"For Ellery Queen, there is no puzzle that reason cannot solve. In his time, he has faced down killers, thugs, and thieves, protected only by the might of his brain - and the odd bit of timely intervention by his father, a burly New York police inspector. But when a university professor asks Queen to teach a class, the detective finds there are people whom reason cannot touch: college students. Queen's adventure on campus is only the first of this incomparable collection of short mysteries. In the tales that follow, he tangles with a violent book thief, an assassin of acrobats, and New York's only cleanly shaven bearded lady. And the only thing more dazzling than the mysterious murders he confronts are his brilliant solutions at the end. Ellery Queen was a master of the short mystery, so closely associated with the form that the longest-running magazine for such tales bears his name; the excellent stories in this volume show why he continues to be considered one of the greatest American practitioners of the Golden Age whodunnit"--

Detective Sam Birge investigates a strangely unnecessary murder at a Midwestern resort and gradually unravels a many-layered tragedy

He was a tall, cleanly attractive young man, the kind you'd like to have for a neighbor. Press the wrong button and he'd mow you down with the ruthlessness of a Sherman tank. His name was Daniel Port. He was a gangster, the brain and spirit behind the machine that milked the dirty pennies from the city. Now Port wanted out. He had a bellyful of corruption, a one-way ticket to New York, and a dark, shining girl to go along with it. The problem was to get there alive, because the one way out for Daniel Port was over his own freshly dug grave...

A grotesque figure burst into the girl's room. Its head piled with fake curls, its face concealed behind a smiling mask, it wore the rubber gloves of a surgeon or perhaps a mortuary attendant. It seized the girl from behind and chloroformed, suffocated, and finally, decapitated her.

The police receive a series of literary clues to the brutal murders in the Chelsea section of London. They include snips of verse and an intricate reading of a Times crossword puzzle --

Romance, Contemporary: Private investigator Jeff Haley doesn't believe in love, especially when it involves a wacky blonde blackjack dealer named Casey Madison. But when scandalous photos from Jeff's latest case fall into -- then out of -- Casey's hands, Jeff and Casey embark on a tri-state chase for the photos...and love.

A likeable but rather hapless young man decides he's tired of small-time games and attempts to break into the big league. However, he finds himself woefully out of his depth and ends up caught out in an ingenious back-firing murder conspiracy. Entertaining and full of suspense, Symons' plot has enough twists to keep you guessing right until the final thrilling conclusion.

Judith Lassiter has a handsome architect husband who dotes on her, no financial worries, and a beautiful house. But when she begins to change the course of her life--and takes a lover--she soon feels that murder may be the essential next step.

Returning from his Carolina coast security job to upstate New York, Jack, haunted by memories of his dead wife and child, is hired to search for a lawyer's missing nephew, a search that leads into the dark underworld of his hometown.

A stunning and epic finale to the series, pitting Fandorin against both Ninjas and terrorists on the Trans-Siberian Express! The first of the interlinked plotlines is set in Russia during the Russo-Japanese War in 1905. Fandorin is charged with protecting the Trans-Siberian Railway from Japanese sabotage in a pacy adventure filled with double agents and ticking bombs. Then we travel back to the Japan of the late 1870s. This is the story of Fandorin's arrival and life in Yokohama, his first meeting with Masa and the martial arts education that came in so handy later. He investigates the death of a Russian ship-captain, fights for a woman, exposes double-agents in the Japanese police, fights against, and then with the ninjas, and becomes embroiled in a shocking finale that interweaves the two stories and ties up the series as a whole.

After a stranger named Sebastian drops dead in front of him while waiting to buy a stamp, Luke Wakefield discovers a macabre letter leading to a bizarre correspondence and murder

"Did you know that DNA extracted from a laboratory mouse and injected into the cells of a common fruit fly has produced eyes on the legs of that fly? Eyes, young miss, eyes. Think of what you've just read." Lovecraftian stories are the bread and butter of the true horror fan. During his lifetime, Lovecraft himself encouraged other writers to develop stories in the vein we now call Lovecraftian: horror, based around the idea that Earth had been colonized by malign aliens in the remote past, long before mankind arose and became civilized, who eventually became worshipped and feared as evil Gods by their human servitors.Eventually these aliens had been "banished" to another dimensional limbo by a benign Elder Race, but might one day return to reclaim the Earth "when the stars are right." That deep seated unease threads through this collection of Richard. A Lupoff's short stories that seem to share a common universe. Praise for Richard A. Lupoff: "Lupoff writes with intelligence, humour, wisdom, and a zest for life." - Joe Gorges, author of Hammett . Richard A. Lupoff began his writing career as a print and broadcast journalist while attending university. After earning his degree he served twice in the United States Army, first as an enlisted man, then as an officer. Following military service he worked for twelve years in the computer industry, while also serving as a guest lecturer at universities including the University of California (Berkeley) and Stanford University. As author and editor he has written more than fifty volumes, ranging from science fiction, mystery, fantasy, horror, and mainstream fiction to the evolution of cartooning and comics. He is a past winner of the Hugo Award, and a finalist for the Nebula and Oscar Awards. He has achieved the rare distinction of being represented in "Best of the Year" anthologies in three fields: science fiction, mystery, and horror.

Includes 12 science fiction stories that comprise various genres, from mystery to science fiction to autobiographical fiction. This book contains a Sherlock Holmesian mystery, a Walter Mitty-like escape into the world of software, and a Cthulhu Mythos tale in the Lovecraft tradition.

Appears to be reprint of first edition. A scroll fragment revealed information about the True Menorah and its impact on Israel. Davidson also wrote the biblio mystery, THE CHELSEA MURDERS. viii , 277 pages. cloth, dust jacket.. 8vo..

The discovery of piles of bones seeming to belong to a previously unknown species of monster will help to unfold a macabre and grisly tale. - A lady is found dead in her bed, the apparent victim of a murder the coroner proves could not possibly have occurred. - A merman found by fishermen off the coast of Brighton in 1745 will reveal the truth behind one of the most terrible events of the 20th century. - A desperate man makes a bad bargain with a man in black; an extraordinarily horrible dummy exercises a frightful control over his terrified ventriloquist; a condemned murderer lives again through the eyes of an innocent child . . . These are the plots of just a few of the brilliant tales you will find in this volume as you enter the bizarre world of master storyteller Gerald Kersh. With a focus on Kersh's science fiction, fantasy, and horror stories, On an Odd Note (1958) contains thirteen of his best. This first-ever reprint features a new introduction by Nick Mamatas. Contains: Seed of Destruction, Frozen Beauty, Reflections in a Tablespoon, The Crewel Needle, The Sympathetic Souse, The Queen of Pig Island, Prophet Without Honor, The Beggars' Stone, The Extraordinarily Horrible Dummy, The Brighton Monster, Fantasy of a Hunted Man, The Gentleman All in Black, and The Eye. "Gerald Kersh had a wild imagination matched by a vivid, near-hallucinatory style. Many of his concepts are so original that they blur the distinction between fantasy, science fiction, mystery, and horror, but the cumulative impact of his short stories is horrific in the extreme." - Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural "Kersh tells a story, as such, rather better than anybody else." - Pamela Hansford Johnson, Daily Telegraph "Gerald Kersh has a strange, perverted sort of genius. And how he can write!" - Virginia Kirkus

The mind is the source of our most profound fascination and mystery, and few books have unveiled the frailties, fears, and fetishes of the human condition better than "The Taboo Scarf". These nine stories are driven by a narrative as full of passion and drama as the most powerful fiction.

Here Feinstein plaits a strand of narrative from medieval Toledo with a glamorous female academic's life into a mystery story with spiritual side-lights.

At an end-of-season London soirée a young Hungarian scholar, Dr János Bátky, is introduced to the Earl of Gwynedd, a reclusive eccentric who is the subject of strange rumours. Invited to the family seat, Pendragon Castle in North Wales, Bátky receives a mysterious phone call warning him not to go. Once there, nothing is quite as it seems... Antal Szerb's first novel is a gently satirical blend of gothic and romantic genres, crossed with a murder mystery to produce a fast-moving and often hilarious romp. But beneath the surface, Szerb's steely intelligence poses disturbingly modern questions about the nature of self and reality. "An absolute treat... Szerb is a master novelist, a comedian whose powers transcend time and language" Nicholas Lezard, Guardian Pushkin Collection editions feature a spare, elegant series style and superior, durable components. The Collection is typeset in Monotype Baskerville, litho-printed on Munken Premium White Paper and notch-bound by the independently owned printer TJ International in Padstow. The covers, with French flaps, are printed on Colorplan Pristine White Paper. Both paper and cover board are acid-free and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified.