of the islands himself and is of some assistance to Detective Charlie Chan in solving the mystery. The Chinese Parrot The story concerns a valuable string of pearls which is purchased by a wealthy and eccentric financier. The son of the jeweller is assigned to shepherd the transfer of the pearls to the financier's vacation home in a desert area of California and Charlie Chan also travels from Hawaii to California with the pearls. But with two mysterious deaths, first of a Chinese-speaking parrot and then of the household's Chinese man-of-all-work, Charlie Chan has a mystery to solve. Behind That Curtain Fifteen years ago, a London solicitor was killed in circumstances in which the only clue was a pair of Chinese slippers, which he apparently donned just before his death. Sir Frederic Bruce has been following the trail of the killer ever since. Just when it seems he might finally solve the murder case, Inspector Bruce is killed—and was last seen wearing a pair of Chinese slippers, which have vanished. It is left to Chan to solve the case and tie up all loose ends.

A newlywed with a deadly secretAurora Floyd’s the spoiled, only daughter of rich widower Archibald Floyd; the result of his scandalous marriage to a penurious actress. Aurora grows up a renowned beauty, known locally as ‘fast’ for her unladylike habits – hunting and riding horses – she however is undaunted and confident. But after her return from a French finishing-school, Aurora returns oddly changed, gaunt, worried as if harbouring some terrible secret. Time passes, Aurora’s engaged to be married but her past threatens to ruin her chance of happiness.Braddon’s follow up to the immensely successful Lady Audley’s Secret is a once both a mystery and the moving coming-of-age story of a young woman carrying the burden of a past with bad decisions.

Sharp practice... by the skin o' your teeth!Skin O' My tooth, aka Patrick Mulligan is an ugly, portly, but particularly sharp Irish lawyer who goes to great lengths (even unscrupulous ones) to get his clients off. Usually this involves him solving the crimes himself. The nickname comes from one client who described Mulligan freeing him "by the skin o' my tooth".

A mystery going back hundreds of years...Scotland Yard Inspector Alan Grant is confined to bed and is bored. He is intrigued by a portrait of Richard III and wonders if such a sensitive face could actually belong to a heinous villain – a king who was believed to have killed his brother's children to secure his crown. Grant is driven to delve deeper and deeper to unravel the mystery of the man Richard was and who in fact killed the princes in the tower.The Daughter of Time was the last book Tey published in her lifetime, shortly before her death. In 1990, it was voted number one in The Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time list compiled by the British Crime Writers' Association. In 1995, it was voted number four in The Top 100 Mystery Novels of All Time list compiled by the Mystery Writers of America.

Introducing Philo VancePlayboy stockbroker, Alvin Benson, is found in his brownstone mansion with a bullet through his head. First on the scene is Philo Vance, amateur detective, taken to the crime scene by his friend, the District Attorney, Markham. Vance is at once intrigued by the absence of Alvin's toupee and his false teeth rather than the more obvious clue of a ladies' handbag near the corpse. These strange clues set him in pursuit of the murderer as he confronts suspects and uncovers a whole bunch of secrets in his search for the truth. A classic mix of the golden age school of crime writing with puzzle-solving and a psychological approach to murder at the same time.

The price of Truth!Mike Dolan is a widely read newspaper columnist, but he's intensely frustrated by his newspaper's shelving the stories that count – like a rich brat's drunk-driving accident, a KKK like racist-fascist group called the Crusaders, or a pennant-winning baseball team fixing games. Dolan has had enough, and starts up his own magazine. But freedom comes with consequences and at high cost. With issues relevant even today like freedom of the press, fake news, women rights, xenophobia, sports corruption, No Pockets in a Shroud is a hard-hitting book that showcases McCoy's fast-paced, suspenseful and classic hard-boiled fiction style.

The master criminal who can't be caughtThe Infallible Godahl is a self-proclaimed master criminal – with the most perfect criminal mind ever devised whose Watson is the writer Oliver Armiston. It is Godahl's credo that, if he thinks a problem through to its logical end, he will never get caught or more precisely – " not only never been caught, but never even been suspected of a crime." This volume collects the six Godahl stories. "Frederick Irving Anderson… is one of the distinguished short-story writers in the history of the American short story in general, and the short crime story in particular." – Otto Penzler

"Holmes!" I cried. "Is it really you? Can it indeed be that you are alive? Is it possible that you succeeded in climbing out of that awful abyss?."The one and only Sherlock Holmes is sensationally back from the dead and devoting his life once more to examining the criminal complexities of the capital. Cases of mysterious codes, persecuted millionaires, stalkers, abductions and a meeting with 'the worst man in London' are all attacked with renewed vigour. But Holmes' old enemies are watching his every move. Watching, waiting, plotting…The Return of Sherlock Holmes is a collection of thirteen Sherlock Holmes stories, originally published between 1903-1904 by The Strand Magazine in Britain and Collier's in the United States. The stories were the first Holmes collection since 1893, when Holmes famously appeared to have died.

The books (along with its prequels) that launched the greatest thriller writer of his time!"...the Four do not go outside their promise. If they have threatened to kill in a certain manner at a certain time they will be punctual."Edgar Wallace was a phenomenon, and quite possibly was the first thriller superbrand. This omnibus and its companion second volume collects the first book that broke him out and its various sequels. The Three Just Men The three have received a pardon and are not law abiding. But can they get the same results they did by being strictly legal? Find out with the next set of enthralling stories. Again the Three The final set of thrilling tales from the dossiers of the world's most famous vigilantes as they take on blackmailers, try and free wrongly implicated murder suspects and a mad scientist who may prove to be an earth-changing threat, literally.

Graustark generation nextThis fourth instalment in the Graustark saga is about a young woman whose billionaire father wants her to marry a prince, but she is determined to not to settle for an arranged marriage and is adamant that she will only marry for love. An adventure packed storyline (that for the first time has a locale that is outside Graustark for the larger part of the book) with a surprising plot twist made this a bestseller of its time. Book 4 of the Graustark saga.

Ruritanian adventure from the author of TarzanSet in the fictional European kingdom of Lutha, this is the story of a young American Barney Custer, who is the son of an American farmer and a runaway Luthan princess, Victoria Rubinroth. Unaware of his royal blood, much less that he is the spitting image of his relative Leopold, the current king of Lutha, Barney visits Lutha on the eve of the First World War to see for himself his mother's native land. As he arrives in Lutha, King Leopold has just escaped from his ten years' imprisonment at the hands of his scheming uncle, Prince Peter of Blentz. Much to his own and everyone else's confusion, Barney is naturally mistaken for the king, leading to numerous complications and of course classic swashbuckling adventure.

Amongst the earliest police memoirsThis volume, an enlarged version from its first appearance in 1860, is a collection of true-crime stories. Written by Thomas Waters, aka William Russell, a detective inspector in London, the stories are based on real events. From run-ins with gamblers, through burglaries and missing persons to counterfeiting, Waters has seen it all.

The skills of Sherlock Holmes and a psychic medium rolled into one!Dr Silence is an eccentric man of science, philanthropic by nature, who specializes in cases involving psychical problems. An authority on the occult after years of rigorous training, herein are six of his most unusual cases, including the story of the man who seeks to renew childhood memories while travelling through France, but instead stumbles upon a monastery of the dead; and the island camping trip that turns into a shapeshifting nightmare; a Roman stone 'laundry and a claustrophobic tunnel leading to a makeshift Egyptian tomb… just a glimpse of the six spellbinding tales from the grandmaster of supernatural fiction.

Contains The Four Just Men, The Council of Justice, The Just Men of Cordova, and The Law of the Four Just MenThe book (and its sequels) that launched the greatest thriller writer of his time"…the Four do not go outside their promise. If they have threatened to kill in a certain manner at a certain time they will be punctual."Edgar Wallace was a phenomenon, and quite possibly was the first thriller superbrand. This omnibus and its companion second volume collects the first book that broke him out and its various sequels. The Just Men was a series of six detective thriller novels published between 1905 and 1928. How the first book was published is a sensational story in itself and is told within this edition. the adventures of the vigilante team known as the Just men --who were judge, jury, and executioner themselves going after men whom the law could not touch-- were instant bestsellers. The Four Just men Starting with the sensational and impossible locked door mystery (though this one has a further twist in that the Four give advance warning of their intended killing). A Spanish resistance leader's safety is threatened by the passage through Parliament of the Aliens Extradition Bill. Four mysterious figures, "the four just men," warn the minister responsible for the bill that he faces death unless he withdraws the legislation. The Council of Justice A new member has joined the Four Just Men to replace the one killed in the first book.. This time the four have to stop the Congress of the Red Hundred, an anarchist terrorist group set on undermining England's democratic systems. And to complicate matters the police have got Manfred. The Just men of Cordova The just men are up against Col. Black a businessman who seems to float ventures where dissenting people die. The Law of the Four Just Men A collection of gripping stories featuring the exploits of the vigilantes.

The quiet understated detective!This volume the second of two that collects all the stories of Martin Hewitt, detective extraordinaire who solves cases with the same elan as Sherlock Holmes but in a quieter, less flamboyant way. Hewitt was created at a time when Doyle had killed off Holmes and the void was being filled by others. An artist's work is savagely vandalized, and the artist murdered. Gold bullion mysteriously vanishes from the ill-fated steamship Nicobar as it sinks en route to Plymouth. A clerk disappears from a large London bank along with a huge sum of money. A lunatic Frenchman, found beaten and bloody in the street, screams when offered a loaf of bread. An adopted daughter is at danger of losing all her inheritance.Just some of the mysteries to be unravelled by Martin Hewitt.

Meet Miss GForrester's female detective 'Miss G' was among the first female professional detectives created and also the model for many that followed. 'Miss Gladden' has an ambiguous position with the police – sometimes working with them and other times investigating on her own. She is able to infiltrate households disguised as a maid, or a dressmaker, or a charity worker. The stories have a strong procedural feel about them – unusual for the time with her focus on deduction, examining the scene of the crime, looking for clues, application of science (anticipating Holmes by about twenty years), and even ballistics. A work of historical significance in the annals of crime fiction!

In the process of writing his memoirs, Arsène Lupin takes us back to his early twenties and his first love: Clarice d'Etigues. Although forbidden by her father to meet, that doesn't stop Ralph d'Andresy—Lupin's nom du jour—from wooing Clarice. But when he finds evidence on the d'Etigues estate of a conspiracy to murder a woman, he cannot help but be drawn into the ensuing three-way race to a legendary treasure. This story introduces a Lupin who is growing into his abilities, but as befitting his age still has self-doubt in-between bouts of confidence.

Two influential books that were forerunners of their genresZadig Zadig is a story of adventure and romance; of political intrigue and deception; of justice and fate, all gathered in one simmering philosophical broth. Although Voltaire had not intended to write a detective novel, his influence on detective literature is clear. Poe based his Dupin directly on Zadig, while Holmes's precise methods can be seen as a modern version of Zadig's own technique. In a memorable scene near the beginning, Zadig is approached by a royal entourage who make a general inquiry to him about the disappearance of two animals. Zadig has never seen the animals and yet – using the track marks before him – he paints such a faithful picture of them as to be mistaken for the thief himself. It is the method, and not the mystery, that earned Zadig the claim of being a possible contender for the first modern detective novel. "The first systematic detective in modern literature" – A Catalogue of Crime by Barzun and TaylorVathek (alternatively titled Vathek, an Arabian Tale or The History of the Caliph Vathek) by William Beckford is an eastern orientalist tale with a touch of the Arabian Nights (which had just been introduced to the west and whose exoticism had huge appeal). This novel provided the framework for the eastern adventure or orientalist genre of books that was to follow – whether adventure thriller or horror or mystic mysteries.

The quiet understated detective!This volume, the first of two that collects all the stories of Martin Hewitt, detective extraordinaire who solves cases with the same elan as Sherlock Holmes but in a quieter, less flamboyant way. Hewitt was created at a time when Doyle had killed off Holmes and the void was being filled by others. An artist's work is savagely vandalized, and the artist murdered. Gold bullion mysteriously vanishes from the ill-fated steamship Nicobar as it sinks en route to Plymouth. A clerk disappears from a large London bank along with a huge sum of money. A lunatic Frenchman, found beaten and bloody in the street, screams when offered a loaf of bread. An adopted daughter is at danger of losing all her inheritance.Just some of the mysteries to be unravelled by Martin Hewitt.