To judge by the worldwide success of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie's Poirot, it is not only the Anglo-Saxons who have an appetite for mystery and mayhem. Talking about the craft of detective writing and sharing her personal thoughts and observations on one of the most popular and enduring forms of literature, P. D. James examines the challenges, achievements and potential of a genre which has fascinated her for nearly fifty years as a novelist. P. D. James explores the metamorphosis of a genre which has gripped and entertained the popular imagination like no other type of novel. Written by the author widely regarded as the queen of the detective novel, this book is sure to appeal to all aficionados of crime fiction.

When General Marchmouse unexpectedly comes to stay with Tumtum and Nutmeg, he wreaks havoc. The General has a new pogo stick and he's having jolly good fun bouncing everywhere on it...and making mischief.

Unwilling to let the Germans occupy his islands unopposed, young Nick takes to the skies in a restored WWI fighter plane. Determined to learn to fly, he is soon photographing German patrol boats by day and flying dangerous bombing raids over Nazi airfields by night. Meanwhile, the evil pirate Captain Billy Blood returns to Greybeard Island. Kidnapping Nick's sister Kate, Blood transports her to Port Royal, Jamaica in 1781. If Nick ever wants to see her alive, he must come to Jamaica.

St. Sebastian's School in Grimesford is the pits. No, really it is. Built on the boggy remains of a medieval plague pit, this once proud school's dodgy nineteenth-century foundations are causing it to slowly subside. Every year it sinks a little further into the ground, and every year the ghosts of the plague victims underneath become more disgruntled.

Harry the rabbit's day reaches unexpected heights when he finds himself in a bird nest halfway up a mountain...Ever the optimist—Harry's soon making furry friends, including Shane the Brainy bunny, and together they escape. But Shane's brilliant ideas don't always go to plan…

“From Times Square to Columbus Circle—the gaudiest, the most violent, the lonesomest mile in the world.” NYPD detective Danny Clover, poignantly portrayed by Larry Thor, patrols The Great White Way. With each block he bears witness to regret and redemption, to desperation and debauchery, to wealth and want. Each leaves its mark on this poetic policeman.

Everyone's looking for a way to beat the insurance system, but most of us aren't willing to cheat it. Those who are may be ready to do more than deceive and steal…they may be prepared to kill. The bullets fly and the criminals lie, but the payoff isn't a sure thing—not when "the system" calls in unflinching freelance investigator Johnny Dollar!

A millionaire strikes a deal on the seedier side of Paris and a priceless cache of rubies becomes destined for his beloved daughter Rachel. Two days later Rachel is dead—murdered on a train on her way to the Riviera to meet her scoundrel lover: a mysterious, dark man.

Returning to Rome after his mission to Germania, Falco finds that his mother is being harassed by a centurion named Censorinus, who says he is chasing a debt owed to him by Falco's brother Festus. Censorinus claims that Festus was involved in a syndicate, shipping valuable statues from Greece—and that even when his ship sunk, Festus had guaranteed that everyone in the group would get their money back.

This 90-part narrative history is divided into three series of 30 programs. It tells the story through the voices of those who were there—presidents and farmers, mothers and children, slaves and Indians. It celebrates the American achievement—settling a harsh continent, breaking free of British rule, becoming the global powerhouse of goods and popular culture.

August, 1914: Michael Clifton -- the youngest son of an Englishman -- puts duty first and sails for his father's native country to enlist as a cartographer. By 1917, he is listed among the missing. April, 1932: Investigator Maisie Dobbs is retained by Michael's parents, recently arrived from America after learning that their son's remains were discovered in France. They want Maisie to find the unnamed nurse whose love letters were discovered among their son's belongings -- a quest that takes Maisie back to her own bittersweet, wartime love.

Photojournalist Katie James is working on a story of international importance. But shortly after her meeting with a potential inside source, she is smuggled unconscious onto an airplane headed to an undisclosed destination. In the days to come, Katie and Shaw will be reunited in a deadly duel of nerve and wits against a surprising, secretive enemy and led around the world at a breakneck pace.

A young woman and her infant child are ruthlessly gunned down while returning to their car in the garage of a shopping mall. The same night, the wife of A-list actor Marcus Dowling walks in on a cat burglar. In just seconds there is an empty safe, a lifeless body, and another mystery that throws San Francisco into hysteria. Detective Lindsay Boxer summons her friends in the Women's Murder Club. She is asked to put her own life on the line -- but will it be enough?

Hospitalized after a liaison with another man's wife ends in violence, Paul Cole has just one goal: to rebuild his shattered life. But with his memory damaged, the police hounding him, and no way even to get home, Paul's facing steep odds -- and a bleak fate if he fails. This final, never-before-published novel by three-time Edgar Award winner Donald E. Westlake is a noir masterpiece, a dark and painful portrait of a man's struggle against merciless forces.

Louise Watkins runs the boardinghouse that is her family's main source of income. A stranger ill with influenza has taken refuge in an old cabin in the woods nearby. Although badly scarred by wounds suffered in the War, he is strong and slowly recovers. When he gradually takes on odd jobs around the house, Louise accepts his help. She is drawn to him despite his disfigurement, and his voice is comforting, yet vaguely familiar.

April Lavery has vanished. A junior doctor at a local hospital, she is something of a trailblazer in the deeply conservative and highly patriarchal society of 1950s Dublin. Phoebe Griffin, her best friend, immediately suspects the worst. Frantic, Phoebe seeks out Quirke, her brilliant but erratic father, and asks him for help. Quirke becomes deeply involved in April's murky story, and encounters complicated and ugly truths about race-hatred, Catholic ruthlessness, and family savagery.

Syn was raised as a tech-thief until his livelihood uncovered a truth that could end his life. He has been on the run ever since. Now trained as an assassin, he allows no one to threaten him. Shahara Dagan is the best bounty hunter in the universe. When Syn comes back on the radar, she’s the only one who can bring him to justice. There’s only one problem: Syn is a close family friend. But if she saves him, both of their lives will be on the line.

An unexpected discovery takes eighty-four-year-old Lily Davis Woodward back to 1945, and five days that forever changed her life. Married for only a week before her husband was sent to fight in WWII, Lily is anxious for his return. After a chance encounter, Jake Russo, a handsome Italian immigrant also back from war, steals Lily’s heart. Now, torn between duty and true love, Lily must make a difficult choice.

FBI special agent Brad Raines is facing his toughest case yet. A Denver serial killer has murdered four beautiful young women, leaving a bridal veil at each crime scene, and he’s picking up his pace. Raines appeals for help at a private psychiatric institution for gifted, yet mentally ill, individuals. It’s there that he meets Paradise, a young woman who witnessed her father murder her family. Raines enlists Paradise’s help--but will it be too late?

Jacko is convicted of his mother’s murder and dies in prison. Two years later, a stranger arrives to confirm Jacko’s disbelieved alibi. But if Jacko wasn’t guilty, who is? Each family member becomes detective, suspect, and potential victim.

In a palace in Ramat, a prince entrusts a stash of jewels to his pilot, in the hope that he can smuggle them to England. But before they reach their destination the prince and the pilot are both dead. To the people after the jewels, murder is a small price. Then a frightened girl brings Hercule Poirot an astounding case: A killer is terrorizing a famous school for girls; an unsuspecting student has become a magnet for evil and death. Somehow the two cases are linked.

Have you ever wondered how lone wolf Clayton Danvers finally got bitten by the last thing he ever expected: love? Or how the hot-blooded bad-girl witch Eve Levine managed to ensnare the cold, ruthless corporate sorcerer, Kristof Nast in one of the Otherworld’s most unlikely pairings? Now, Otherworld readers can share these moments with some of their favorite characters—as well as catching welcome glimpses into the minds of some of the lesser-known players.

When Sandor snatched little Joe from the path of a London Tube train, he was quick to make clear the terms of the rescue. “I saved your life,” he told the homeless youngster, “so your life belongs to me now.” Sandor began to tell him a fairy-tale: an aging prince, a kidnapped princess chained by one ankle, a missed rendezvous. But what did this mysterious story have to do with Sandor’s preparations? Joe had only understood his own role: he was a gallowglass, the servant of a Chief.

Young Cayleb Ahrmahk has accomplished things few people could even dream of. Not yet even thirty years old, he’s smashed a hostile alliance of five princedoms and won the hand of the beautiful young Queen Sharleyan of Chisholm. have turned Charis into a place of refuge. Their success may prove short-lived. Soon a mighty fleet will sail against Cayleb, destroying everything in its path.

Detective Chief Inspector Harriet Martins is nicknamed the Hard Detective because of her tough stance. But while investigating the murder of Britain’s number one tennis player, Harriet falls madly and passionately in love with a fellow officer.

Game warden Mike Bowditch returns home one evening to find an alarming voice from the past on his answering machine: his father Jack, a hard drinking womanizer who makes his living poaching illegal game. An even more frightening call comes the next morning from the police: they are searching for the man who killed a beloved local cop the night before—and his father is their prime suspect.

Having outwitted a band of pirates to obtain a map disclosing the whereabouts of Captain Flint’s treasure, Young Jim sets sail for Treasure Island. But the crew of the Hispaniola are not what they seem.

Anna Karenina seems to have everything—beauty, wealth, popularity and an adored son. But she feels that her life is empty until the moment she encounters the impetuous officer Count Vronsky.