A collection of short stories that chronicles the first year of the Malcolm Sage Detective Bureau.
Henry Beechtree, a newspaper correspondent for the British Bolshevist, is covering the latest otherwise sleepy session of the League of Nations in Geneva, when the newly elected President – a member of the Norwegian delegation – disappears mysteriously, adding some badly needed ‘spice’ to Henry's assignment.
When car-crazy George Ewart accepts employment as chauffeur to Count Bindo di Ferraris, an Italian aristocrat, he has no idea what he has just let himself in for. The opportunity to drive the powerful six-cylinder, 40 horsepower Napier open touring car provides happiness enough. The Count, however, has a secret agenda. Why is he always on the move? What mystery sees the Count Bindo rushing to the wealthy--and occasionally dangerous-- hot spots of Europe? And why must he leave so quickly after? Eventually, Ewart catches on to the Count's "mission." What will he do now?
(Written by Charlotte M. Brame under the pen name Bertha M. Clay.)
Honest Mark Brace is about to lose his farm, land of his ancestors, home to his wife, Patty, and small daughter, Mattie, when out of a dark and stormy night comes the answer to his prayers. A tiny babe, tender and fair, left on their doorstep with a note asking Mark and Patty to bring the child up as their own, to raise it to be good, like themselves, and to accept for their troubles a hundred pounds a year.
The farm is saved, and all is peaceful for a while as the beautiful baby, Doris, grows into an even more beautiful child. But as she grows, so too grows her awareness of her own loveliness, of her difference from the humble farmers who raise her. Doris hungers for luxury, jewels and velvet, bright fetes and ardent admirers. Confident that her ethereal beauty and native wit will bring her everything she deserves, she focuses her energies on obtaining these things and sets in motion a chain of events that will break hearts, rip at the mystery surrounding her birth, and culminate in the greatest tragedy of them all.
A story of love in many forms, A Fair Mystery is part romance, part tragedy, and part social commentary, one which asks us to pause a moment and reflect on what it is that is truly worth having in this life.
It was a night to drive any man indoors. Not only was the darkness impenetrable, but the raw mist enveloping hill and valley made the open road anything but desirable to a belated wayfarer like myself.
Being young, untrammeled, and naturally indifferent to danger, I was not averse to adventure; and having my fortune to make, was always on the lookout for El Dorado, which, to ardent souls, lies ever beyond the next turning. Consequently, when I saw a light shimmering through the mist at my right, I resolved to make for it and the shelter it so opportunely offered.
But I did not realize then, as I do now, that shelter does not necessarily imply refuge, or I might not have undertaken this adventure with so light a heart. Yet, who knows? The impulses of an unfettered spirit lean toward daring, and youth, as I have said, seeks the strange, the unknown and, sometimes, the terrible. (Exerpt from Chapter I)
A deserted house with a troubled past. A mysterious countess who captivates everyone with her wealth and beauty -- well, almost everyone. An equally mysterious derelict who holds a secret to the countess's past. A fresh crime that threatens to ruin a promising young doctor. A plucky young governess determined to save him. Who will prevail? (Jacquerie)
In this suspensful whodunit a mean-spirited and wealthy dowager is found murdered in her boudoir supposedly killed once by poison and also by a blow to the head. Most bizarre is the fact that she is found sitting in front of her mirror lavishly dressed wearing a fortune in pearls and gems. Her niece, her social secretary, her cousin managing her finances, a mysterious count and a maid acting rather suspiciously are the suspects. The police are getting nowhere so famous criminologist Fleming Stone is called in. However is it possible he is so taken with the primary suspect that she could prevent him from solving the mystery???
"The Case of the Lamp That Went Out" is one of the earlier Joseph Muller stories by Austrian author, Auguste Groner, originally published in German in 1899. The English translation was published in 1910 in a collection of five detective stories in "Joseph Muller: Detective - Being the Account of Some Adventures in the Professional Experience of a Member of the Imperial Austrian Police." The body of a well-dressed man is found in a vacant lot early one morning. With very few clues and no witnesses, it is up to Muller to sort out the true reason for the crime and identify the murderer.
The opening scene takes place in a hospital ward where two patients lie, apparently dying, when a man enters and offers a proposition to one of them. The story then shifts to another town where, years earlier, Polly Earle’s mother died of unknown causes and her father disappeared, leaving Polly, a small child, parentless and penniless. Raised by neighbors, Polly is now a beautiful young woman engaged to be married. A stranger arrives and makes an unsettling request of Polly. Doctor Izard, an intensely private person who had attended her mother, becomes involved. Anna Katherine Green, a prolific and popular mystery writer, was considered to be "The American Agatha Christie". (Lee Smalley)
John Charles Dent, the author of the following remarkable stories, was born in Kendal, Westmorland, England, in 1841. His parents emigrated to Canada shortly after that event, bringing with them, of course, the youth who was afterwards to become the Canadian author and historian. Mr. Dent received his primary education in Canadian schools, and afterwards studied law, becoming in due course a member of the Upper Canada Bar. He only practised for a few years, then returned to England to pursue a literary career, writing mostly for periodicals. After remaining in England for several years, Mr. Dent and his family moved to Boston, in America, for about two years. But he finally returned to Canada, accepting a journalistic position in Toronto. Mr. Dent proceeded to write 'The Canadian Portrait Gallery', which ran to four large volumes, 'The Last Forty Years: Canada since the Union of 1841', and a 'History of the Rebellion in Upper Canada'.
This collected work of his short fiction, contributed by their author at considerable intervals to different periodicals, was published posthumously. The stories themselves are delightfully anchored in the physical geography of Upper Canada (or in the case of 'Gagtooth's Image', Illinois), and have a mystical and spooky air about them.
Dyke Darrel investigates an audacious train robbery that included the murder of a friend, and embarks on a man-hunt. High Victorian serial melodrama at its best!
Giles Dudley is called upon by his cousin Henry Wilton to assist him in San Francisco, but the reason for the summons is not at all clear. Dudley answers the summons, only to find himself immediately wrapped in the middle of mystery and intrigue, the roots and ends of which he is utterly unaware. He has been given to care for a mysterious young boy whom he hasn't even seen. His cousin has mysteriously disappeared. Dudley's role in the mystery has him convinced that as he goes about trying to assist his cousin with whatever it was he wanted to accomplish, he does so completely blindfolded.
What secrets lay within the walls of the house by the lock? What secrets, if any, are held by the man who owns that mysterious house?
A body is found in a backwater creek not far from the house by the lock, but what leads Noel Stanton on a quest to determine who the killer might be is more than merely the disappearance of his American friend Harvey Farnham. He has reason to believe that the wealthy and influential owner of the house, Carson Wildred, might somehow be implicated in the coincidental disappearance and murder. But as Stanton's search progresses, he learns that his friend is safe and sound back in the U.S. and he therefore must learn more about the house itself with its peculiar construction, it's hidden passageways, and the peculiar smoke occasionally seen rising from its inaccessible areas. But everything is accounted for by the police, the servants, and Mr. Wildred during his investigation, leaving a most strange mystery left for Stanton to unravel.
This is a collection of 14 of William le Queux' best mystery stories.
A murder mystery set in early 20th century England and France involving revenge, greed, mysterious people, romance and more. Summary to be expanded and completed during and at the completion of the book by the Reader
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?
Joseph Muller, police detective, travels to a remote Hungarian village to discover the truth behind the murder of a beloved village Pastor.
Bungay Castle is a gothic novel by Elizabeth Bonhôte. It was first published in 1796 and follows the fortunes of the De Morney family at Bungay Castle in Suffolk. Two young members of the family, Roseline and Edwin, search for the source of strange, unearthly cries and discover a terrifying secret in the castle's bowels which will change their lives forever. The story combines the classic Gothic tropes of mystery, betrayal and a heroine in peril in suitably imposing surroundings and has been praised in modern times for its proto-feminist sensibility. The young women in the story keep their fates in their own hands, rather than wait for some dashing hero to come to the rescue. (Wikipedia)
A young man, Owen Biddulph, is drawn to a beautiful young woman with a mysterious past... a past that seems to have returned to cause her disappearance! Is she his new found love or his nemesis? And who is this mysterious clergyman that warns him to avoid this young woman, at risk of his very life! What possible harm could this sweet young woman inflict? Written by one of the Masters of Mystery, William Le Queux.
Joseph Muller, quiet mannered detective, tries to solve the mystery of a man who died in his study, by a bullet hole in the chest. But all windows and doors were locked, from the inside.
While visiting their friend, Florence, at her home in Mexico, Jo Ann and Peggy noticed a barred window which has no opening into any of the rooms of an ancient adobe house. Curious to find out what it is, the girls tried to investigate but no one seems eager to help them. Undaunted, the girls made plans to get there only to encounter dangers and find a thrilling discovery.
Frank Urwin and Richard Cleugh are two bachelor journalists sharing a flat in London. One evening while chatting, Urwin receives a telegram from a police acquaintance to come to the local police station at once. Urwin visits Inspector Patterson who is greatly agitated. Patterson invites Urwin for a drink and tells him of a strange occurrence at a local house. The two visit the house where they discover a dead young male and attractive young female. For some reason, Patterson is reluctant to report the apparent murders. While at the house, the telephone rings and Urwin answers it. A strange voice asks if the deed has been done? Urwin indicates it has and agrees to meet the caller at St. James’s Park. Urwin finally convinces Patterson to report the crime and a second visit occurs with additional police. This time however, the dead female is not the same person.