Regarded as the first full-length locked room mystery, The Big Bow Mystery focuses on a murder that has occurred inside a locked room, with no clear indication as to the weapon used, the perpetrator of the horrendous crime, or a possible escape route. Scotland Yard is stumped. Yet the seemingly unsolvable case has, as Inspector Grodman says, "one sublimely simple solution" that is revealed in a final chapter full of revelations and a shocking denouement. The Big Bow Mystery has been almost continuously in print since 1891 and has been used as the basis for three commercial films.

"Ted Lyte, amateur thief, has chosen an isolated house by the coast for his first robbery. But Haven House is no ordinary country home. While hunting for silverware to steal, Ted stumbles upon a locked room containing seven dead bodies. Detective Inspector Kendall takes on the case with the help of passing yachtisman Thomas Hazeldean. The search for the house's absent owners brings Hazeldean across the Channel to Boulogne, where he finds more than one motive to stay and investigate"--Page [4] of cover.

One of Sherlock Holmes's greatest rivals, a female detective who solves cases using her abilities in lip-reading and ju-jitsu, returns to print in this first-ever annotated, illustrated edition The incredible popularity of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories led to an explosion in tales featuring fictional detectives, but few of them were as original or interesting as Richard Marsh's Judith Lee, whose stories appeared alongside Doyle's in Strand Magazine from 1911-1916. "My name is Judith Lee. I am a teacher of the deaf and dumb. I teach them by what is called the oral system​ - that is, the lip--reading system. I suppose I must have a special sort of knack in that direction, because I do not remember a time when, by merely watching people speaking at a distance, I did not know what they were saying. This knack of mine, in a way, is almost equivalent to another sense. It has led me into the most singular situations, and it has been the cause of many really extraordinary adventures." Thus opens the first of Marsh's charming stories featuring Judith Lee, who thwarts murderers, robbers, burglars, con-men, and spies using her remarkable ability to read lips in multiple languages, along with her quick wits, innate intelligence, and skills in disguise and martial arts. Best known today for his horror fiction, including The Beetle (1897), a Gothic thriller that initially outsold Bram Stoker's Dracula , Richard Marsh (1857-1915) is receiving increased attention in recent years for his other works, including the twenty-two Judith Lee stories, reprinted in full in this volume, along with the original illustrations from Strand Magazine and a new scholarly introduction and annotations by Minna Vuohelainen.

Police Inspector Buck Safiotte is corrupt and cruel, ruthless and remorseless, ambitious and outrageous, ruling the streets of New York City like a monarch of the gutter. One early reader of Bodies Are Dust fretted that the book was too vicious for the library, but this almost-forgotten, impossible-to-find novel has become a classic, and noir fans consider their copies precious. Now, after more than 60 years out of print, Bodies Are Dust is available again, the first title from Staccato Crime, a new imprint of Stark House Press, which will resurrect noir classics, both novels and true crime, originally published 1899-1939.

Spy thriller fiction written in the Golden Age of Murder 'The men who work for you, General', he observed, 'should rid themselves of any fear of death'. Rome, 1934. Martin Fawley leaves the American secret service and is recruited by General Berati, the most feared man in fascist Italy, as a spy. After a brief encounter with a glamorous yet murderous Italian princess, Fawley's mission takes him undercover to Monaco. Suave and worldly, Fawley is quite at home in the casinos and golf courses of Monte Carlo--but he is soon entangled in a game with higher stakes. As the nations of Europe vie for power, Fawley discovers the secret weapon that will determine the outcome of the looming war. This classic thriller--undoubtedly an influence on Ian Fleming's James Bond novels--is now republished for the first time since the 1930s. With its yachts and cocktail parties, its steely hero and brutal assassins, and its cinematic range across the cities of Europe, this is a gripping and sophisticated tale of a spy who saves the world.

One of many great works by E. Phillips Oppenheim, "prince of storytellers" from the late 19th and early 20th Century England.

E. Phillips Oppenheim's "A Millionaire of Yesterday" was first released in 1900. The book follows the story of a young man's struggle for fortune in colonial Africa and his quest for happiness there. Young Scarlett Trent, who is eager to become wealthy in the gold mines of Africa, must struggle with his own sense of good and evil while juggling the difficulties he faces and his desire to succeed. His buddy Monty, a dubious alcoholic with a murky past, accompanies him on his mission. The suspense is maintained throughout the novel, whether they will be successful in achieving their goals or whether Monty's past returns to haunt them both. Despite his best efforts, Trent is obstructed by several opponents who only bring him immense tragedy. The readers will find themselves immersed in the experience of the novel as it leads them towards a happy ending. The Long Arm of Mannister, The Great Impersonation, and The Moving Finger are some of Oppenheim's best known works.

Richard Temperley arrives at Euston station early on a fogbound London morning. He takes refuge in a nearby hotel, along with a disagreeable fellow passenger, who had snored his way through the train journey. But within minutes the other man has snored for the last time-he has been shot dead while sleeping in an armchair. Temperley has a brief encounter with a beautiful young woman, but she flees the scene. When the police arrive, Detective Inspector James discovers a token at the crime scene: a small piece of enamelled metal. Its colour was crimson, and it was in the shape of the letter Z. Temperley sets off in pursuit of the mysterious woman from the hotel, and finds himself embroiled in a cross-country chase- by train and taxi - on the tail of a sinister serial killer. This classic novel by the author of the best-selling Mystery in White is a gripping thriller by a neglected master of the genre. J. Jefferson Farjeon (1883-1955) was the author of more than sixty crime and thriller novels that were highly acclaimed in his lifetime. Farjeon is the author of Number Seventeen, a play that was adapted for the big screen by Alfred Hitchcock. His Christmas crime novel, Mystery in White, was republished as a British Library Crime Classic and became a bestseller. Front cover (c) NRM/Pictorial Collection/Science & Society Picture Library