British Mystery Multipack Volume 3

FIVE AWESOME MYSTERIES FOR ONE LOW PRICE! 


From five Masters of British Mystery including Agatha Christie and Wilkie Collins. 


Extras include essays, links to free full-length audio recordings, author bios, original illustrations and more… 


THE MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT STYLES By Agatha Christie 


Agatha Christie introduces the world to her detective extraordinaire Hercule Poirot in this ‘cozy mystery’ classic. ‘Styles’ was Christie's first published novel, introducing not only the Belgian super-sleuth but also Inspector (later, Chief Inspector) Japp, and Arthur Hastings. When we first meet Poirot, a Belgian refugee of the Great War, he is settling in England near the home of Emily Cavendish, who helped him to his new life. His friend Hastings arrives as a guest at her home. When a woman is killed, Poirot uses his detective skills to solve the mystery. 


THE SECRET AGENT By Joseph Conrad 


Few people realize that Joseph Conrad invented the terrorist-spy genre in 1907 with his novella The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale. The Secret Agent was one of the three works of literature most cited in the American media" around the two weeks following September 11, 2001.” 


The story is set in London in 1886 and deals largely with the life of Mr. Verloc and his job as a spy. ‘The Secret Agent’ is notable as one of Conrad's later political novels, which move away from his typical tales of seafaring. The novel deals broadly with the notions of anarchism, espionage, and terrorism and depicts the type of anarchist and revolutionary groups which sprouted up before many of the social uprisings of the early twentieth century. 


Recently, The Secret Agent was ranked the 46th best novel of the 20th century by Modern Library. 


THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING By Rudyard Kipling 


Billy Fish: “He wants to know if you are gods.” 

Peachy Carnehan: “Not gods - Englishmen. The next best thing.” 


Rudyard Kipling’s 1888 novella The Man Who Would Be King is an under-rated gem. The powerful story of lost treasure, love and human weakness was adapted into a Best Picture nominated movie in 1976 but has largely been forgotten by today’s generation. 


A CHRISTMAS TRAGEDY By Baroness Orczy 


A Five Part Lady Molly Mystery! 


From the author of The Scarlet Pimpernell, comes a story featuring one of literature’s first female detectives. Molly Robertson-Kirk a.k.a. Lady Molly shares the same mental prowess as C. Auguste Dupin and Sherlock Holmes but brings a woman’s wit to the table making for a formidable crime buster. Join her as she solves the murder of Major Ceeley on Christmas Eve in Inverness, Scotland. 


THE DEAD SECRET By Wilkie Collins 


The secret of the title is the parentage of the heroine, Rosamund Treverton, who has been passed off as the daughter of the wealthy former actress Mrs Treverton of Porthgenna Tower, but is in fact the illegitimate child of her servant Sarah Leeson by a local miner (Mrs Treverton’s motive was to provide her husband with a child, being apparently unable to bear children herself). Sarah writes down the details of the secret from the words of the dying Mrs Treverton, and hides the paper bearing the message in an unused room at Porthgenna. Much of the novel is set in Cornwall, one of Collins’ favourite English counties, which also features in his early melodrama 'Basil.'