The Mystery Silhouette gathers fifty examples of popular mystery fiction at a moment when detection, espionage, sensation, and adventure repeatedly crossed generic boundaries. Its range extends from urban crime narratives and procedural inquiry to international intrigue, hidden identities, scientific puzzles, and melodramatic peril. Ratiocination shares the page with atmosphere; the puzzle plot with social observation; and the startling revelation with the suspenseful chase. Taken together...

"The Red Symbol" follows the story of John Burton, a young man who becomes embroiled in a mysterious and dangerous conspiracy. The novel begins with Burton receiving a letter from a friend, Charles Waldron, who is on his deathbed. In the letter, Waldron warns Burton of a sinister organization known as the Red Symbol, which he believes poses a grave threat to society.Determined to uncover the truth behind the Red Symbol, Burton sets out to investigate. Along the way, he encounters a cast of...

The Mystery Fiction Vault: 75 Books surveys the remarkable elasticity of mystery writing, gathering detective puzzles, espionage adventures, crime melodramas, juvenile mysteries, and tales of international intrigue. Its range extends from sensation fiction and the foundational detective tradition to the briskly plotted popular narratives of the early twentieth century. Classic investigations, masked identities, secret societies, stolen inheritances, and ingenious revelations recur across t...

“I’m extremely sorry, Carling. It’s too bad to keep you to-night, but——” “That’s all right, sir. Lucky they came in to-night and not to-morrow. I shall soon be through with them.” “It’s most awfully good of you,” rejoined Sir Robert Rawson heartily. “I would deal with them myself, but we are dining with Lord Warrington, as you know.” “Yes, sir; but it’s of no consequence really. I can spare the time perfectly well.” Already Carling’s sleek head was bent over the special dispatches which ha...

In "The Red Symbol," John Ironside weaves a compelling narrative that explores the intricate interplay between human emotion and societal constructs. Set against the backdrop of an industrial city, the story delves into the lives of its protagonists, who grapple with the enigmatic symbolism of a crimson emblem that appears throughout their tumultuous journeys. Ironside'Äôs prose is marked by vivid imagery and psychological depth, drawing readers into a richly textured world where the ordin...

In 'The Phone Booth Mystery,' John Ironside crafts a gripping narrative that intertwines elements of detective fiction and psychological suspense. Set against the backdrop of a bustling 1970s cityscape, the story revolves around a series of cryptic phone calls made from a seemingly innocuous phone booth, unleashing a chain of events that unravel deep-seated traumas and secrets within the community. Ironside's prose is both evocative and terse, drawing readers into a world where every dialo...

When the wife of a famous diplomat is found murdered in a telephone booth after the theft of confidential documents her husband kept in secret in his home office, chaos ensues. An innocent suspect is imprisoned and must rely on his wife and friends to exonerate him. Can they find the real culprit before he is hanged? A classic Golden Age mystery first published in 1924.Includes a new introduction by John Betancourt.

Maurice Wynn is correspondent in Saint-Petersburg for a London journal when he learns that the woman he loves is in danger…Set amid the Russian Revolution in 1905, the Red Symbol is a romantic adventure packed with a lot of action and suspense.

Maurice Wynn is correspondent in Saint-Petersburg for a London journal when he learns that the woman he loves is in danger. Set amid the Russian Revolution in 1905, the Red Symbol is a romantic adventure packed with a lot of action and suspense. (Goodreads) This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.

The story starts with a quick sketch of characters and the current situation before quickly moving into theft and murder. Lady Rawson, the wife of a high-ranking member of British Intelligence service (Sir Robert) is murdered. She has a secret past, mysterious Russian cohorts and was in disguise when she was killed. Who was she and who did the foul deed? (Goodreads) This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.

This collection of short stories by some of Russia’s most famous authors is beautifully illustrated with nearly 20 wonderful images to amplify the narrative. Simply gorgeous!From Chekhov to Gorky, Pushkin to Dostoyevsky, Russian writers have long been celebrated for their excellent short fiction. Even Tolstoy, the author of War and Peace, one of the longest novels ever written, wrote short stories. These Russian storytellers, along with others, are represented here by ...

THE consulting-rooms of Dr Orion Hood, the eminent criminologist and specialist in certain moral disorders, lay along the sea-front at Scarborough, in a series of very large and well-lighted french windows, which showed the North Sea like one endless outer wall of blue-green marble. In such a place the sea had something of the monotony of a blue-green dado: for the chambers themselves were ruled throughout by a terrible tidiness not unlike the terrible tidiness of the sea. It must not be s...