A brand new anthology of previously unpublished and uncollected supernatural mysteries by some of the masters of the Golden Age - thrills, spills and chills perfect for Halloween.

 It is said that books are written to bring sunshine into our dull, grey lives - to show us places we want to escape to, lives we want to live, people we want to love. But there are also stories that can only be found in the deepest, darkest corners of the library. Stories about the unexplained, of lost souls, of things that go bump before the silence. Before the screaming.

 And some stories just disappear. Stories printed in old newspapers, broadcast live on the wireless, sometimes not even published at all - these are the stories you cannot find on even the dustiest of library shelves.

 This follow-up volume to the bestselling Ghosts from the Library resurrects forgotten tales of the supernatural by some of the most accomplished mystery authors of all time. Close the windows. Draw the curtains. Just don't let the lights go out.

Wicked Spirits - Mysteries, Spine Chillers and Lost Tales of the Supernatural

Bodies from the Library brings into the daylight the forgotten, the lost and the unknown, and the 2023 volume is another indispensable collection for crime fans.

 The sixth volume of Bodies from the Library includes the usual eclectic mix of pre- and post-war stories by classic crime and thriller writers. Unearthed from ephemeral publications, newspapers and magazines, some of these 'lost' stories are by authors who have appeared in previous volumes, with others who are new to the series:

 We welcome back to the Library familiar Golden Age detective writers in the form of stories by Christianna Brand, Alice Campbell, Joseph Commings and Cyril Hare, a previously unknown novella by Anthony Gilbert, a short novel by Margery Allingham, and a hitherto unpublished Detection Club radio play by John Rhode.

 We also welcome for the first time George Bellairs, Victor Whitechurch and Andrew Garve, with E. C. Bentley's 'Greedy Night' providing a humorous parody of Dorothy L. Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey, before five thriller writers including Geoffrey Household and Dennis Wheatley round off the collection with an unusual and exciting round-robin novella.

 And, whether this is your first encounter with Bodies or a return to the Library, we welcome you, the reader. Complete with revealing biographies of all 16 featured authors by Tony Medawar, we hope you will find this to be an indispensable collection for your bookshelf.

Bodies from the Library 6 - Forgotten Stories of Mystery and Suspense by the Masters of the Golden Age of Detection

Republished for the first time in nearly 95 years, a classic winter country house mystery by the founder of the Detection Club, with a twist that even Agatha Christie couldn't solve!

 Stephen Munro, a demobbed army officer, reconciles himself to taking a job as a footman to make ends meet. Employed at Wintringham Hall, the delightful but decaying Sussex country residence of the elderly Lady Susan Carey, his first task entails welcoming her eccentric guests to a weekend house-party, at which her bombastic nephew - who recognises Stephen from his former life - decides that an after-dinner séance would be more entertaining than bridge. Then Cicely disappears!

 With Lady Susan reluctant to call the police about what is presumably a childish prank, Stephen and the plucky Pauline Mainwaring take it upon themselves to investigate. But then a suspicious death turns the game into an altogether more serious affair.

 This classic winter mystery incorporates all the trappings of the Golden Age - a rambling country house, a séance, a murder, a room locked on the inside, with servants, suspects and alibis, a romance - and an ingenious puzzle.

 First published as a 30-part newspaper serial in 1926 - the year The Murder of Roger Ackroyd was published, The Wintringham Mystery was written by Anthony Berkeley, founder of the famous Detection Club. Also known as Cicely Disappears, the Daily Mirror ran the story as a competition with a prize of £500 (equivalent to £30, 000 today) for anyone who guessed the solution correctly. Nobody did - even Agatha Christie entered and couldn't solve it. Can you?

The Wintringham Mystery - Cicely Disappears

This annual anthology of rare stories of crime and suspense brings together tales from the Golden Age of Detective Fiction for the first time in book form, including a short novel by Christianna Brand.

 Mystery stories have been around for centuries-there are whodunits, whydunits and howdunits, including locked-room puzzles, detective stories without detectives, and crimes with a limited choice of suspects.

 Countless volumes of such stories have been published, but some are still impossible to find: stories that appeared in a newspaper, magazine or an anthology that has long been out of print; ephemeral works such as plays not aired, staged or screened for decades; and unpublished stories that were absorbed into an author's archive when they died .

Bodies from the Library 4 - Lost Tales of Mystery and Suspense from the Golden Age of Detection

Did you know that one of the world's sharpest and most forensic minds inhabited the persona of an attractive old lady, with pink cheeks and blue eyes, and a gentle, rather fussy manner? Discover the secrets of Miss Marple in this gorgeous book of her quotes and sayings, and an essay by Agatha Christie appearing for the first time in any book!

 'Really, I have no gifts - except perhaps a certain knowledge of human nature.'

 Everyone in St Mary Mead knew Miss Marple: fluffy and dithery in appearance, but inwardly as sharp and as shrewd as they make them.

 'This is a wicked murderer, Inspector - and the wicked should not go unpunished.'

 Now, in her own words, discover the razor-sharp mind of the world's favourite armchair sleuth, and the wit and wisdom of the Queen of Crime who created her.

 Includes an exclusive essay by Agatha Christie written to promote the Miss Marple stories: Does a Woman's Instinct Make Her a Good Detective?

Murder, She Said - The Quotable Miss Marple

The classic crime novel featuring blind detective Max Carrados, whose popularity rivalled that of Sherlock Holmes, complete with a new introduction and an extra short story.

 In his dark little curio shop Julian Joolby is weaving an extravagant scheme to smash the financial machinery of the world by flooding the Oriental market with forged banknotes. But this monster of wickedness has not reckoned on Max Carrados, the suave and resourceful investigator whose visual impairment gives him heightened powers of perception that ordinary detectives overlook.

 Max Carrados was a blind detective whose stories by Ernest Bramah appeared from 1914 alongside Sherlock Holmes in the Strand Magazine, in which they often had top billing. Described by George Orwell as among 'the only detective stories since Poe that are worth re-reading', the 25 stories were collected in three hugely popular volumes, culminating in a full-length novel, The Bravo of London (1934), in which Carrados engages in a battle of wits against a fiendish plot that threatens to overthrow civilisation itself.

 This Detective Club classic is introduced by Tony Medawar, who investigates the impact on the genre of Bramah's blind detective and the relative obscurity of this, the only Max Carrados novel. This edition also includes the sole uncollected short story 'The Bunch of Violets'.

 As well as on the page, the Max Carrados stories have been a firm favourite on television and film, played over the years by (among others) Robert Stephens, Simon Callow and Pip Torrens, and read on audio by Arthur Darvill and Stephen Fry.

The Bravo of London - And ‘The Bunch of Violets’

A victim is bludgeoned to death with a woodworker's rasp in this first case for the famed gentleman detective Anthony Gethryn - the latest in a new series of classic detective novels from the vaults of HarperCollins.

 Ex-Secret Service agent Anthony Gethryn is killing time working for a newspaper when he is sent to cover the murder of Cabinet minister John Hoode, bludgeoned to death in his country home with a wood-rasp. Gethryn is convinced that the prime suspect, Hoode's secretary Alan Deacon, is innocent, but to prove it he must convince the police that not everyone else has a cast-iron alibi for the time of the murder.

 This Detective Story Club classic is introduced by crime fiction expert and writer Tony Medawar, who investigates the forgotten career of one of the Golden Age's finest detective story writers.

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