Victorian Mystery Classics

London, 1849. Charles Dickens has set up Urania Cottage as a sanctuary for fallen women. But he is shocked when the matron's assistant - Patience Brooke - is found hanging outside the property, covered in blood. Desperate to protect the reputation of the Home and to stop a scandal from spreading, Dickens takes the investigation into his own hands. With the help of his good friend, Superintendent Sam Jones of Bow Street, and a description of the suspect as "a man with a crooked face", Dickens's search takes him deep into the filthy slums of Victorian London.

A disgraced scholar. A silent village. And a bell that listens to the dark. Winter, 1888. Exiled by a professional scandal to the frozen coast of Wales, Alastair Finch has accepted a lonely commission: cataloging the library of the late, eccentric Baronet of Portmeirion. Trapped in the drafty Gatehouse Library by a relentless blizzard, Alastair finds his only company is the whistling wind and the rhythmic scratching of his own pen. Until he discovers the Vigil-Bell Log. Hidden among the archives, the leather-bound journal belonged to a missing bell-ringer who vanished on Christmas Eve five ...

“Every Manor Keeps Its Secrets—Some Too Perilous to Remain Silent, and One Woman’s Courage Stands Against a Century of Deceit.” It was on an autumn afternoon, golden yet heavy with the foreboding hush of evening, that Rosalind Harrington stepped from her carriage and crossed the threshold of Montrose Manor, a place she had once called home. She has been summoned home to fulfill the dying requests of Lady Beatrice Montrose. In the serene yet shadowed corridors of Montrose Manor, an estate of grand but fading splendor, widowed Rosalind Harrington, a woman of wit and quiet strength, ...

Step into the fog-shrouded streets and intrigue of the nineteenth century with Classic Detective Stories of the Victorian Era, a compelling collection of early mystery fiction by Charles Dickens, Guy de Maupassant, and Arthur Conan Doyle. Featuring gripping tales such as Hunted Down, The Piece of String, My Friend the Murderer, The Cabman’s Story, and the famous Sherlock Holmes mystery The Red-Headed League, this volume captures the suspense, clever deduction, and atmospheric storytelling that shaped the foundations of modern detective fiction.

“Watson, there is not a moment to lose. If you care to join the chase, pack your bag at once!” Likewise, enthusiasts of the greatest detective will not want to miss this opportunity to join Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson in a whirlwind of exciting new adventures… A daring thief penetrates the defenses of the Tower of London in search of a secret treasure. A profligate young actor is accused of murdering his exemplary sibling. From the safe of a prominent London banker, a priceless heirloom is stolen. Upon a high cliff, a ghostly assassin commits an impossible murder. A kingpin of ...

You enjoy historical mysteries? You love Sherlock Holmes? This is for you. Four new novels in one collection set. All are part of the best-selling series of sixty New Sherlock Holmes Mysteries by Craig Stephen Copland. In this set you can read The Stock Market Murders in which Holmes and Watson solve the mysterious murders of several young men who worked in The City; The Glorious Yacht, when on the morning after the Titanic disaster, Holmes recalls a much earlier sea voyage when they were accompanied by a crew of famous pirates; The Most grave Ritual, where a young man is accused of murder ...

Step back into Baker Street with a Sherlock Holmes who feels as sharp and readable as if he were written today. This refreshed edition of The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes presents Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic tales in clean, contemporary typography and carefully clarified language, preserving every twist, deduction, and dry joke. Archaic phrasing and cluttered layouts have been gently updated, making Holmes’s brilliance and Watson’s narration instantly accessible for modern readers and new fans alike. Set against the fog-bound streets and drawing rooms of Victorian London, these stories...

Late one moonlit night, Walter Hartright encounters a solitary and terrified woman dressed all in white. He saves her from capture by her pursuers and determines to solve the mystery of her distress and terror. Inspired by an actual criminal case, this gripping tale of murder, intrigue, madness and mistaken identity has never been out of print since its publication and brought Collins great fame and success.

This fully annotated edition of "Frankenstein" includes: Two original critical afterwords (over 7,500 words) Computational lexical analysis of the 1818 text Historical essay on Mary Shelley's life and context Comparison of the 1818 and 1831 editions Original orthography of the first edition preserved Most readers have never read the real Frankenstein. The version taught in schools — the 1831 revised edition — is a domesticated text. Mary Shelley, older and burdened by grief, softened Victor's choices into the workings of fate, severed Elizabeth's blood tie to Victor, and muted the ...

Long before the age of international spies, high-tech surveillance, and cinematic intrigue, there was the detective—patient, methodical, and relentless in the pursuit of truth. Before 007 brings together a powerful collection of classic crime stories from the late Victorian era, drawn from A Detective’s Triumphs and In the Grip of the Law. These tales capture the origins of modern detective fiction, where every clue matters, every motive counts, and justice depends not on force, but on reason. In these pages, readers will encounter murders concealed by cunning, thefts executed with ...

An espionage thriller that has been called the first great spy novel, it has sustained its popularity, being embraced by each new generation. The first in a series of five novels it features the spy Richard Hannay, an action hero with a stiff upper lip who gets caught up in a dangerous race against a plot by German spies to destroy the British war effort. When Richard Hannay offers sanctuary to an American agent seeking his help in stopping a political assassination, he takes the first step on a trail of peril and espionage.

In an age before forensic certainty and tidy solutions, crime was a shadowy affair—driven by passion, greed, jealousy, and chance. In Mysteries of Death and Poison, Dick Donovan—one of the great pioneers of detective fiction—invites readers into a world where truth is elusive and justice is never guaranteed. These gripping tales range from domestic intrigue to international adventure, from quiet drawing rooms to perilous frontiers. A young woman vanishes into scandal and suspicion. A death by poison defies explanation. A secret, buried in the wreckage of empire, threatens to surface ...

During a hospital visit, Lady Violet Thorn overhears a young woman accusing a married couple of her parents' murder and stealing their home, Maccabee House. From body parts scattered around town igniting rumours about a cannibal to a sex worker found brutalised, macabre events soon unfold culminating in Violet receiving a mannequin, resembling herself, stabbed through the heart. With the town of Montford in meltdown, Violet knows that the answers wait at Maccabee House, which lies in the shadow of the old tannery. But with the killer's sights firmly on her, can she make it out alive?

The Monkey's Paw of Essex A new Sherlock Holmes story A mysterious death. A cursed relic. The master detective on the trail of the truth. London, 1890: On a foggy November day, Sherlock Holmes receives a visit from Miss Emma Doyle, housekeeper at Ashcroft Manor in Essex. She reports a mysterious incident: Sir Charles Ashcroft was found dead in his bed – allegedly dying of fear of a cursed monkey paw that he had recently received from an old friend. But something about the story doesn't add up. Sir Charles, who was known for his rationality, showed no signs of panic – on the contrary, ...

Fall River, Massachusetts, August 1892. A city sweltering under a suffocating heatwave holds its breath, waiting for something to break. Inside the Borden home on Second Street, the air is thick with more than just heat. It’s a place of oppressive silence, resentful family dynamics, and secrets locked away like the house’s many doors. When Andrew Borden and his wife, Abby, are discovered brutally murdered with a hatchet, the tight-knit community is shattered. Suspicion falls on the unlikeliest of suspects: Andrew’s younger daughter, Lizzie. A quiet, church-going spinster of thirty-two...

This omnibus brings together seven of H.E. Bulstrode’s ghost stories originally published between 2016 and 2018. These are: The Ghost of Scarside Beck A newly-wed Cumbrian vicar and his wife experience a night like none they could ever have foreseen. He may have answered his calling, but who, or what, is calling her? Old Crotchet The year is 1920, and it's Twelfth Night by the old reckoning. Festivities are about to commence at Hinton St Cuthbert Manor when something sinister stirs from its protracted dormancy, awakened, it would seem, by the arrival of two young guests. The old ways, ...

Exclusively from Audible. The Secret Agent is based on an actual attempt made in 1894 to blow up the Greenwich Observatory. A labyrinth of greed, corruption, and betrayal, it is the most darkly humorous of all Conrad's tales. It follows a European secret agent, Adolf Verloc, 'a London shop owner' with anarchist leanings who becomes reluctantly involved in a plot to blow up the Greenwich Observatory. Full of great characters, melodramatic irony and psychological intrigue the tale is far from simple....

Step into the shadowed world of Victorian crime, where deception is an art, identity is a weapon, and justice depends on the sharpest of minds. The Great Diamond Frauds and Other Criminal Mysteries by Dick Donovan brings together a gripping collection of true-to-life detective stories drawn from the golden age of early criminal investigation. These tales follow the exploits of a seasoned investigator navigating a society where elegance and corruption often walk hand in hand. At the heart of the volume is the astonishing case of the Great Diamond Frauds—a brilliantly orchestrated swindle ...

An Aristocratic Conspiracy. A Vile Betrayal. A Life Erased in the Shadows of Europe. Lord Carminster is not a typical Peer. He is an intellectual, an artist, and a recluse who prefers painting in Vienna to the hunting fields of England. After four years abroad, he returns to the stately Carminster Park with a new wife, only to find the beautiful estate smothered by a historic fog. This homecoming, thick with tension, is only the beginning of a nightmare. Within days, the "Stolen Peer" becomes the victim of a sophisticated conspiracy. Abducted and drugged on his own lands, Lord Carminster is...

Caught in the Act: More Mysterious Cases from Dick Donovan is a gripping collection of classic detective stories drawn from the work of one of the pioneers of modern crime fiction. Written by Dick Donovan—the celebrated pen name of James Edward Preston Muddock—these tales offer a vivid window into the formative years of investigative storytelling, where crime, deception, and human frailty intersect in compelling and often unsettling ways. Set against the richly textured backdrop of late Victorian and Edwardian society, these cases range from daring thefts aboard ocean liners to ...