In a writing career of over 60 years, Ben Travers is regarded as the master of the ‘Aldwych Farces’. This collection is being published at a time where farces are coming back into fashion following the smash hit of One Man Two Guvnors, and the success of The Magistrate both at the National Theatre, as well as the recent productions of Noises Off and What the Butler Saw. The four plays in this collection are representative of Travers’ work at its best and most characteristic.The plays inclu...

Six classic farces from the renowned comedy writer, with casts including Judi Dench, Michael Williams, Joan Hickson, Alex Jennings and Penelope WiltonIn the 1920s and ’30s, Ben Travers proved himself a master of comic confusion with his hugely successful Aldwych farces. Featuring battle-axe mothers-in-law, beleaguered wives, henpecked husbands and a host of humorous misunderstandings, they wowed West End audiences and were frequent...

Twenty-nine years of silent obedience have left her a timid, unmarried woman, crushed by the expectations of her overbearing family. On a rain-soaked birthday, she receives a devastating medical diagnosis: she has a fatal heart condition and only a year to live. With nothing left to lose, she decides to stop being afraid and to start living for herself.Defying her mother’s fury, she leaves home to care for a dying friend and scandalizes her relatives by proposing marriage to a myst...

When the evidence seems undeniable, only the truth can set the innocent free. In Strong Poison, Dorothy L. Sayers delivers a captivating mystery that places the brilliant amateur detective Lord Peter Wimsey at the center of a gripping investigation. Faced with a case that appears already decided, Wimsey must unravel a web of conflicting evidence, hidden motives, and carefully guarded secrets in his pursuit of justice. A masterwork of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, this classic novel ...

P.G. Wodehouse was an English author and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. Wodehouse worked extensively on his books, sometimes having two or more in preparation simultaneously. He would take up to two years to build a plot and write a scenario of about thirty thousand words. After the scenario was complete he would write the story. Early in his career he would produce a novel in about three months, but he slowed in old age to around six months. He used a mixture o...

'Best period book I have EVER read! - 5-star reader review'Emmy Carter's mother is a prostitute - and her life has made Emmy determined to avoid the same fate. But Emmy is beautiful, so attracts unwanted attention; her mother's protector has his eye on her, as does evil Marcus Armistead, her employer's nephew. Marcus is excited by Emmy's virginity and has her kidnapped, but Emmy hits him over the head and escapes. Marcus, futher enraged, kills her mother and become...

Edna O'Brien's wonderful, wild and moving novel shocked the nation on its publication in 1960. Adapted for the stage by the author, The Country Girls, the play, is a highly theatrical and free-flowing telling of this classic coming of age story.

Governess-turned-sleuth Miss Silver must follow a trail of poison-pen letters to save an heiress from murder in this classic Golden Age mystery.Rachel Treherne has always had a steady head on her shoulders; it's why her late father named her the sole trustee of his considerable fortune. But the decision galled a number of Rachel's relatives, including her married older sister, her socialist nephew, and her father's ambitious young cousin.Rachel fears she ma...

''Beggar's Choice” by Patricia Wentworth, first published in 1930, public domain. When Car Fairfax starts his mysterious new job, his sole duty seems to be to dine in expensive restaurants, but soon some odd coincidences and dangerous deceits open his eyes to the truth.

War doesn't only bring suffering . . .Born in Canning Town, in the heart of London's teeming dockland, red-headed Lily is a true Cockney in her zest for life, her natural humour and her instinct for survival.With the outbreak of World War II, husband George goes off to fight for King and Country and into the close-knit East End community bursts Kasie, a Dutch seaman who quickly falls for Lily's bright curls and ready smile. His romantic ways make Lily go we...

The book that inspired the animated movie classic!When Dearly's Dalmatians have their first litter of pups—fifteen in all—everyone is delighted. But their joy is shortlived, for the pups are kidnapped! Scotland Yard is baffled, but the keenest canine minds are on the case—and on the trail of Cruella de Vil, the most fiendish person to ever covet a fur coat.Pongo and Missis would give everything they have to bring their puppies safely home... but will they s...

The D.D.I. recognized him and smiled. "That was a great case you brought us. You'll be interested to hear that it is a case of mur-r-der!"For eight years Basil Thomson headed the famous C.I.D., New Scotland Yard. He knew the Yard inside out. Now in this tale of mystery and detection we are taken behind the scenes. We are shown the greatest detection machine in the world in motion, and see how the Yard tracked down its man.Stand, then, with young P.C. Richardson on th...