Classic Thrillers

An influential writer of supernatural fiction, Arthur Machen was born in Wales, in 1863. Many modern writers, such as Stephen King, have cited him as an inspiration. Perhaps most notably, though, was H.P. Lovecraft, who cites Machen as what led him down the road to eventually creating the Cthulhu Mythos. Presented here are two short stories and two novellas: "The Inmost Light", "A Fragment of Life", "The Shining Pyramid", and "The Terror."

In an elaborate house known as the Cloisters, Maud Wainwright rules supreme. The queen of society in the small town of Beverly, she has a table long enough to seat 100, and she keeps an iron grip on the guest list. Her right-hand woman is Pat Abbott, a local girl who is beautiful, innocent, and kind. Pat has no idea how cutthroat high society can be, but she's about to get a deadly first lesson.

Travelling home from a European holiday, Iris Carr ends up alone at the station after a quarrel with her friends. Struck by a mysterious assailant and waking up just in time to board the train which will take her on her journey to London, things seem to be looking up after a chance meeting with the affable Miss Froy. But when Iris passes out and reawakens, Miss Froy is nowhere to be found. The other passengers deny any knowledge of her existence and as the train speeds across Europe, Iris spirals deeper and deeper into a strange conspiracy.

It's Easter in Reading, a bad time for eggs, and no one can remember the last sunny day. Ovoid D-class nursery celebrity Humpty Stuyvesant Van Dumpty III, minor baronet, ex-convict, and former millionaire philanthropist, is found shattered to death beneath a wall in a shabby area of town. All the evidence points to his ex-wife, who has conveniently shot herself.

Step into the world of classic mystery with The Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie, now available as an enthralling audiobook. Join the brilliant detective Hercule Poirot as he faces one of his most perplexing cases yet. Summoned to France by a wealthy businessman, Poirot arrives only to find his client brutally murdered on a golf course. What follows is a masterful tale of intrigue, deception, and red herrings, where everyone is a suspect and nothing is as it seems.

Long before Western writers had even conceived the idea of writing detective stories, the Chinese had developed a long tradition of literary works that chronicled the cases of important district magistrates. One of the most celebrated of these was Judge Dee, who lived in the seventh century.

This hugely engaging story of murder, superstition, religious politics and drama in a medieval monastery was one of the most striking novels to appear in the 1980s. The Name of the Rose is a thrilling story enriched with period detail and laced with tongue-in-cheek allusions to fictional characters, the most striking of which is the Franciscan friar William of Baskerville, who displays many characteristics of Sherlock Holmes.

END OF EXISTENCE, the second instalment of the Kirkland Finn military thriller series, tells the story of a female environmentalist who has grown tired of humankind. Written in a cinematic style with relentless action from Hereford in the UK to the wastelands of Russia, Forrest of Finland and Lapland of Sweden, Andy Munro’s END OF EXISTENCE is action-packed fiction from start to end. Follow the adventures of SAS Captain Kirkland Finn and his squad of highly skilled covert operative soldiers as they fight to eliminate a terrorist biological warfare threat with the potential to wipe out ...

Sound interesting? The author thinks so too! Listen to The Mysterious Affair at Styles and experience the compelling world of classic detective fiction, starring Belgian Hercule Poirot, private detective extraordinaire.

An amoral young tramp. A beautiful, sullen woman with an inconvenient husband. A problem that has only one, grisly solution; a solution that only creates other problems that no one can ever solve.

Two couples vacationing in Alabama are pursued by a maniac killer who lures them to a vacant house which won't let them leave. The "house" mirrors their own heart and souls and they must defeat the evil within.

Hercule Poirot investigates a string of murders that appear to be disconnected on the surface, but Agatha Christie’s Belgian detective sees only tiny detail that link them all together. For some obscure reason that Poirot is determined to uncover, the number four keeps popping up with every killing. Poirot soon learns that there is in fact an international crime gang dubbed “The Big Four,” and he sets off after them. With Hastings once again at his side, Monsieur Poirot travels all over Europe to find them, but the pair always seem to be a step behind this shadowy syndicate.

Rex Fortescue, king of a financial empire, was sipping tea in his "counting house" when he suffered an agonizing and sudden death. On later inspection, the pockets of the deceased were found to contain traces of cereals. Yet, it was the incident in the parlor that confirmed Miss Marple's suspicion that here she was looking at a case of crime by rhyme....

A RUSSIAN SCIENTIST REVIVES A TUNDRA VIRUS FROZEN FOR 30,000 YEARS! WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG? Well, just about everything, as terrorists use the deadly pathogen to attack one of America's iconic sports events. "WELL-DRAWN CHARACTERS, TANGLED RELATIONSHIPS, GOOD-NATURED BANTER, UP-TO-DATE TECHNOLOGICAL ISSUES (DRONES, EXPLOSIVES, ETC.) AND A CURRENT-EVENTS ATMOSPHERE CREATE A RICH ARRAY OF INTEREST HOOKS FOR READERS. SIBERIA, THE KREMLIN, MARSEILLES, JEDDAH AND LOUISVILLE, KY. --- FOR NOTHING LESS THAN A CRESCENDO OF ACTION (BESIDE THE HORSE RACE) AT THE KENTUCKY DERBY --- ARE PART OF ...

Clues, Chaos, and Catastrophe Under the Big Top! London, 1899: The circus is in town, but danger is in the spotlight. When a clown is found dangling lifeless from the high wire at the Olympia Amphitheater, Sherlock Holmes and Lucy James are called in to investigate. With rivalries, roaring egos, and deadly secrets lurking behind the curtain, the Baker Street team must act fast to stop the next act from ending in tragedy. To infiltrate the tight-knit world of acrobats, fire-eaters, and animal tamers, Lucy and Jack go undercover as magicians, with the ever-curious Becky as their pint-sized ...

Rumors of the seemingly magical victory that allowed the Exodus of Israelites from Egypt have resonated through the archaeological world for decades. Now evidence has been discovered that explains how the ancient Hebrews destroyed the unstoppable army of Pharaoh - a tribe of warriors who disappeared after the destruction of the City of Jericho, taking with them the most valued treasures of a people without a homeland. Today a treasure of a different kind is unearthed at the lost ruins of Jericho, one that will change the history of God’s Chosen people for all time - the petrified remains of an animal that could not exist.

For 140 years, Nathaniel Cade has been the president's vampire, sworn to protect and serve his country. Cade's existence is the most closely guarded of White House secrets: a superhuman covert agent who is the last line of defense against nightmare scenarios of which ordinary citizens only dream. When a new outbreak of an ancient evil - one that he has seen before - comes to light, Cade and his human handler, Zach Barrows, must track down its source.

When reclusive artist Gabriel Quinn is gunned down outside a gallery on Oxford High Street, Detective Inspector Bridget Hart investigates the world of contemporary art, where paintings can change hands for millions in the auction room. Bridget is convinced that the last words spoken by the artist - a mysterious code of eight digits and a letter - are key to unraveling the mystery of his death.

Keisha Lewis lived a quiet life with her wife, Alice, until the day Alice disappeared. After months of searching, presuming she was dead, Keisha held a funeral, mourned, and gradually tried to get on with her life. But that was before Keisha started to see her wife, again and again, in the background of news reports from all over America. Alice isn't dead, and she is showing up at every major tragedy and accident in the country. Following a line of clues, Keisha takes a job as a long-haul truck driver and begins searching for Alice.

She's there undercover . . . And he knows it. When a high-profile murder case ends up on Detective Elizabeth Shea’s desk, she thinks she’ll finally be able to prove herself to her superiors; that is until she’s assigned a babysitting detail in a regency themed resort called Bristol Park instead. Despite being frustrated with her boss, her empire-waist dress, her lack of regency knowledge, and being unarmed, she’s determined to do her best. Things are going well until one of the actors begins to pester her, she starts to fall for another, and she discovers the woman in her care ...