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  The Short Stories of Arthur...

  Arthur Conan Doyle

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  Arthur Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh, Scotland on 22nd May 1859.  His childhood was blighted by his father’s heavy drinking which for some years broke up the family. Fortunately, wealthy uncles were willing to support them by paying for education and clothing.  
   
  He was accepted at the University of Edinburgh to study medicine and also began to write short stories the first, ‘The Haunted Grange of Goresthorpe’, was published in Blackwood’s Magazine.  Despite several other stories and some articles in the British Medical Journal his medical studies took priority. 
   
  When these finished he was appointed as Doctor on the Greenland whaler ‘Hope of Peterhead’ in 1880 and then, after graduation, as ship’s surgeon on the SS Mayumba on its voyage to West Africa. 
   
  1882 saw a move to Plymouth and his own independent practice. With few patients he resumed writing and completed his first novel, ‘The Mystery of Cloomber’, although most of his output was short stories based on his experiences at sea.  
   
  He married Louisa Hawkins in 1885. However, two years later he met and fell in love with Jean Elizabeth Leckie, though they remained platonic out of respect for, and loyalty to, his wife. 
   
  His literary career suddenly burst into life in November 1886 with ‘A Study In Scarlet’, the first of the fabulously successful Sherlock Holmes stories.  
   
  With two children to support he now revisited his haphazard commercial arrangements and curtailed everything save for commissions from the Strand Magazine.  
   
  As a sportsman he was remarkably proficient. He was goalkeeper for Portsmouth Association Football Club and played ten first-class cricket matches for the Marylebone Cricket Club as well as captain of the Crowborough Beacon Golf Club in East Sussex.  
   
  In 1891 tired of writing Holmes stories, he began a series of historical novels and even went so far as to apparently kill off Holmes in a lethal brawl with his arch-nemesis Moriarty. 
   
  Despite heavy and sustained criticism he continued to write in support of the Boer War, a fact he thought contributed to his knighthood in 1902.  The following year to great relief and acclaim he brought Sherlock Holmes back from the dead in his first outing for a decade. 
   
  Sadly, his wife Louisa died from TB in 1906 and, a year later, he at last married Jean.  
   
  During the War and for several years after family deaths had left him depressed. In a search for solace and answers he alighted upon spiritualism and, such was his interest, that he wrote several books on the subject. 
   
  On 7th July 1930 Conan Doyle was discovered in the hall of Windlesham Manor, his house in East Sussex, clutching his chest dying of a heart attack.  He was 71. 
  01 - Arthur Conan Doyle - A Short Story Collection - An Introduction 
  02 - The Striped Chest by Arthur Conan Doyle 
  03 - How It Happened by Arthur Conan Doyle 
  04 - B24 by Arthur Conan Doyle 
  05 - The Cabman's Story. The Mystery of a London Growler by Arthur Conan Doyle 
  06 - The Final Problem by Arthur Conan Doyle

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  The Last Monument

  Michael C. Grumley

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  One small handwritten letter, sent from a distant corner of the planet and lost in the system for sixty years … is about to change the entire human race. 
    
  Outside Denver, Colorado, Joe Rickards stands over a small aircraft wreckage, studying burnt remains still smoldering in a field of freshly fallen snow … an investigator for the NTSB, working to carefully roll back the last several hours and identify the cause of the accident. 
    
  But this time, he can't. 
    
  The details behind this tragedy don't add up. Unlike every other investigation of Joe's career, the facts make no sense. Each new piece of information only makes the accident more mysterious, and more baffling. 
    
  Why would a person receive an age-old letter and suddenly disappear into the thick of night … paying to be flown out of a closed airport in the worst possible weather conditions, by a pilot who hadn't had his hand on the stick in years? 
    
  With the only surviving relative insisting her grandfather would never have climbed into a small airplane in the first place, even in perfect weather. 
    
  A bizarre string of events culminating in a horrible accident unlike anything Rickards has experienced. Leaving his only hope at understanding it in the hands of the victim's sole remaining relative. Beginning with how a mysterious letter could turn up after being lost in the system for sixty years. Sent by someone who should have already been long dead. 
    
  A single letter, Joe Rickards is about to discover, with a secret that will change the entire world.

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  Fatal End A: An absolutely...

  Faith Martin

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  Don’t miss Faith Martin’s fiendishly clever new novel, Murder by Candlelight, set in the 1920s and described as ‘the perfect village mystery’ by J.M. Hall 
  ‘There is so much to love about A Fatal End… Another nail-biting mystery awaits.’ The Lancashire Post 
  Oxford, 1963. In a backstreet club, people dance the night away to their favourite band. But behind the scenes there is trouble afoot. An argument is brewing between bandmembers, two possessive girlfriends have plans for their partners, the club manager is creaming off profits – and a tragic accident leaves the lead singer dead. 
  But was it an accident at all? Coroner Clement Ryder is suspicious, and WPC Trudy Loveday knows there’s only one thing for it. She’s going undercover, deep into the seedy underbelly of Oxford nightlife. 
  Meanwhile Clement’s own secret is becoming increasingly difficult to keep hidden, and discovering the singer’s murderer might not be the only shock in store for Trudy… 
  An unputdownable murder mystery perfect for fans of Richard Osman, Agatha Christie and Val McDermid!‘A brilliant book! The pairing of Ryder and Loveday is a stroke of genius.’ Clare Chase, author of the Eve Mallow and Tara Thorpe mysteriesReaders LOVE A Fatal End! 
  ‘Excellent dramatic storyline!… I was kept guessing until the very end. An excellent read.’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 
  ‘Another great read… A fab murder mystery.’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 
  ‘I absolutely love this series, and this book may be my favorite… A fast paced, engaging mystery.’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 
  ‘Highly recommended… Ms Martin’s best series.’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 
  ‘Another fabulous Ryder and Loveday book from the always brilliant Faith Martin… Great characters and superb plotting.’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 
  The Ryder and Loveday Series 
  Book 1: A FATAL OBSESSION 
  Book 2: A FATAL MISTAKE 
  Book 3: A FATAL FLAW 
  Book 4: A FATAL SECRET 
  Book 5: A FATAL TRUTH 
  Book 6: A FATAL AFFAIR 
  Book 7: A FATAL NIGHT 
  Book 8: A FATAL END 
  The rural town of Oxford, usually known for its cosy charm, becomes the epicentre of a thrilling detective story. The top sleuths, Ryder and Loveday, navigate through the small town, uncovering crime and secrets that shatter the illusion of this peaceful fiction. 
  For fans of Katie Gayle (An English Garden Murder), Clare Chase (Murder in the Fens), M S Morris (Beneath Cold Earth), J M Dalgliesh (A Dead Man on Staffin Beach), and Lj Ross (Amnesia). 
  HarperCollins 2022

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  Murder at the Boxing Club - A...

  Lee Strauss

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  Murder’s a knockout! 
  Despite her misgivings and general distaste for fighting sports, Mrs. Ginger Reed, also known as Lady Gold, agrees to attend a boxing match to support her adopted son’s cousin, a street fighter who’s quickly risen in the ranks. 
  But when his opponent, the presumed champion-to-be, drops out and then drops dead, Ginger and her husband, Basil, a chief inspector at Scotland Yard, investigate. Was the fighter dead because of sports-betting gone awry? Were London gangs involved? And has an old, but newly present danger returned to threaten the Reed family? 
  When one of their own falls prey, the gloves come off and the fight becomes personal. Can Ginger and Basil save their family and stop a killer before the towel is thrown in the ring?

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  Death by Plane - Slater and...

  P.F. Ford

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  Meet Detectives Slater and Norman, an unlikely crime-solving duo. They might seem like they have nothing in common, except a love of doughnuts and banter. But they never give up on a case, no matter how tough things get . . . 
   
  A body falls from the sky — landing in the woods by sleepy little Tinton. 
   
  Detective Dave Slater is halfway to the pub when he gets the call. He’s needed out at Haunted Copse, where a dogwalker just stumbled on something terrible. A body among the trees. It looks like the victim fell to her death. Almost like she dropped out of a plane. 
   
  And that’s not all. Amid all the commotion, the dog also dug up a bone. A human bone. Forensics then turn up two more bodies at the same scene. 
   
  So now Slater and Norman don’t just have one murder on their hands. They’ve got three. 
   
  One body’s unfortunate. Two’s a bit of a coincidence. But three—? 
   
  There’s surely a punchline in there somewhere. If Slater and Norman weren’t so busy chasing a killer. 
   
  Can they catch the culprit before the body count becomes sky-high? 
   
  This absolutely gripping detective mystery full of twists and turns is perfect for fans of Rachel McLean, J.D. Kirk, Pauline Rowson, Elly Griffiths, Matt Brolly and Simon McCleave.

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  A Dish to Die For

  Lucy Burdette

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  Peace and quiet are hard to find in bustling Key West, so Hayley Snow, a food critic for Key Zest magazine, is taking the afternoon off for a tranquil lunch with a friend outside of town. As they are enjoying the wild beach and the lunch, she realizes that her husband Nathan’s dog, Ziggy, has disappeared. She follows his barking and finds him furiously digging at a shallow grave with a man’s body in it. Davis Jager, a local birdwatcher, identifies him as GG Garcia, a rabble-rousing Key West local and developer. Garcia was famous for over-development on the fragile Keys, womanizing, and refusing to follow city rules—so it’s no wonder he had a few enemies. When Davis is attacked in the parking lot of a local restaurant after talking to Hayley and her dear friend, the octogenarian Miss Gloria, Hayley is slowly but surely drawn into the case. Hayley’s mother, Janet, has been hired to cater GG’s memorial service reception at the local Woman’s Club, using recipes from their vintage Key West cookbook—and Hayley and Miss Gloria sign on to work with her, hoping to cook up some clues by observing the mourners. But the real clues appear when Hayley begins to study the old cookbook, as whispers of old secrets come to life, dragging the past into the present—with murderous results.

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