BOOK 2 IN THE INSPECTOR HANAUD SERIES, in which we again join Ricardo and Hanaud, this time in an ambiguous situation. A young, wealthy vagabond English man, Calladine, whom Ricardo knew before, hastily comes to Ricardo's London home in the morning, while Hanaud happens to be visiting. Calladine, very agitated, still dressed formally as for an evening ball, tells his disturbing story-- He had gone to a costume party that night in a hotel ballroom,...

A Romance of Wastdale is a novel by the British writer A.E.W. Mason. In 1921, it was turned into a film of the same name directed by Maurice Elvey and made by Stoll Pictures, Britain's biggest studio of the silent era. A.E.W. Mason (7 May 1865 — 22 November 1948) was an English author and politician. He is best remembered for his 1902 novel of courage and cowardice in wartime, The Four Feathers and is also known as the creator of Inspector Hanaud,...

When a man's childhood friend has been murdered, he travels to Austria to confront the mischievous figure whose betrayal ultimately led to his horrific death. This is a classic revenge tale that develops into a tumultuous love story. Morrice Buckler is a young man studying in Holland when he receives a disturbing message. His childhood friend, who was in dire straits, is executed for aiding two rebels. Morrice is driven by revenge and eager to find...

Originally published in 1899, this vintage love story centers the plight of an isolated widow and the unsuspecting gentleman, who tries to win her heart. Despite increasing odds, the couple fights to find their way to one another. Miranda Warriner is the widow of Ralph Warriner, a man whose life was full of secrets and lies. She lives in a small town near Gibraltar where she catches the eye of the dashing Luke Charnock. He is immediately smitten and...

Excerpt: "So wrote Mr. Alexander Pope, whom Nicholas Wogan remembers as a bookish boy in the little Catholic colony of Windsor Forest. The line might serve as a motto for the story which Mr. Wogan (now a one-armed retired colonel of Dillon's Irish Brigade in French Service) is about to tell. The beginnings of our whole mischancy business were trivial in themselves, and in all appearance unrelated to the future. They were nothing more important than...

The debut of Inspector Hanaud, France's most dazzling deductive mind Aix-les-Bains is a gorgeous place to spend a vacation, and Harry Wethermill is happy to be on its lake, enjoying his time away from it all. Just when it seems life could not get any better, he meets Celia Harland, the stunning companion to the wealthy Madame Dauvray, and falls for the girl immediately. Harry's courtship soon takes a dark turn, however, when Madame Dauvray turns up...

Running Water is a 1907 adventure novel by the British writer A.E.W. Mason. The story could be defined as mountaineering crime fiction with a romantic twist. The protagonists are the young Sylvia Thesiger and Hilary Chayne, a captain in the British army. After their first meeting on the Mont Blanc massif, Sylvia goes back to England to live with her father (whom she has never met). Skinner proves to be a dangerous man with a mysterious past and Sylvia...

The Turnstile is a 1912 political novel by the English author A. E. W. Mason. Cynthia Daventry, the heroine of the story, grows up in Argentina as the adopted daughter of Robert and Jane Daventry, an English couple. Unable to have children themselves, they had adopted Cynthia at the age of three from a foundling hospital where she had been left by her dissolute father, James Glanville, following her mother's death in an earthquake. Cynthia is unaware...

As England teeters on the brink of war with Egypt, Harry, a handsome, young lieutenant, resigns his commission. Then four telegrams arrive, one for Harry and the others for his three closest fellow-officers. Harry destroys the messages, and in turn his friends send him three feathers representing his cowardice and they sever all ties with him. Desperate to regain respect, he travels secretly to the Sudan and with blind fury he saves each of his three...