Showing results by publisher "Soundings" in Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Detective John Bell plans to have a well-earned rest when he is invited to holiday with his friends the Ridsdales upon their houseboat on the Thames. But when Lady Ridsdale’s diamond bracelet is stolen in the night, his holiday is cut short and he must determine who amongst their party could be responsible.

The Gift of the Emperor features Hornung’s most famous character, gentleman thief A. J. Raffles. When his friend and struggling journalist Bunny Manders tells Raffles of his recent article detailing a priceless pearl gifted to Queen Victoria by a European emperor, Raffles quickly sees an opportunity to get his hands on it and invites Bunny to accompany him on a sea voyage to Italy.

Bullion! is the ultimate locked-room mystery. A ship transporting gold bullion is travelling from Melbourne to London. The gold is packed into chests and stored in a separate locked and sealed room. But mysterious whispering is heard in the night and chests seemingly disappear and return, leading the crew to think they’re losing their minds. Can the second mate get to the bottom of the mystery?

This is Freeman’s third mystery featuring pathologist-detective Dr John Thorndyke. Whilst presenting a new invention for increasing the efficiency of gas-buoys with his laboratory assistant Polton, Thorndyke is dragged into a mystery involving an elderly seafaring man who has gone missing in the fog.

A ghost is haunting the little Hertfordshire village of Cheriton.... In this fun short story, we meet quirky Detective Quentin Drex and his novel robot assistant as he investigates whether the legend of the Silver Bride is behind recent deaths at Cheriton Hall.

This story recounts Sherlock Holmes’ very first case. Having previously treated his deduction skills as a hobby at college, he must quickly turn detective to help a friend in need. An old acquaintance has paid Victor Trevor’s father a visit and seems to be blackmailing him. Holmes must decode a mystery letter to understand why.

Detective Inspector Humbleby explains to series-favourite Gervase Fen why the police like blackmail cases when relaying the story of two American brothers, Saul and Harry Colonna, and their boating fun that ended in disaster.

New faces don’t go unnoticed in small Cornish fishing villages, but when two strangers turn up in Pendennick, they soon make their presence known when they attempt to steal a boat, holding a local at gunpoint....

A short story from British Library Crime Classic Deep Waters. When a man is found dead on his yacht on the Thimble River, an inlet off the Solent, series detective David Wintringham must draw on his nautical knowledge to track down the killer....

A short story from British Library Crime Classic Deep Waters. The character that made Bailey’s name is the medically trained detective Reggie Fortune, and he’s at his best in this short story investigating a murder and the disappearance of a nurse at a mysterious stately home.

London, 1818. MP Sir Roger Mellanby attends a performance of Macbeth at Covent Garden, featuring Hannah Granville. It is the final performance of what has been a triumphant production and both the Prince Regent and Hannah's love, Bow Street Rival Paul Skillen, are in the audience. After the show, both Mellanby and the Prince Regent make their way to the stage door for a glimpse of Hannah. 

Born to Be Wild began with the death of Oz Blackstone, movie hero and idol of millions, and tells how it might not have happened. The Last Chickenpig carries on the yarn as 17-year-old Tom, Oz's son with his soul-mate Primavera Phillips, goes in search of the father he has mourned since his early childhood.

When she receives a wedding invitation from one of her former patients, forensic psychiatrist Dr Claire Roget is more than a little alarmed. Highly intelligent and manipulative, Jerome Barclay suffers from a severe personality disorder. Although she has never been able to prove it, Claire believes him to be highly dangerous, responsible for at least three suspicious deaths - and she fears for the safety of his new bride.

Ten years ago Oz Blackstone, movie icon, died tragically while filming in remote Guatemala; mourned by millions, his story came to an end, and his secrets died with him. His soul mate, Primavera Phillips, took their young son, Tom, back to the Spanish village where he was conceived and built a new life for them both in Oz's honour. For sure Oz was an idol, and as is the way with ill-fated legends, there are those who have never accepted his death, who have kept the faith ever since.

The wings that retired Superintendent Lestrade comes on are those of a de Haviland Hercules. The archaeologist Howard Carter has made the discovery of the century in the Valley of the Kings, but all around him men are dying. Lord Carnarvon, careless with his razor, falls prey to a mosquito bite. Alain le Clerk leaves the tomb in a hurry to die alone in the desert. Aaron G String, the railway magnate, blows his brains out yards from the tomb's entrance.

It's 1963. A new band called the Rolling Stones is beginning to make its mark, and the miniskirt is coming into fashion. For young Liverpudlian photographer Kate O'Donnell, it's an exciting time to be in the capital - especially as she's on secondment to an up-and-coming fashion photographer's studio. But there's a darker side to 1960s London, Kate discovers, when the naked, battered body of a teenage prostitute is found amongst the rubbish bins behind a Soho jazz club.

Shortly before Christmas, Professor James Lowell is found brutally attacked in his rooms at Walsingham College, where Anna Hopkins works as an administrator. Baffled as to why anyone would wish to harm such a gentle, scholarly man, Anna discovers that Lowell had a connection with her fellow dogwalker Isadora Salzman, who knew him as an undergraduate in the 1960s, a comember of the so-called Oxford Six. It turns out that Isadora has been keeping a surprising secret all these years.

The year is 1652. General George Monck has been through an awful lot since he sat as a prisoner in the Tower of London eight years before. He had led his men admirably through campaigns in Ireland and Scotland, but still storm clouds surround his future. He had been away from his beloved Anne for many months and had come to London to find whether Ratsford was alive, and still proving to be an obstacle to their proposed marriage, or dead.

September 1914. The First World War has broken out on the Western Front. Thousands of miles away on the Rhodesian border, Simon Fonthill is preparing for battle alongside his companion, 352 Jenkins and tracker Mzingeli. The trio come under constant fire from enemy forces. At the bequest of Admiral Herbert King-Hall, they undertake their most dangerous mission yet: sinking the Königsberg, a German cruiser ship hidden deep in the Rufiji Delta.

Two children are abducted on their way home from school and are still missing after several weeks - no one knows whether they are alive or dead. The police are certain that ruthless local gangster Vince Formosa is behind the kidnapping, but have no proof. Forced to resign following an accidental death in police custody, former Detective Inspector Sep Black knows he's been set up. But how can he prove it? Convinced that Formosa has a mole within the police, Black sets out to expose the traitor and clear his name.