This audiobook is narrated by a digital voice.In "At the Villa Rose" we meet French Inspector Gabriel Hanaud for the first time. Hanaud is a towering figure in the history of genre mystery fiction as he is the obvious inspiration for Hercule Poirot. Whilst on holiday in Aix-les-Bains Inspector Hanaud is approached by Harry Wethermill to help investigate the murder of wealthy Madame Dauvray. Wethermill is in love with the prime suspect, Celia Harland. His unshaking faith in Harland ...

When Mr. Julius Ricardo spoke of a gentleman - and the word was perhaps a thought too frequent upon his tongue - he meant a man who added to other fastidious qualities a sound knowledge of red wine. He could not eliminate that item from his definition. No! A gentleman must have the great vintage years and the seven growths tabled in their order upon his mind as legibly as Calais was tabled on the heart of the Tudor Queen

Messrs. Frobisher & Haslitt, the solicitors on the east side of Russell Square, counted amongst their clients a great many who had undertakings established in France; and the firm was very proud of this branch of its business."It gives us a place in history," Mr. Jeremy Haslitt used to say. "For it dates from the year 1806, when Mr. James Frobisher, then our very energetic senior partner, organised the escape of hundreds of British subjects who were detained in France by the edict o...

Alfred Edward Woodley Mason (7 May 1865 – 22 November 1948) was an English author and politician. He is best remembered for his 1902 novel of courage and cowardice in wartime, The Four Feathers and is also known as the creator of Inspector Hanaud, a French detective who was an early template for Agatha Christie's famous Hercule Poirot.

Betrayal and revenge fuel this thrilling tale of justice. When Julian, heir to a great English house, loses everything to the machinations of a jealous half-sister, he must rebuild his life under an assumed identity. Though his glorious voice opens unexpected doors, danger stalks his every step. In 18th century Venice, jealous rivals conspire to silence him forever. But with the help of an old friend, Julian escapes to finally confront those who stole his birthright. In an epic showdown, j...

*** Original and Unabridged Content. Made available by CLASSIC COLLECTION 600.***Synopsis:Harry Wethermill, the brilliant young scientist, a graduate of Oxford and Munich, has made a fortune from his inventions, and is taking a vacation at Aix-les-Bains. There he meets, and immediately falls in love with, the young and beautiful Celia Harland, who serves as companion to the aging but warm-hearted Madam Dauvray of Paris. All this is observed by Julius Ricardo, a retired fina...

Captain Harry Luttrell is a soldier who is not happy where he's currently stationed - in England, where he's grown fat with boredom and fears that he will do nothing with his life - and so he's requested a transfer to Cairo, Egypt. The Olympic Games are currently being held in Cairo and if he transferred, he would have much to do.Alfred Edward Woodley Mason (1865 – 1948) was an English author and politician. He is best remembered for his 1902 novel of courage and cowardice in wartim...

Alfred Edward Woodley Mason was born in Camberwell, London on the 7th May 1865.He was educated at Dulwich College and then graduated from Trinity College, Oxford.His first stab at a career was as an actor in 1894 in George Bernards Shaw’s ‘Arms and the Man’. Acting was replaced the following year with the publication of his first novel, ‘A Romance of Wastdale’ beginning a literary career that eventually encompassed over 30 novels, as well as 3 plays, numerous short stories,...

Alfred Edward Woodley Mason was born in Camberwell, London on the 7th May 1865.He was educated at Dulwich College and then graduated from Trinity College, Oxford.His first stab at a career was as an actor in 1894 in George Bernards Shaw’s ‘Arms and the Man’. Acting was replaced the following year with the publication of his first novel, ‘A Romance of Wastdale’ beginning a literary career that eventually encompassed over 30 novels, as well as 3 plays, numerous short stories,...

The Winding Stair is a 1923 novel of romance and adventure by A. E. W. Mason, originally published by Hodder & Stoughton. Set largely in Morocco, the story follows the adventures of Paul Ravenel as he seeks to atone for the disgrace that still attaches to his family name due to the actions of his father who many years earlier in British India had been court-martialled after leaving a key hill fort unguarded. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design....

Excerpt: "It was eleven o'clock at night when Surgeon Wyley of His Majesty's ship Bonetta washed his hands, drew on his coat, and walked from the hospital up the narrow cobbled street of Tangier to the Main-Guard by the Catherine Port. In the upper room of the Main-Guard he found Major Shackleton of the Tangier Foot taking a hand at bassette with Lieutenant Scrope of Trelawney's Regiment and young Captain Tessin of the King's Battalion. There were three other officers in the room, and to t...

Lawrence Clavering is a Jesuit student in Paris. He is an active supporter of the Jacobite revolt of 1715 in Britain, in which James Edward Stuart, known as the Old Pretender, tries and fails to regain the thrones of England, Ireland and Scotland for the exiled Stuarts. The uprising ends at Preston, a city in Lancashire, northern England. Clavering is also an unapologetic pursuer of women, married or single, no matter. The story revolves around Clavering’s traitor...