The mysterious affair at styles was Agatha Christie’s first published novel, introducing the one and only Hercule Poirot. Detective Poirot is one of Agatha Christie’s most famous and long-lived characters. Alongside Poirot, we will also meet Inspector (later, Chief Inspector) Japp, and Lieutenant Hastings (later, Captain), as well as a few very interesting characters.
In this classic and timeless novel, the story is told in the first person by Hastings and features many of the elements that have become icons of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, largely due to Agatha Christie’s influence. The story is set in a large, isolated country manor. There are a half-dozen suspects, most of whom are hiding facts about themselves. The book includes maps of the house, maps of the murder scene, and a drawing of a fragment of a will. As in any great mystery novel, there are a number of red herrings and surprise plot twists. Who did it? Why? When? Who knew about it? Will justice be served?
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In this classic and timeless novel, adventurer Richard Hannay has just returned to London from Rhodesia in order to begin a new life, when a freelance spy called Franklin P. Scudder calls on him to ask for help. Scudder reveals to Hannay that he has uncovered a German plot to murder the Greek Premier and steal British plans for the outbreak of war. Scudder claims to be following a ring of German spies called the Black Stone. A few days later, Hannay returns to his flat to find Scudder murdered. If Hannay goes to the police, he will be arrested for Scudder’s murder. So Hannay decides to continue Scudder’s work and his adventure begins. He escapes from the German spies watching the house and makes his way to Scotland, pursued both by the spies and by the police. But what is the secret behind the mysterious Thirty-Nine Steps and will Hannay resolve the mystery before disaster strikes?
“Under the willows at the edge of the pool a young girl sat daydreaming, though the day was nearly done. All in the valley was wrapped in shadow, though the cliffs and turrets across the stream were resplendent in a radiance of slanting sunshine. Not a cloud tempered the fierce glare of the arching heavens or softened the sharp outline of neighboring peak or distant mountain chain . . . . There is something about a night alarm of fire at a military post that borders on the thrilling. In the days whereof we write the buildings were not the substantial creations of brick and stone to be seen to-day, and those of the scattered ‘camps’ and stations in that arid, sun-scorched land of Arizona were tinder boxes of the flimsiest and most inflammable kind.”
In this classic and timeless story, which is one of the true classics of American literature, Dorothy and her adventures have stirred the imagination of young and old alike for generations. Considered as the first American fairy tale, L. Frank Baum crafted a wonderful and imaginative story out of familiar places and characters. Dorothy will go through the adventure of a lifetime. In the story, we follow the adventures of young Dorothy Gale and her dog, Toto, as their Kansas house is swept away by a cyclone. Dorothy and Toto emerge in a strange and magical land called Oz. And it is at this very moment when one of the greatest and most imaginative adventures of all time begins. Dorothy will meet good and evil Witches, the Munchkins, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, the Cowardly Lion, the mighty Wizard of Oz, and many other characters on her way through the famous yellow brick road leading to the Emerald City. Will Dorothy be able to get back home to Kansas? We shall see.
