Detective Short Stories Mysteries

Let Ellery Queen clue you in on his special brand of high tension, brain-teasing mystery! This collection consists of novelettes and short stories from Queen's many escapades.

When civilian life proves too dull for Major Wilbrahams, he contacts Parker Pyne to escape his boredom. Pyne's assistant arranges a chance meeting with the beautiful Freda Clegg and the two join forces, but on leaving for Africa they encounter more than they had bargained for.

This story is from The Reminiscences of Sherlock Holmes (His Last Bow) collection. Further adventures by the master of observation and deduction, as faithfully recounted by his companion and greatest admirer, Dr. Watson. "The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans," "The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax", and "The Adventure of the Dying Detective" are among the stories. David Timson's award-winning performances continue with this series.

In these eight intriguing tales, Holmes and Watson solve cases that range from the suspicious to the downright strange. They encounter mysteries as diverse as vanishing staff, secret plans and eccentric lodgers as Holmes is struck down by a rare tropical disease and, later, lured away from retirement to help his country on the eve of war.

Twenty-three great Sherlock Holmes mysteries as published in Strand Magazine. These stories have won over readers in the thousands and have helped make Sherlock Holmes the most popular and most famous detective of all times. Arthur Conan Doyle, was born in Scotland in 1859. He was educated in Jesuit schools in England and Austria. In 1881 he finished a medical degree and signed on as a surgeon aboard a whaling vessel in the Arctic. After an unsuccessful medical practice, Doyle started writing. Sherlock Holmes was an instant success.

An American starlet with a mysterious diamond, a suicide that may be more than it appears, an impossibly cheap flat, a locked room murder, a million dollar robbery, an ancient pharaoh’s curse, a precious stolen jewel, a political abduction, a disappeared banker, a phone call form a dying man, and a missing will … Who could possibly solve such varied, gruesome, and dastardly crimes? None other than Agatha Christie’s beloved Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot!

Bryce’s fellow attorney and partner in their firm, Tom Middleton, experience the death of his son who is found out to be a mule for a drug cartel trading arms for drugs. The boy is killed in a violent way, and Middleton finds out that one of the firm’s biggest clients is involved. Middleton confronts the owner and later is accused of his murder. Tom asks Bryce to be a part of his legal team. Bryce begins to investigate the murder. As he investigates, he discovers that lots of other people had the motivation to kill the deceased. Bryce finds out that Mrs. Juarez was more involved than ...

A vanished groom. A sealed room. A wedding no one will forget. Retired but restless, Sherlock Holmes accepts an invitation to a lavish wedding in sun-drenched Marrakesh — only for the groom to disappear during the ceremony from a room locked from the inside. Now Holmes and Dr. Watson must navigate a city of secrets, superstition, and simmering tensions to uncover the truth. Was it a magician’s trick, a lover’s betrayal, or something far more sinister? As shadows lengthen and another body turns up, Holmes faces a mystery more personal — and dangerous — than any he’s known since ...

SWITCH BACK is a novella (about 1/3 of a full-length novel, about 4-5 times longer than a short story) and takes place prior to BOARD STIFF (Elliott Lisbon Mystery #1). After inheriting an entire town, Ballantyne Foundation Director, Elliott Lisbon, travels to Texas to thank them. She quickly learns they don’t want her gratitude, they want their town back. And they’re willing to kill for it. Trapped in a small town full of big suspects, Elliott must unlock their secrets, or she’ll never get out alive. Now doesn’t that sound like fun? Read the whole series and gets even better. - - -...

Now settled in his new home as a hotel cat on a tiny Scottish island, Leger is searching for activities to keep him busy. As always, his mind turns to sleuthing... At a Burns Supper hosted by Tony, the hotel's manager, in honour of the Lithuanian girls he has employed to work for him, the mystery of three recent thefts is apparently solved when two of the stolen wallets turn up in one of the girl's bags. However, Leger is not convinced that the accused, Emilija, is guilty and using his feline instincts, sets about searching for the true culprit to clear Emilija's name.

Just as World War I is drawing to an end, the prime minister is kidnapped. It is down to Hercule Poirot to locate him before a crucial conference, to avert an international crisis.

The neighbours of Glasgow's Creamery Crescent are taking a festive break. Of course, no trip would be complete without their pets so Leger and his closest friends travel north to enjoy the Christmas period in a secluded cottage in the Highlands. The celebratory mood changes when Nicole Goldsworthy witnesses a man and woman burying a body in a shallow grave. The murderers attempt to knock her down in their car but with help from her animal friends, old and new, Nicole survives the hit and run. The situation is complicated further by the arrival of Poppy, who followed the group from Glasgow ...

Leger's lifestyle has finally caught up with him and he is now living in hiding in the highlands with Annabella and Nicole. Life in the wilderness has many benefits but Leger finds it difficult to adjust to his new, temporary home and gets lost one evening. When he is rescued by a kindly American lady and her son and returned home by them, he is filled with gratitude. The visiting Americans invite their new Scottish friends for Thanksgiving dinner the following day, but Annabella has a bad feeling about this woman. Leger decides to throw himself into the celebrations until he accidentally ...

Leger McInnes is ready to retire. He still loves detective work, but after a lifetime of investigating crimes in the local area and beyond, his priorities have changed. Ginger has lost her sight, Bob has seizures, Nicole suffered sepsis and now his beloved Annabella has found a frightening lump. It's time for Leger to move onto his next life as a nurse. However, there's just one last job to do before he retires and that's to find the people who robbed Meg, his next door neighbour. All the suspicion seems to fall on Ingrid, a mysterious woman who has turned up on their doorstep claiming to ...

Malky Maguire is dead. The news has shocked the neighbourhood, but with so many dirty deeds recently, nobody is in the mood to mourn the local gangster and former cat lover. Leger sees it as his duty to solve the case, despite having no enthusiasm for it. With the help of his father, Ragnar, who has come to visit Maxine, Leger starts piecing together little bits of information that have been collected by Lily, Sparkle and Ragnar. Can Leger focus on the case while he is still mourning the death of one of those closest to him? Can he stop rejecting Ragnar and get over his fear of losing his ...

A wedding is due to take place but the freshly decorated venue has been sabotaged. Leger sets out to catch the vandal and reconnect with the sisters he hasn't seen since kittenhood. But they have a secret and despite Amber's attempts to protect him from the truth, it seems he is going to find out that family is about more than blood.

In Leger's latest mystery, Irenie, who claims to be a psychic with the ability to read tea leaves and tarot cards visits the hotel with a warning for Annabella. Leger is not to be trusted! Leger then has a nightmare about Annabella where he is to blame for her untimely death and begins to wonder if perhaps he really is bad luck. However Lily is concerned by the psychic's behaviour and after some digging, she uncovers a startling truth about her. Can Lily reveal Irenie's true intentions before it's too late?

You might think that with Scotland locked down and nobody able to get in or out of their homes that there would be no crimes to solve. Leger certainly did, until one happened under his own roof. There are currently six humans staying in his home, including Annabella. As they all have chronic health conditions and require to "shield" they have gathered together to form a bubble with their pets and live together so they don't get lonely. Then Leger notices that £2,000 that Annabella had foolishly hidden in her bedroom has vanished. Nobody has come or gone from the house, so one of the guests...

It's February, love is in the air and spring is just around the corner - but so is deceit. Maxine has just moved in to the street across from Leger and she is so smitten with him that she instantly adopts and renames him. She and Leger bond quickly, so when she is accused of stalking and harassment by her former neighbours, Leger cannot believe she would do such a thing. Besides, she was with him at the time when the harassment occurred. But a cat is not an alibi who will stand up in court. Desperate to clear Maxine's name, Leger seeks help from his friends, both feline and human and along ...

After returning to the island following his lost week in Glasgow, Leger finds Hugh and Annabella preparing for a murder-mystery themed opening night, much to his delight. But, on learning that Annabella is to play the victim, he is not so keen. Once the lights go out, Annabella is found lying on the floor. All the humans assume it is part of the game but Leger and the other animals know the truth. She really was pushed from the stairs. It should have been an easy task for Leger as Amber witnessed the attack and was desperate to relate exactly what happened, but when he also assumed it was ...