• Home
  • Books older 1977

Unnatural Causes

Superintendent Adam Dalgliesh was looking forward to a quiet holiday at his aunt's cottage on Monksmere Head. There would be long walks, tea in front of the fire, and, best of all, no corpses. But he reckoned without the discovery of crime-writer Maurice Seton's mutilated body.
Views: 53

The Reincarnation of Peter Proud

Dr. Peter Proud’s ordinary life as a professor in California is threatened by recurrent dreams that all end the same: with his murder in a lake at night by a mysterious woman named Marcia. These dreams—which he comes to believe may be flashbacks from a previous life—become so disturbing that he seeks answers from a sleep researcher, a clairvoyant, and an expert in psychic phenomena in order to recover his past. But he soon discovers a new dimension to his dilemma while watching a television show called “America, Past and Present”—and realizes the show is set in the town in his dreams. He travels to Springfield, Massachusetts, and comes face to face with the woman from his nightmares. The woman, Marcia Curtis, is shocked to see in Peter personality traits and characteristics that precisely recall those of her dead husband, Jeff, including his voice. Peter meets and falls in love with Marcia’s daughter, Ann, just as Marcia realizes that he is a reincarnation of Jeff. Will a second tragedy occur just as Peter is about to unravel the mystery behind his dreams?In this classic suspense novel first published in 1973, Max Ehrlich expertly interweaves multiple themes of life after death, romance, tragedy, and altered consciousness into an unforgettable tale.Review"A whale of a story.... As spine-tingling a yarn as has surfaced in a long time."—*Publishers Weekly*"Some books are great because they capture a story, others a place, and still others a time. Max Ehrlich's Reincarnation of Peter Proud  is a great snapshot of the early 70's, with the 'trippy' 60's still reverberating and morphing into burgeoning New Age movement."—Heuristiks About the AuthorMax Ehrlich, born in 1909, was a self-made writer whose work encompassed television scripts (Twilight Zone, Star Trek) and numerous novels, including The Big Eye, The Cult, and Spin the Glass Web. He died in 1983.
Views: 53

Collision Course

The novel details the response of the political leadership of Earth to an eventual collision of their aggressive expanding colonial empire with a newly-discovered alien race.
Views: 53

Abracadaver

Synopsis:“Here’s another of those delightful Victorian mysteries, featuring Sergeant Cribb and Constable Thackeray of the Yard. This one deals with peculiar accidents in various music halls, mishaps of a kind that would ruin a performer’s career; and then there’s murder. . . . Fine picture of period vice, good mystery plotting, and fun.”—San Francisco ChronicleA sadistic practical joker is haunting the popular music halls of London, interfering with the actors and interrupting their acts by orchestrating humiliating disasters that take place in view of the audience. A trapeze artist misses her timing when the trapeze ropes are shortened. A comedian who invites the audience to sing along with him finds the words of his song “shamefully” altered. Mustard has been applied to a sword swallower’s blade. A singer’s costume has been rigged. The girl in a magician’s box is trapped. Then the mischief escalates to murder. Or was murder intended all along? That indomitable detective team, Sergeant Cribb and Constable Thackeray of Scotland Yard, must track down the elusive criminal. Peter Lovesey is the author of twenty-five highly praised mystery novels and has been awarded the Crime Writers’ Association Gold and Silver Daggers and the Diamond Dagger for Lifetime Achievement, as well as many US honors. He lives in West Sussex, England.Biography:Peter Lovesey is the author of 26 highly praised mystery novels and has been awarded the CWA Gold, Silver, and Diamond Daggers (for Lifetime Achievement) as well as many US honors. He lives in West Sussex, England.
Views: 53

God Told Me To

A busy street. A young sniper wantonly slaughters fourteen people and then quietly walks to his own death . . . In a neighborhood supermarket a mild-mannered mechanic picks up a knife and begins randomly slaying defenseless customers . . . In a quiet, comfortable apartment, a happily married man calmly murders his wife and two children . . . The crimes have no motives. The killers have no connection. But in each case their explanation is the same: GOD TOLD ME TO Only Lt. Detective Peter Nicholas has reason to think differently—and it's the most terrifying reason of all . . .
Views: 53

The Final Deduction

When the seemingly safe return of an abducted millionaire ends in his murder in his own home, Nero Wolfe sends Archie Goodwin to do his usual legwork, while Wolfe uncovers corruption and greed among Manhattan's elite.
Views: 53

Six Days of the Condor

The “breathless hunt and chase” novel that inspired the classic Robert Redford film Three Days of the Condor *and the all-new TV series Condor (Publishers Weekly). Sandwiches are a part of Ronald Malcolm’s every day, but one just saved his life. On the day that gunmen pay a visit to the American Literary Historical Society, he’s out at lunch. The society is actually a backwater of the Central Intelligence Agency, where Malcolm and a few other bookworms comb mystery novels for clues that might unlock real life diplomatic questions. One of his colleagues has learned something he wasn’t meant to know. A sinister conspiracy has penetrated the CIA, and the gunmen are its representatives. They massacre the office, and only learn later of Malcolm—a loose end that needs to be dealt with. Malcolm—codename Condor—calls his handlers at the agency, hoping for a safe haven, instead drawing another attempt on his life. With no one left to trust he goes on the run. But like it or not, Malcolm is the only person who can root out the corruption at the highest levels of the CIA. This “chilling novel of top security gone berserk” earned James Grady his reputation as a Grand Master of the spy thriller, inspiring legions of imitators as well as the classic Sydney Pollack film Three Days of the Condor and the new TV series Condor featuring Mira Sorvino and Brendan Fraser (Library Journal*). **
Views: 53

Case for Three Detectives

Possibly the most unusual mystery ever written. A murder is committed, behind closed doors, in bizarre circumstances. Three amateur detectives take the case: Lord Simon Plimsoll, Monsieur Amer Picon, and Monsignor Smith (in whom discerning readers will note likeness to some familiar literary figures). Each arrives at his own brilliant solution, startling in its originality, ironclad in its logic. Meanwhile Sergean Beef sits contemptuously in the background. “But, “ says Sergean Beef, “I know who done it!”
Views: 53

The Golden Slave

100 B.C. The Cimbrian hordes galloped across the dawn of history and clashed in screaming battle against the mighty Roman legions. Eodan, son of Chief Boierek, has been on the war campaign for many years. The Cimbrain army has become a hungry homeless pagan tribe. Their sworn enemy, the Romans, they have battled against gloriously. But for all the burning towns, the new-caught women weeping, the wine drunk, the gold lifted, the Cimbri did not find a home. And after a mighty clash, the battle is over. At Vercellae the Roman armies shattered them completely. Only a few survived — and for them death would have been more merciful. Eodan, the proud young chieftain, had been caught and sold into slavery, his infant son murdered and his beautiful wife, Hwicca, taken as a concubine. But the whips and slave chains could not break the spirit of this fiery pagan giant who fought, seduced and connived his way to a perilous freedom to rescue the woman he loved. A struggle that…
Views: 53

Flash Gordon 5 - The Witch Queen of Mongo

THE WITCH QUEEN OF MONGO THE WITCH QUEEN OF MONGO is the fifth in the series of fabulous novels inspired by the famous comic strip FLASH GORDON, read daily and Sunday by millions of fans throughout the world. Victimized by a psychic teenage prankster, Flash Gordon, Dale Arden, and Dr. Zarkov find themselves instantly transported to the planet Mongo, where Flash is captured and drugged by the ravishing witch Queen Azura and her evil cohort—none other than Ming the Merciless, Jr.! But Zarkov and Dale escape to Arboria, and enlist the aid of Prince Barin, who, by use of a brilliant ruse, sets in motion a series of violent encounters and hair's breadth escapes that place Flash's life in imminent peril.
Views: 53

Charlie Chan [5] Charlie Chan Carries On

On January 24, 1925, 'The Saturday Evening Post' began its serialization of the book that would make Earl Derr Biggers famous: The House Without a Key, the first of the Charlie Chan series. Chan, the first Chinese detective in literature, was modeled after Chang Apana, a real-life police detective in Honolulu. Earl Derr Biggers ultimately wrote six Charlie Chan mystery novels: The House Without A Key, The Chinese Parrot, Behind That Curtain, The Black Camel, Charlie Chan Carries On, and Keeper of the Keys. Each of these books is wonderfully told, and through the later films, radio shows, comics, and television series, Charlie Chan became an enduring popular figure.
Views: 53