Crime & Mystery Classics Volume 3 / Lot Of 9 and 50 similar items

Condition: New. CHECK your CD player manual BEFORE ordering. Your player must be able to play MP3 files on CD or these CDs will not play. Thank you. Audio Source : Librivox, Public Domain Martin Hewitt, Investigator Arthur MORRISON (1863 - 1945) Here are seven mystery stories featuring Martin Hewitt, Detective, and narrated (of course) by his (nameless) sidekick. Arthur Morrison certainly has imagination, as shown by the very wide range of situations, motivations, crimes and characters he presents in these stories. Hewitt may be after a Russian spy or a domestic animal; he investigates the burglary of documents vital to national security, but also the destruction of a work of art -- which is counterfeit. (summary by Kirsten Wever) Genre(s): Detective Fiction, Single Author Collections The Affair at the Semiramis Hotel A. E. W. MASON (1865 - 1948) Inspector Hanaud is a member of the French Sûrete. He is said to have been the model for Agatha Christie?s Hercule Poirot, as well as the opposite of Conan Doyle?s Sherlock Holmes. The Affair At The Semiramis Hotel (1917), a novella, is the second Hanaud mystery. Did the robbery/murder really happen or was it the mescal-induced hallucination of the witness? The first novel is At The Villa Rose (1910). The third is The House Of The Arrow (1924) (there are seven through 1949, available at project gutenberg Australia). In 1910, Mason undertook to create a fictional detective as different as possible from Sherlock Holmes, who had recently been resuscitated after his supposed death by Arthur Conan Doyle in 1903. Inspector Gabriel Hanaud was stout, not gaunt like Holmes; a professional policeman, not a gentleman amateur; from the French Sûrete, not Victorian England; and relying on psychological insights rather than physical evidence. His "Watson" is a retired London banker named Mr. Julius Ricardo. - Summary by David Wales Genre(s): Detective Fiction, Published 1900 onward The Loot Of Cities Arnold BENNETT (1867 - 1931) Published in 1917, this is a collection of a novella and seven short stories by one of the cleverest authors of the early twentieth century. ?In Queen's Quorum (1951), a survey of crime fiction, Ellery Queen listed Bennett's The Loot of Cities among the 100 most important works in the genre. This collection of stories recounts the adventures of a millionaire who commits crimes to achieve his idealistic ends. Although it was "one of his least known works," it was nevertheless "of unusual interest, both as an example of Arnold Bennett's early work and as an early example of dilettante detectivism".? - Summary by David Wales Genre(s): Detective Fiction, Single Author Collections The Clue of the Twisted Candle (Version 2) Edgar WALLACE (1875 - 1932) Detective mystery story set in London, with some romance, and intriguing plot. - Summary by Peter Thomlinson Genre(s): Detective Fiction The Curved Blades Carolyn WELLS (1862 - 1942) 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??? - Summary by Celine Major Genre(s): Detective Fiction The Old Ladies Hugh WALPOLE (1884 - 1941) ?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?.? (excerpt from the book) 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 (1924) is a study of a timid elderly spinster exploited and eventually frightened to death by a predatory widow. Genre(s): Crime Mystery Fiction, Published 1900 onward The Sign at Six Stewart Edward WHITE (1873 - 1946) It started out as a nuisance--odd electrical problems in the Atlas building that cleared themselves up. But then it got worse, the problems becoming more and more peculiar and inexplicable. Scientist Percy Darrow has given himself the task of figuring out the who and the how, and maybe the why, as life turns strange and a little dangerous. - Summary by Tom Penn Genre(s): Crime Mystery Fiction, Fantastic Fiction The Lake Mystery Marvin DANA (1867 - 1926) When an old miser dies, he leaves behind valuable gold. Naturally, many people want it. But the miser has not made it easy, hiding the gold with cryptic clues. Saxe, the son of a former music student of the miser, leads the charge to find it along with some old friends before time runs out and the money goes to the miser's blood relatives. But when an evil engineer tries to sneak in and find the gold for himself, Saxe and his crew must try to find the gold while evading the engineer. Who will find the gold first?. (Campbell Schelp) Genre(s): Crime Mystery Fiction The Girl From Hollywood Edgar Rice BURROUGHS (1875 - 1950) The countryside outside of Los Angeles is a paradise on Earth: nature gives bounty on the land, the animals are majestic, the oaks breathe and the natural pools and ponds are all you would want on a summer's day. And if you are a Pennington or an Evans, life is simple and complete. However, every paradise has a serpent. For Rancho Ganado, that comes in the shape of Bootlegging, Drugs and Murder. All the vice of nearby Hollywood manifest themselves in the picturesque landscape, throwing the lives of these families into turmoil. - Summary by Joseph DeNoia Proof-listened by KevinS and linny Genre(s): Literary Fiction, Published 1900 onward