Detective Short Stories Mysteries

A murder trial takes a diabolical turn when the wife of the accused takes the stand.... A woman's sixth sense - and a loaded revolver - signal premonitions of doom.... A stranded motorist seeks refuge in a remote mansion and is greeted with a dire warning.... Detective Hercule Poirot faces his greatest challenge when his services are enlisted - by the victim - in a bizarre locked-room murder.

From the stunning title story (which inspired the classic film thriller) to the rarest gems in detective fiction, these eleven tales of baffling crime and brilliant deduction showcase Agatha Christie at her dazzling best.

The Big Four: Framed in the doorway of Hercule Poirot’s bedroom stands an uninvited guest, coated from head to foot in dust. The man stares for a moment, then he sways and falls. Who is he? And what is the significance of the figure 4, scribbled over and over again on a sheet of paper? Cards on the Table: Mr. Shaitana is famous as a flamboyant party host. Nevertheless, he is a man of whom everybody is a little afraid. So when he boasts to Hercule Poirot that he considers murder an art form, the detective has some reservations about accepting a party invitation.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes tales are rightly ranked among the seminal works of mystery and detective fiction. Included in this collection are all four full-length Holmes novels and more than forty short masterpieces - from the inaugural adventure A Study in Scarlet to timeless favorites like “The Speckled Band” and more. At the center of each stands the iconic figure of Holmes - brilliant, eccentric, and capable of amazing feats of deductive reasoning.

In appearance Hercule Poirot hardly resembled an ancient Greek hero. Yet, reasoned the detective, like Hercules, he had been responsible for ridding society of some of its most unpleasant monsters. So, in the period leading up to his retirement, Poirot makes up his mind to accept just 12 more cases: his self-imposed "Labors". Each would go down in the annals of crime as a heroic feat of deduction.

In Lisa Gardner’s first-ever short story following 13 best-selling novels, "The 7th Month" takes listeners between the books and into a day in the life of Boston Detective D. D. Warren.

In her seventh month of pregnancy, D.D. should be taking it easy. Instead, she accepts a small consulting role on the set of a serial-killer film shooting in Boston. D.D. figures she’ll be useful to someone for at least one night, serving as a police expert and making a little extra money in the bargain. It seems like a simple task—until the previous film consultant, a former Boston cop, is found beaten to death.

Previously published as Deadly Secrets: Hidden Game by Madalena Melchior. SECRET GAME In the absence of Sherlock Holmes, his brother Mycroft helps to solve a deadly mystery – while sitting on a sofa in Holmes and Watson's apartment at 221B Baker Street. There's another mystery besides the crime – and Mycroft Holmes will solve that one, too.

Leger has a plan to get Amber feeling like a true Glaswegian again. He wants to set up a detective school and recruit her as a teacher so she sees how valuable she is to the community. It also has the added benefit of passing on their skills to a new generation of cats, so when they're gone, Glasgow won't be left vulnerable. However, the students who turn up aren't kittens, but Leger's nearest and dearest friends. When Leger has to leave his first lesson halfway through to find a restless Amber, the others witness a crime being committed and assume Leger has set this up to test his students...

When Sergeant Hamish Macbeth is sent to investigate reports that the wealthy new laird of the remote Naglar House has disappeared, northwest Scotland is hit by the worst storm in living memory. The road is washed away, phone lines are down, mobile reception is dead, and his police radio is out of order. He is trapped with the laird's high-class house guests. Then he discovers the laird's body.

"Con Men and Carved Birds! Lawmen and artists! Aebelskivers and cabbage. Spur-Award winner Richard Prosch has roped together an exciting new collection of stories with themes as vast as the wide open frontier and as close as the human heart. Waking Face - A sleepless man is tortured by the lost face of his wife's killer-a visage he can't remember, but at the same time, will never forget. Hard Times for the Vanilla Cream Kid - a would-be bank robber invents the perfect heist, but does he have the stomach for it? The Magic of Summerland - Nine year-old enemies of a long gone war forge a ...

First there was the mystery of the film star and the diamond...then came the "suicide" that was murder...the mystery of the absurdly cheap flat...a suspicious death in a locked gun room...a million-dollar bond robbery...the curse of a pharaoh's tomb...a jewel robbery by the sea...the abduction of a prime minister...the disappearance of a banker...a phone call from a dying man...and finally, the mystery of the missing will. What links these fascinating cases? Only the brilliant deductive powers of Hercule Poirot!

Mrs. Packington felt alone, helpless, and utterly forlorn. But her life changed when she stumbled upon an advertisement in the Times that read: "Are you happy? If not, consult Mr. Parker Pyne." Equally adept at putting together the fragments of a murder mystery or the pieces of a broken marriage, Mr. Parker Pyne is possibly the world's most unconventional private investigator. Armed with just his intuitive knowledge of human nature, he is an Englishman abroad, traveling the globe to solve and undo crime and misdemeanor.

Jon Talbot is a history professor who makes sense of the past by examining facts. He also knows how to speculate about the what-ifs. Jon’s doing both following the death of his wife, Pax. Driving home late from a volunteer assignment, she plunged off a mountain highway and died. The police find nothing suspicious about the facts: a deer in the road, a blown tire, a broken neck. But the what-ifs are leading Jon down a twisting trail of secrets. After five years of marriage, he is finally getting to know his wife.

A far-from-warm welcome greets Hercule Poirot as he arrives for lunch at Lucy Angkatell's country house. A man lies dying by the swimming pool, his blood dripping into the water. His wife stands over him, holding a revolver. As Poirot investigates, he begins to realize that beneath the respectable surface lies a tangle of family secrets and everyone becomes a suspect.

Previously published as Deadly Secrets: Hidden Hand by Madalena Melchior. SECRET HAND After a meeting with Sherlock Holmes, Sir Albert Allerton returns home and (apparently) decides to commit suicide along with his wife. Sherlock Holmes must discover the truth about these and other deaths linked to an old Allerton family secret. Were they all suicides, or the result of something unfathomably grimmer?

A stolen secret, a strangled judge, and a flowering feud. When Lena Larsen agrees to host the New Oslo Tulip Festival at her grandmother's Victorian home, she expects prickly personalities and competitive gardeners. What she doesn't expect is murder. As tulip enthusiasts and judges gather to showcase their prized blooms, tensions quickly rise to the surface. Head judge Eleanor Summers seems to delight in antagonizing everyone with veiled threats about "revelations" she plans to share. But before she can expose anyone's secrets, Eleanor is found dead among the prize tulip beds. With a house ...

Previously published as Deadly Secrets: Hidden Child by Madalena Melchior. SECRET CHILD Miss Clara Anderson, a young Canadian heiress visiting England, seeks out Sherlock Holmes, hoping he can save the life of her fiancé, Simon Martel—who insists on keeping silent in the face of a murder charge and the possibility of ending up on the gallows. What terrible secret can force an honorable young man to accept such a horrible fate? Can Sherlock Holmes discover the truth in time to save his client’s engagement?

From the dramatic Highlands to bustling cities, the unique landscapes and locales of Scotland have enthralled and shaped generations of mystery writers. This new collection presents 17 classic stories, spanning a period from the 1880s to the 1970s, by a host of Scottish authors alongside writers from south of the border inspired by the history and majesty of the storied country.

Train journeys through rolling countryside and cruises across the open ocean might sound like paradise, but when murder strikes mid-journey, they’re anything but. Even on vacation, tensions can bubble beneath the surface, and when the end of the line leads to murder, everyone’s a suspect.

It had been a typical New Year's Eve party. But as midnight approaches, Mr. Satterthwaite - a keen observer of human nature - senses that the real drama of the evening is yet to unfold. And so it proves when a mysterious stranger knocks on the door. Who is this Mr. Quin? Mr. Satterthwaite's new friend is an enigma. He seems to appear and disappear almost like a trick of the light. In fact, the only consistent thing about him is that his presence is always an omen - sometimes good, but sometimes deadly....

The most revered detective in Paris puts his skills to the test in three thrilling cases from the creator of Alex Cross and Detective Michael Bennett.