A drawing of two white mice. A riding whip. And a woman who cannot speak — but is trying, desperately, to tell someone something.A barrister with a gift for codes. A psychologist who doesn't believe in telepathy — until tonight. And forty miles of dark country road between them and an old house with two white doors.Some messages are written. Some are screamed in silence.E.C.R. Lorac — a puzzle, a race against time, and a mother's last, wordless act of courag...

A nephew with a debt problem. An uncle with a boat, a will, and rather too much whisky. And one perfectly ordinary piece of fruit, rolling across a cabin table in the moonlight.Sandhaven is a quiet little port. Nothing much happens there — except, on this particular spring night, a slow leak, a sleeping man, and a plan with no loose ends.Almost none.John Rhode at his most precisely, mercilessly clever.

A munitions factory. A managing director who can't stop talking. And a guest who appears to understand absolutely nothing about steel.Appearances, as ever with Roger Sheringham, are not to be trusted.Wartime England keeps its secrets close — except, perhaps, from the one visitor everyone assumes isn't paying attention.Anthony Berkeley at his wittiest: deduction with a wink.

A family breakfast. A casual remark — "the only husband I ever had." And a man whose heart, by lunchtime, will have stopped for reasons that have nothing to do with his heart.Reggie Fortune doesn't investigate. He drawls, he sighs, he says "my dear chap" — and somewhere underneath all that languor, he's already counting the lies.There were two victims that morning. Only one of them was found in the wood.H.C. Bailey at his most deceptively gentle — and his mo...

A man walks into a bar with a bottle of his wife's sleeping pills in his pocket and twenty thousand pounds' worth of desperation in his chest.He walks out with rather more than he bargained for.The house at the end of the poplar avenue is waiting. And the gentlemen of Smith & Smith are nothing if not thorough.A chilling tale of greed, calculation, and consequences from one of the great masters of Golden Age crime.Dorothy L. Sayers at her mos...

A stained coat. A mayor with mud on his shoes. And a little tailor who knows too much.Timothy Rolls never wanted to be a hero. He wanted a cup of tea, a quiet evening, and to get home safely. Instead, he got evidence.The kind that gets people killed.In a provincial town where a murderer walks free and reputation is everything, one small man stands between justice and a very convenient suicide. What saves him has nothing to do with courage, police, or luck —...

A missed train. A late-night walk. And an umbrella where no umbrella should be.The narrator only wanted to do the decent thing — put it back where he found it. He had no idea what else was lying on the line.Five minutes. That's all it takes. Five minutes, a railway crossing, and a debt twenty years in the making.J. Jefferson Farjeon — fog, fate, and the quiet horror of an ordinary night.

"A situation of the most extreme delicacy, if you follow me..."Bertie Wooster has been sent to New York for a brief breather, largely in an effort to escape the formidable shadow of Aunt Agatha. But his peace is short-lived when he is asked to look after "Chump" Cyril—a young man whose enthusiasm for life is matched only by his complete disregard for common sense.In Jeeves and the Chump Cyril, Bertie soon finds himself adrift in a most refined kind...

Some people inherit money. Bertie Wooster inherits other people's trouble, neatly dressed in a perfectly tailored evening suit.In The Purity of the Turf, P. G. Wodehouse reminds us that true gentlemen with excellent manners and questionable judgment are uniquely capable of transforming a sleepy village holiday into a chaotic battlefield. When a rural school-treat becomes the backdrop for an amateur betting ring, Bertie willingly assumes the role of a maste...

Some men dream of changing society. Others simply hope to survive luncheon without disgrace.In Comrade Bingo, P. G. Wodehouse unleashes another round of romantic confusion, social acrobatics, and impeccably polished nonsense. Bertie Wooster finds himself observing a world in which revolutionary ideals, aristocratic habits, and spectacularly poor decisions coexist far too comfortably. At the center of it all is Bingo Little — enthusiastic, impressionable, a...

"A dashed awkward situation, if you know what I mean..."Bertie Wooster is in a positively radiant mood—which, as any seasoned observer will tell you, is precisely when things begin to go wrong in earnest. Between Bingo Little's latest and most imprudent romantic upheaval and a certain alarming development in the matter of a mauve shirt, Bertie finds himself on the brink of a crisis of the first water.In " Jeeves in the Springtime," the incomparable...

Some people solve problems. Bertie Wooster collects them beautifully.An ill-advised lunch, a formidable aunt, a sentimental friend with catastrophic romantic instincts, and a betting disaster — in this universe, high society seems permanently one misunderstanding away from collapse. Fortunately, there remains the calm, incomparable intelligence of Jeeves, who can restore social order with a raised eyebrow and a perfectly timed remark.In The Inimitable J...