Veteran broadcaster John Rayburn here combines philosophy, poetry, inspiration, motivation, and touches of humor to provide comfort, cheer, and encouragement. This audiobook is an opportunity to collect your thoughts and set aside a few moments for contemplation in a busy, busy world.

The Saddle Boys in this western-themed series are Frank Haywood, only son of rich miner/ranch owner Leonidas Haywood, and Frank’s friend Bob Archer, who hails from Kentucky. They became known far and wide after being seen riding and dashing over the prairies at top-notch speed. They were often confronted by a spoiled young Peg, (nickname for Percy Egbert Grant, whose wealthy father let him get by with more than he should).Watch out for the next tale in the series, The Saddle Bo...

This is the start of an exciting series of tales featuring detective Fleming Stone. It was first published in 1909 by American mystery writer Carolyn Wells, who wrote a total of 170 books on diverse subjects, this being the first in her Fleming Stone mysteries. Stone is called on to find who murdered a bride-to-be in her home the night before her wedding. There are several suspects in a well-to-do household, plus incoming guests for the planned wedding. It all whets your appetite for more ...

Here is a meeting with George and Marion Kerby, a couple of free-wheeling ghosts, who meet up with respectable banker Cosmo Topper. This was noted by the New York Times, claiming:“Thorne Smith created the modern American ghost story, ghosts with style and wit; ghosts that haunt us still.”Others pointed out, “Smith was a master of urbane wit and sophisticated repartee.”The overall mood has a touch of silliness, but it provides lighthearted reading and listen...

It gives us considerable pleasure to be able to offer to the public the “inside” record of those of former District Attorney Markham’s criminal cases in which Mr. Philo Vance figured so effectively. The true inwardness of these famous cases has never before been revealed by S. S. Van Dine, Mr. Vance’s lawyer and almost constant companion, being the only person who possessed a complete record of the facts and has only recently been permitted to make them public.After inspecting Mr. ...

It would be easy to call it a case of naïveté on the part of Richard Hannay, but there was much more to the story. He had just returned to London after living in Rhodesia so he wasn’t fully versed in the intrigue going on in England. That wasn’t much of a reason for Hannay allowing a man he met to live in his flat. However, that’s what he did, even though Franklin Scudder claimed to be a spy with involvement in an anarchist plot to assassinate the Greek premier. Hannay got into a major pro...

The contents of this book stem from a series of short stories originally in Cosmopolitan magazine in the early twentieth century.University Professor Craig Kennedy was mulling over some of his theories: “It has always seemed strange to me that no one has ever endowed a professorship in criminal science in any of our large universities.”In college we had roomed together, had shared everything, even poverty, and now that Craig was a professor of chemistry and I was o...

Back in 1900 author L. Frank Baum says he wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz to please children of his time. He called it a modernized fairy tale, totally unlike older stories often filled with blood-curdling events. He left out the heartaches and nightmares. He pointed out that youngsters have long had a love of fantastic stories, but times change and they look forward more to entertainment that still has the wonderment and joy of time gone by. His fantastic creation of “Oz” provides exactl...

This is a whodunit that neatly fits into the history of detective fiction. It features artist Philip Trent as he unexpectedly becomes an amateur detective. Some of his carefully collected information often proved erroneous. It begins when a wealthy American plutocrat, Bigsbee Manderson, uses his finances in an attempt to establish rules controlling society. When Manderson is found murdered on the grounds of his country house in England, Trent is hired as a reporter by a press association t...

A subtitle of this book is “The Lost World Under the Sea,” and it’s somewhat based on the famed legend of Atlantis. That was an ancient city or continent that was supposedly inundated by the sea. Whether it actually existed has been a question that has lasted for thousands of years. Greek philosopher Plato wrote about it around 360 BC, so even his possible information was second-hand. Tsunamis (sea storms) have existed for centuries and if there really was an Atlantis, any survivors may ha...

This book is an example of Alternative History. That, in essence, is asking what the future could be like.It suggests the US could have become a Dominion of America. Call this standard history with a twist, or even mythology in part. It is certainly historical material, told in fictional fashion. The basis of the concept can help broaden your personal historical imagination by emphasizing an unorthodox perspective. The key to any such literary approach centers around a point of div...

This is a kind of history, or at least remembrances. It’s primarily personal but overall takes a look at the way things were many, many decades ago. Details may get a little out of whack from a chronological order now and then, but the gist of the way things in some desperate personal and national times will be fairly well put in place. It begins a trifle before the outset of the 1929 stock market crash that led to the Great Depression. Then, it points to the difficulties, financial and ot...