I FOUND IT ON A CHARITY BOOKSTALL ... and in an op shop, book fair, garage sale, junk yard. All the places where people leave their unwanted books--and I find weird and wonderful treasures. Come and join me in appreciating these literary marvels!
COUNTER ESPIONAGE!
IN THIS BUSINESS YOU'RE EITHER A BRAVE MAN ... OR A DEAD ONE
A look of intense surprise came over Mrs Marques's face. Then her mouth opened.
Her face twisted in supreme agony for a split second; then she slumped sideways on the settee.
"Process 5" is murder... of course!You have to be as tough as seven devils in hell for Process 5 ... but it's artistic.
Boisterous, Light-hearted, Impudent!
High spirits, robust and tender humour, in this gay story by America's famous novelist
AT Cannery Row, derelict Californian seaside town, Doc's friends are worried. Doc's a scientist who makes a scanty living by collecting and selling marine specimens. He's unhappy, needs looking after.What to do? Marry him off, of course. But to whom? Well, there's the new girl at the house called Bear Flag. She's tough and pretty, and not really good at her job because "she's got a streak of lady in her."
Will Doc take her on? Suzy is suspicious, Doc needs prodding. But when Suzy goes to live respectably in an abandoned boiler, things start moving.
I'm not a big fan of Steinbeck, but I love this cover. Artist: Cy Webb.Warning: not for the prudish!
Breath taking in its frank and joyous account of extraordinary adventures, this book is the fruit of many years spent in the former North African colonies of Italy. The Duke's medical skills and genius for friendship made in welcome in gorgeous palace and humble tent. He tells of:
- His patients in closely guarded harems
- The veiled Tuaregs and their 'courts of love'
- The Negress who charmed poisonous scorpions
- The Arab with a serpent in his stomach
- The strange life and death of a pet lioness
The author, whose dukedom was created in 1642 by Philip IV, King of Spain and Sicily, joined the Italian Colonial Administration after five years' service in Africa as a doctor, and in 1941 became Governor of Tripoli.
'There's something evil about it, he said. 'Queer word for me to use, MacLeod, eh? They touch your elbow as you walk—ghosts! That's how I've named it the Valley of the Ghosts. Go and stay a day or so in Beverley Green and smell it for yourself—something brooding...'
DR ANDREW MACLEOD, pathologist and detective extraordinare, was never one to refuse a challange...
The thrilling, swashbuckling story of Henry Morgan...A freed bondsman, he captured his first Spanish ship with eleven men.He became the scourge of Spain from the West Indies to Panama.
He found romance but the sea always called him back to new, ever more daring adventures.
Set against the stirring background of 300 years ago when dashing privateers risked their lives for treasure and conquest, this exciting book by a famous historical novelist is compellingly readable... vividly alive.
... And the back cover contains a solid block of text, ticking of all the main plot points and characters one by one. Really, why buy the book when you can get a complete summary of the story on the back cover?FIVE LITTLE PIGS starts with Carla Lemarchant calling on the famous detective Hercule Poirot. She tells him she is really the daughter of the painter Amyas Crale for whose murder, sixteen years ago, her mother Caroline was sentenced to death. Carla, convinced of her mother's innocence and eager to clear her name, persuades Poirot to investigate the case. It appears that there are five people who are concerned (hence the book's title) from the nursery-rhyme about the five little pigs). They are: Philip Blake, Crales's greatest friend; Philip's elder brother, Meredith; Elsa Greer, "the girl in the case", who is now Lady Dittisham; Cecilia Williams, the governess; and Angela Warren, Caroline's half-sister. Poirot interviews each of the five. Then each provides for him a written narrative of the events leading up to Crale's murder. Finally, Poirot reconstructs the crime and reaches his startling conclusion. Whether you will guess the solution before it is revealed will depend on your ability to avoid being deceived by the 'double twist' at the story's climax.
THE SECRET OF CHIMNEYS. This is Agatha Christie at her mysterious best. Anthony Cade, who liked an exciting life, was in Bulawayo escorting a group of tiresome tourists for Castle's Select Tours when Jimmy McGrath, an old friend, turned up with an attractive offer: £250 if he would carry to a London publisher the memoirs of Count Stylpitch, late Prime Minister of Herzoslovakia. Anthony jumps at it, and also agrees to find a lady named Virginia Revel and return to her some letters misguidedly bequeathed to McGrath as possible blackmail material. He hasn't been in London long before the letters are stolen from him, and Virginia, a beautiful widow, finds a dead man in her study—shot with a revolver engraved with her name. Then a Hersoslovakian envoy is shot at 'Chimneys', one of England's stately homes. From there on, this light-hearted thriller moves at a terrific pace. There are detectives French, British and American ; characters gay, scatter-brained, sinister and odious. And there are murders, clues, secret passages, a fabulous jewel, a mysterious rose emblem, a curious organization called the Comrades of the Red Hand, an international jewel-thief called King Victor, and impersonations, assassinations and machinations. At the end of it all Anthony, who has done most of the work and kept everyone (including the reader) guessing, claims a double reward ; a lovely lady and a very, very strange new job.
MR HERCULE POIROTYOU FANCY YOURSELF, DON'T YOU, AT SOLVING MYSTERIES THAT ARE TOO DIFFICULT FOR OUR POOR THICKHEADED BRITISH POLICE? LET US SEE, MR. CLEVER POIROT, JUST HOW CLEVER YOU CAN BE. PERHAPS YOU'LL FIND THIS NUT TOO HARD TO CRACK. LOOK OUT FOR ANDOVER ON THE 21ST OF THE MONTHYOURS, ETC.,A B C
This letter disturbs the famous detective. Sure enough, a Mrs. Archer is murdered at Andover on the 21st.
A second lettter announces a murder at Bexhill: and Betty Barnard is found strangled.
Then a third, at Churston, the victim being Sir Carmichael Clarke... a fourth, at Doncaster on the day of the great St. Leger race.
Beside the corpse each time lies an ABC railway guide open at the name of the place where the crime occurs.
A B C D... How far through the alphabet will the crazy murderer get? Will his challenge to Poirot succeed?
Here is Agatha Christie in a different mood.Her first story, THE HOUND OF DEATH, is fair warning that she intends to make you shiver and think!Each of the twelve stories underlines the remarkable versatility of this very remarkable writer. Some, like THE RED SIGNAL and THE FOURTH MAN, may make you shift uneasily in your chair. Others, like the ironic WIRELESS, will give you grim satisfaction.
Tucked away in the middle, like a bonus, is a story which is clearly the origin of her world-wide stage and screen success, WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION.
1863 -
South of the Canadian border from Jalna, the American Civil War rages.Into the peaceful, budding Ontario settlement come intriguing visitors with the polished manners and soft accents of Old Carolina—Are these elegant newcomers genuine fugitives from war, or, far more alarming to Philip and Adeline Whiteoak, are they agents of the slave-trading Confederate States?
RENNY and his wife ALAYNE—their marriage near disaster...
FINCH and SARAH return from their honeymoon to upset the household with Eden Whiteoak's love-child...
WAKEFIELD, engaged to Pauline Lebraux, but tormented by religious doubts...
A complete and captivating story in its own right, Whiteoak Harvest is one of the famous WHITEOAKS series—world sales total over twelve million books!
'You must tell her who she is—and that you can't marry her'Two star-crossed lovers face an agonizing decision in this surging episode of one of fiction's best-loved families—
The Whiteoaks of Jalna
'I thought I was dead to men till you came along'
A strong and compelling story of the Whiteoaks of Jalna—of a bitter feud, and a shattered love—and of Renny in his fiery youth and first passion.
YOUNG FINCH—AND $100,000
At twenty-one Finch Whiteoak, proud, sensitive, reckless, becomes the bewildered inheritor of his grandmother's fortune.
In this enthralling episode from the Whiteoaks saga, the ever generous Finch takes his two Uncles to England, and against a lovely Devonshire background, falls in and out of love with the bewitching Sarah Court—suffering all the youthful agonies of disillusion and frustrated passion.
EARLY DAYS AT JALNASecond of the world-famous, world-loved "Whiteoaks" novels, MARY WAKEFIELD tells of the beautiful young governess who came to Jalna in the warm summer of 1893 and of the struggle that awaited her with the pillars of the Whiteoak family, still dominated by the matriarch Adeline...
Soon Mary became the centre of a family dispute, and it was not until a flood of emotions both violent and tender had been released that life at Jalna could resume its fertile course.
The New Master of Jalna
Captain Renny Whiteoak returns from World War I to find a challenging heritage:
His father and step-mother have died.
The old uncles, Ernest and Nicholas, have been running the estate with a blissful disregard of economics.
Young Eden, now a student, is involved in a strange and damaging love affair.
To help put Jalna on its feet, Renny employs a brash and beautiful horse-woman, and soon finds that he too is in love...
Old Adeline wants to see Renny happily married—but who can fill the role of mistress of Jalna?
THE STARS ARE DARK belongs to Peter Cheyney's 'Dark' series, by which word he denotes his stories of Secret Service and counter-espionage. His books are always based on fact, to an extent that would alarm his readers if they believed it; indeed, he only forsakes fact when it would be a little too incredible to be presented as fiction. Here he gives a glimpse of some of the strange and deadly things that are perpetuated in the name of war; his characters are the men and women who wore no uniforms and won no medals, who were prepared to sacrifice everything, who stood to gain precisely nothing. The story is told in that tense, gripping style that is his hallmark.
I've mentioned before how much I love vintage Pan paperbacks, and how the bi-annual Lifeline Bookfair lets me buy 'em by the bagful without worrying whether I'd actually enjoy reading them or not. And sometimes I get lucky--very, very lucky. This is one of my lucky finds. It's a romantic comedy, with an unconventional heroine, by an author I've only vaguely heard of. It's not at all deep and meaningful (there's no way I'm going to say It Changed My Life) but it's fun. Just the sort of book to while away a Summer's afternoon--or to curl up with by the fire on a cold Winter's night.THE NUTMEG TREE, written with the light touch and bubbling humour that are characteristic of is author, is a joy to read. Ex-chorus-girl Julia Packett, windowed in World War I after her brief marriage into a County family, wisely allowed her 'in-laws' to take full responsibility for her daughter Susan's upbringing, while she herself, improvident and indiscreet, returned to the stage-life she adored. Now, verging on middle age, she is almost penniless when Susan writes begging her to join the family in France, for, says the letter, "I want to get married and Grandmother objects." So Julia, prepared to behave as a lady should, yet ready to pounce on any crumbs of advantage that may fall in her path, sets out for the mountains of the Haute Savoie. On the Channel boat she involves herself, rather indecorously, with a troupe of trapeze artists, and actually stays in Paris to take part in one of their performances. Installed in the French villa she finds that Susan's young man is clearly unsuitable for Susan, but is a kindred spirit to herself and is unscrupulously ready to exploit her delicate position if she opposes him. Complications follow the arrival of Susan's guardian, the handsome Sir William Waring. Julia flutters away--but of course not too far away!
THE GLASS SLIPPER is a mystery novel by a well-known writer who excels in creating an atmosphere of tension and mystery. A year ago Rue had been sent by the hospital to nurse Crystal Hatterick, wife of one of Chicago's most distinguished surgeons. Crystal was a patient of Brule Hatterick's protégé and friend, Dr. Andrew Crittenden, and under his care she had been well on the road to recovery when suddenly, to everyone's amazement, she died. And within a few months Rue became the second Mrs Hatterick, with the world at her feet--wealth, position, beauty. Yet when someone called her Cinderella, and said, "I wonder--does the glass slipper ever pinch your little foot?" the arrow found its mark. Complete happiness had eluded her. Andy Crittenden is the first to tell her that she is suspected of murdering Crystal. Events then move fast. Another death occurs. The suspense grows!
And this is a perfect example.'I'd love to be the Firebird in the Firebird Suite,' she said. 'She's sort of doomed, because she's feeding on herself, but she's also beautiful to see. And anyone who touches her is doomed too, set afire, just the way she is.'CHARLOTTE - at seventeen already a woman, grabbing at life, her passion for Georgie Winthrop all-consuming...
GEORGIE - forty-five, married with two children, a college vice-president - a man whose secure, complacent world trembles under the impact of Charlotte's uninhibited youth and beauty...
ASPIRIN ORARSENIC?Stake...Half a million dollarsMethod...Four pills in a phialResult...One dead wifeProof...The tell-tale effect of ultra-violet light!The toughest, most complicated web of intrigue that PERRY MASON ever had to fight his way through!
Oh look! It's The Saint. Younger readers might not have heard of him, but older readers over a certain age will probably remember him well. They might even have watched a young Roger Moore playing The Saint (aka Simon Templar) in the TV series of the same name.ALIAS THE SAINT tells of three adventures of Simon Templar. In "The Story of a Dead Man' we find the Saint supervising an office in which many irregular things take place; there is a network of mystery about the firm of Vanney's Ltd. and Pamela Marlowe, who is employed there as a secretary, is very puzzled--as indeed she has a good reason to be, for she and the Saint are soon in a very dangerous situation, shared (curiously enough) by Chief Inspector Claud Eustace Teal of Scotland Yard. "The Impossible Crime" displays the Saint pitting his wits against a gang of smuggling crooks; there is an amazing battle in a London square, where a night porter is shot dead. "The National Debt" opens with the Saint making a trip to a quiet seaside village, hot on the track of three men who have kidnapped a girl analytical chemist whom they hope to compel to carry out a nefarious scheme.
World War II was a major influence on Nevil Shute's writing--all his best known novels involve the war in one way or another. However, he wasn't a writer of straight combat stories. No, Shute's fiction is mostly about the civilians caught up in the war, and the human effects on the men who have to fight it.THE CHEQUER BOARD'One of them was a Negro from America,' Turner said. 'The last one to go out... Dave Lesurier, his name was... Then there was Duggie Brent - he was a corporal in the paratroops. And then there was the pilot of the aeroplane... Flying Officer Morgan. We was all in a mess one way or another, excepting him, and yet in some ways he was in a worse mess than the lot of us.'THE CHEQUER BOARDBrilliantly interweaving the chequered fates of four men brought together by one violent moment in war, this unforgettable story matches A TOWN LIKE ALICE with its heart-stirring romance, its rich humanity and compelling drama.
First published early in Agatha Christie's career in 1924, this book was written while she was still experimenting with different genres. It is a thriller rather than a classic whodunnit--and her heroine is an enterprising amateur caught in the middle of things rather than a professional detective. Readers of Christie's Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple series will find this a rather different kind of read!THE mysterious man in the brown suit is a link between a fatal accident at a London Underground station and the body of a strangled woman found at a Member of Parliament's lonely country house.
Enterprising Anne Beddingfeld, back by a newspaper magnate, follows clues leading to South Africa, and there finds herself plunged into a highly dangerous Secret Service adventure.
Soft-core sixties smut, with a plot revolving around a hero whose main attribute is... the size of his, um, main attribute:Imperial Rome--centre of the world--throbbing with the white heat of violence, bloodshed and uninhibited sexuality...Bought as an actor, kidnapped by pirates, sold as a gladiator, young Cleon's beauty and flagrant masculinity made every woman--harlots and Vestal Virgins alike--desire him.And passion drives Cleon to help destroy a Caesar who combined the vices of his predecessors with his own special perversions--the Emperor Nero.
Contux took a firmer grip on the cloth and yanked. There was a ripping sound and the hand came away with the front of Cleon's tunic clutched in the swollen fingers... "I take it back. He's more than a man - he's a true stallion. He was shouting the words and waving the cloth for all to see.
(Page 125)
Blast off! to new heights of adventure and excitement
with JET MORGAN and the crewmen of the spaceship DISCOVERY, made famous in Charles Chilton's thrill-packed BBC radio series.
In this book, Jet leads the first fleet of rocketships to reach across space from the Moon to the 'Red Planet', Mars. But right from the beginning the expedition was ill-omened. Uncanny happenings were to test their courage to breaking point, both on the long space flight and on the hostile planet itself.
"Jet Morgan"! Now there's a name that really belongs in a mid-century space opera. And what better adventure for a mid-century space hero than to battle nefarious aliens on Mars?Nerve-racking sequel to JOURNEY INTO SPACE
One of the first tell-all autobiographies--or was it? Rumour has it that besides bedding countless women, Flynn occasionally, er, "crossed swords" with male actors. True or not, this book comes across as a remarkably frank memoir by a man who lived a wild, hedonistic life. In the end one is left wondering what Flynn left out of his book, and how many of the stories about him are true!A celebrity and rake confesses--fifty years of high-pressure living recalled by a rebel who became a legend in his lifetime.a wild youth in New Guinea and the South Seas--circling the globe on a wilder chase to London, arriving broke and unabashed at the Berkeley Hotel--for two decades a cinema idol--to millions he was a symbol of masculine virility while his own sex life became an endless orgy--fighting the celebrated rape case that changed the course of his life.Errol Flynn has never pulled a punch in his life, nor has he done so in this book--a rogue male's blistering self-portrait.
It never fails. No matter what a client initially hires Perry Mason for--to settle a parking fine, to get a divorce--before the end of the book they're up on a charge of murder.She had a neat figure, plenty of bad luck--and red hair.They caught her with stolen diamonds--but as she told the story it was a frame-up, and Perry Mason believed her.Then came news of more serious crime--and Mason found the charge against his client was murder.
Pan started publishing paperbacks in 1947, but this is the earliest example of their output I've found so far. The back cover reads less like a blurb than a mini-essay!THE LOST WORLD, one of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's most famous novels, is the story of four men's expedition to a remote plateau in South America, cut off from the surrounding country by unscaleable perpendicular cliffs. Here, in an area the size of the English county of Sussex, strange creatures long extinct in the outside world have survived from prehistoric times, including the huge pterodactyl, half bat, half bird; the reptile-headed iguanodon, forty feet high; the terrifying carnivorous dinosaur; and the horrible ape-men. The adventures of Professors Challenger and Summerlee, Lord John Roxton, and the journalist Malone are breathlessly exciting, and lead up to the climax of their return to London to confound their sceptical critics.
The idea for the tale was suggested to the author by the fossilized footprints of a prehistoric monster found near his home on the Sussex Downs; the then read Professor Ray Lankester's book on extinct animals. He took the name of Professor Challenger from the wooden ship Sir Charles Wyville Thomson (the zoology professor whose lectures he'd attended at Edinburgh University) had dredged the seas for new forms of animal life; but he gave Challenger the black beard and booming voice of another former Edinburgh professor. Conan Doyle enjoyed the character whom he thus created so much that he imitated him in real life, and, according to his biographer, Mr. John Dickson Carr, "made Challenger a completely uninhibited version of himself." The Lost World, first serialized in the Strand Magazine, was an immediate success and was later filmed.
