Showing results by author "Baroness Orczy" in All Categories

The mysterious Scarlet Pimpernel's daring rescues of French nobility from the threat of the guillotine and the evil Chauvelin's efforts to track him down are all part of the intrigue in this swashbuckling adventure.

Armed with only his wits and his cunning, one man recklessly defies the French revolutionaries and rescues scores of innocent men, women, and children from the deadly guillotine. His friends and foes know him only as the Scarlet Pimpernel. But the ruthless French agent Chauvelin is sworn to discover his identity and to hunt him down.

"The Elusive Pimpernel" is a historical spy adventure from "The Scarlet Pimpernel" Series: It is September 1793 and French Agent and chief spy-catcher Chauvelin travels to England as an official representative of the French government tasked with looking after the interests of French citizens, but this is only a cover and his real purpose is to trick Sir Percy Blakeney into returning to France, where he can be captured and put to the guillotine.

Lady Molly of Scotland Yard is a collection of short stories about Molly Robertson-Kirk, an early fictional female detective. First published in 1910, Orczy's female detective was the precursor of the lay sleuth who relies on brains rather than brawn. As well as being one of the first novels to feature a female detective as the main character, Orczy's outstandingly successful and brilliant police officer preceded her real-life female counterparts by a decade.

A blood-red flower is his calling card, daring rescues are his mission. The Scarlet Pimpernel is a daring English aristocrat who rescues French nobles from death at the hands of Madame Guillotine, patron saint of the French Revolution's Reign of Terror. This popular romantic adventure is filled with skin-of-the-teeth escapes and spine-tingling intrigue. It is presented here in unabridged form so you won't miss a moment of swashbuckling suspense.

Starring Leslie Howard and Olivia de Havilland - Leslie Howard plays Sir Percy Blakeney, and 18th century English aristocrat. Based on the novel by Baroness Orczy, follow the adventures of him as he leads a double life working as part of an underground effort to free French nobles from the reign of terror of Robespierre!! One of the classic Radio Theatre Productions you will want to listen to over and over again!

Paris, 1792 and the French Revolution. The guillotine claims lives each day. But working in ever-changing disguise is the Scarlet Pimpernel and his band of meddlesome Englishmen.

In a genteel ABC teashop on the Norfolk Road, Miss Polly Burton (of the Evening Observer) spends her lunch breaks listening to a mysterious old man, as he unravels cases of murder, blackmail, theft, and deceit that have filled the headlines, and baffled police and public alike. But to him, they are not "mysteries" at all - for Polly's brilliant but eccentric companion, "There is no such thing as a mystery in connection with any crime, provided intelligence is brought to bear upon its investigation."

In 1792, during the French Revolution's Reign of Terror, an English aristocrat known to be an ineffectual fop is actually a master of disguises who, with a small band of dedicated friends, undertakes dangerous missions to save members of the French nobility from the guillotine.

An original and entertaining selection of crime stories all committed on the railways. Authors include Baroness Orczy (most famous for The Scarlet Pimpernel) and Maurice Leblanc (most famous for Arsene Lupin.)

From its opening amid the horrors of the French Revolution, to its unexpected ending on the shores of the English Channel, The Scarlet Pimpernel fizzes with excitement and wit. Dominating the action is the apparently limp-wristed fop, Sir Percy Blakeney, the most unlikely, though the most gentlemanly of heroes. With a happy countenance Sir Percy outwits all the machinations of Chauvelin, the zealous Revolutionary official, to help nobles escape.

At the height of the Reign of Terror, executions were a daily occurrence. Any members of the French aristocracy merely suspected of treason could be sentenced to death by the tribunal. There was no hope of justice or mercy, or even a fair trial. Only the Scarlet Pimpernel could rescue them from their fate and bring them to safety at the coast of England. With each rescue, the public prosecutor would find a paper with the image of a little red flower, a scarlet pimpernel.

A short story from British Library Crime Classic The Christmas Card Crime and Other Stories. A Christmas Eve party at Clevere Hall ends in tragedy when the host is found stabbed to death. Major Ceely certainly wasn’t short of enemies, but who hated him enough to commit the crime?

Baroness Emmuska Orczy was a Hungarian-born British novelist, who gained fame as a writer for The Scarlet Pimpernel. She also created an archetype of popular mystery fiction: the armchair detective, as exemplified by "The Old Man in the Corner", a sleuth who is never mentioned by name and but who solves cases simply by "thinking them through", while leaving the gathering of evidence to others. "The Dublin Mystery" is one of the best of these stories.

The "League of the Scarlet Pimpernel" is a secret society made up of twenty English aristocrats. The commander is the so-called "Scarlet Pimpernel" but almost nobody knows his real identity. The society aims to defy the French revolutionaries. The main goal is to rescue innocents from the deadly guillotine.

The first and most successful in the Baroness's series of books that feature Percy Blakeney, who leads a double life as an English fop and a swashbuckling rescuer of aristocrats, The Scarlet Pimpernel was the blueprint for what became known as the masked-avenger genre. As Anne Perry writes in her Introduction, the novel "has almost reached its first centenary, and it is as vivid and appealing as ever because the plotting is perfect. It is a classic example of how to construct, pace, and conclude a plot. . . . To rise on the crest of laughter without capsizing, to survive being written, ...

An exciting story of intrigue, betrayal, and love set in two countries, England and France, during the French Revolution where people, men, women and children, of the aristocracy are being put to death by Madame Guillotine in astonishing numbers. Our English hero, The Scarlet Pimpernel, is doing his best to rescue and save as many people as possible. Can Chauvelin the Scarlet Pimpernel's arch enemy discover who our hero really is and bring him to an appointment with Madame Guillotine.

It is 1792, during the French Revolution's Reign of Terror. An English aristocrat regarded as an ineffectual fop is actually a master of disguises who—with a small band of dedicated friends—undertakes dangerous missions to save members of the French nobility from the guillotine. His friends and foes know him only as the Scarlet Pimpernel. But the ruthless French agent Chauvelin is sworn to hunt him down and uncover his identity.

Sherlock Holmes may have been the most famous detective of the 19th century, but he had many worthy rivals.

"The Old Man" rivals Sherlock Holmes in his insightfulness but is much closer to Sherlock's brother, Mycroft, in his methods. Like Mycroft, the old man reasons through mystery cases but leaves the legwork to others.