Baghdad is holding a secret superpower summit, but the word is out, and an underground organisation in the Middle East is plotting to sabotage the talks. Into this explosive situation appears Victoria Jones, a girl with a yearning for adventure who gets more than she bargains for when a wounded spy dies in her hotel room. The only man who can save the summit is dead. Can Victoria make sense of his dying words: '...Lucifer...Basrah...Lefarge...'?

When a number of leading scientists disappear without trace, concern grows within the international intelligence community - and the one woman who appears to hold the key to the mystery is dying from injuries sustained in a plane crash. Meanwhile, in a Casablanca hotel room, Hilary Craven prepares to take her own life. But her suicide attempt is about to be interrupted by a man who will offer her an altogether more thrilling way to die...

According to the courts, Jacko Argyle bludgeoned his mother to death with a poker. The sentence was life imprisonment. But when Dr Arthur Calgary arrives with the proof that confirms Jacko's innocence, it is too late - Jacko died behind bars following a bout of pneumonia. Worse still, the doctor's revelations re-open old wounds in the family, increasing the likelihood that the real murderer could strike again...

When an elderly priest is murdered, the killer searches the victim so roughly that his already ragged cassock is torn in the process. What was the killer looking for? And what had a dying woman confided to the priest on her death bed not even an hour before? Mark Easterbrook and his sidekick Ginger are determined to find out. Maybe the three women who live at the Pale Horse, and who are rumoured to practise the 'Dark Arts', can provide some answers?

When penniless Michael Rogers discovers the beautiful house at Gipsy's Acre and then meets the heiress Ellie, it seems that all his dreams have come true at once. But he ignores an old woman's warning of an ancient curse, and evil begins to stir in paradise. As Michael soon learns: Gipsy's Acre is the place where fatal 'accidents' happen...

Sir Stafford Nye's flight home from Malaya takes an unexpected twist when a young woman confides in him that someone is trying to kill her. In a moment of weakness, he agrees to lend her his passport. Unwittingly, the diplomat has put his own life on the line. When he meets the mystery woman again, she is a different person, and he finds himself drawn into a battle against an invisible - and altogether more dangerous - enemy...

All great crime writers have their favourite creations. Similarly, every great sleuth has his, or her, own preferred method of deduction. Take the charming Parker Pyne, who relies upon his intuitive knowledge of human nature to solve the PROBLEM AT POLLENSA BAY. Or Mr Satterthwaite, who seeks inspiration through his collaboration with the enigmatic Mr Quin in THE HARLEQUIN TEA SET mystery. Then, of course, there's Poirot, whose measured analysis of motive and opportunity is tested to the full in YELLOW IRIS, when he receives an anonymous call about a matter of life or death...

A macabre recurring dream; revenge against a blackmailer; jealousy, infidelity and a tortured conscience; a stolen gemstone; the haunting attraction of an ancient relic; a race against time; a tragic love triangle; a body in a box; an unexpected visitor from beyond the grave... Nine quintessential examples of Agatha Christie's brilliance are contained in this collection of early short stories - including the very first one she ever wrote - providing a unique glimpse of the Queen of Crime in the making.

The first of these Tales of Mystery and Horror begins with the most puzzling of murders... Dupin's brilliant powers of analysis always reached ingenious conclusions. So, when he read about THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE, Dupin was keen to search the crime scene. Newspapers portrayed the locked apartment as impossible to escape from, making the case so mysterious. Inside, there was a blood-smeared razor, locks of grey human hair, an opened safe and bags of money. Then a grisly discovery was made, distracting the police but leaving Dupin to investigate the small details that had gone unnoticed...

Lord Henry Wotton observes the artist Basil Hallward painting the portrait of a handsome young man named Dorian Gray. When he asks to meet Dorian, Basil is at first hesitant, but agrees. Dorian, who had been completely unaware of his own beauty, becomes enthralled by Lord Wotton's world view and begins to think that beauty is the only worthwhile aspect of life - the only thing left to pursue. However, Dorian realises that his beauty will fade and expresses, out loud, a desire to sell his soul to ensure that the portrait Basil is painting will age - whilst his own appearance remains unchanged...

India, in the late nineteenth century. In Lahore, Kim is the orphaned son of an Irish soldier and nursemaid, who have both died in poverty. Kim begs in the streets, occasionally working for a horse trader, who is one of the native operatives of the British secret service. Few people realise that Kim is white, and that he carries on him documents from his father. Kim befriends an aged Tibetan Lama and becomes his disciple...and so begins his journey. An adventure both spiritual and educational, which leads also to espionage.

Harvey Cheyne was fifteen years old, the son of an American business tycoon and spoiled by his parents. But then he was washed overboard from a transatlantic steamship and rescued by fishermen, and neither Harvey, nor his affluence could persuade them to take him ashore. However, the Captain of the WE'RE HERE, Disko Troop, took him on as a member of the crew until they returned to port. Harvey befriended the captain's son, Dan, with whom he had many trials and adventures. When the schooner eventually returned to port in Gloucester, Massachusetts, his parents found Harvey no longer the bad-mannered youth of before...

A sea-faring man all his life, Captain Whalley's change in fortunes sees him captaining a steady, sturdy steamer, the SOFALA, for a grasping and unpleasant owner - Whalley's only choice if he is to continue to support his family. But Captain Whalley is becoming increasingly unfit for the post and an ambitious young mate has seen his chance to progress. However, Massy, the increasingly dissatisfied owner of the SOFALA, has sabotage in mind...

There are crimes for which no punishment is adequate, offences that the written law cannot efface. Herein lies the justification for The Council of Justice - a meeting of great and passionless intellects. These men are indifferent to world opinion. They relentlessly wage their wits and cunning against powerful underworld organisations, against past masters of villainy and against minds equally astute. And to breakers of the unwritten laws they deal death...

Father Brown's ability to solve apparently unsolvable crime is challenged again in these tales. In the story of THE QUICK ONE, the eccentric Mr Raggley, in a Sussex hotel on the coast, drinks cherry brandy - because of the poor quality of all other drinks sold - and pays a fatal price for his tipple... Then in the tale of THE CRIME OF THE COMMUNIST, two philanthropists are invited to a university dinner and then found dead in the garden - both have been poisoned. And in THE INSOLUBLE PROBLEM, Father Brown's old friend, Flambeau, wants his help in pursuit of a team of jewel thieves...

On board the British ship the NELLIE, Marlow told a group of men his story... He told them of his strange, eventful, yet horrific journey into Africa as an agent for the Company, which traded in ivory. He had witnessed the terrible brutality and hate between colonizers and the native African people. Then he'd become embroiled in a power struggle within the Company. And finally, he learned the truth about Kurtz, a mad, mysterious agent. And it was Kurtz, the man who became both a god and a prisoner of the native African people, who would test Marlow's loyalty to the Company.

Tommy and Tuppence, two young people flat broke and out of work, are restless for excitement. They embark on a daring business scheme - Young Adventurers, Ltd. - 'Willing to do anything, go anywhere'. But their first assignment, for the shady Mr Whittington, draws them into a sinister political conspiracy, and under the eye of the elusive, ruthless Mr Brown, they find themselves plunged into more danger than they ever imagined...

When Tommy and Tuppence go to visit elderly Aunt Ada in her nursing home, they think nothing of her mistrust of the doctors; after all, Ada is a very difficult old lady. But when another resident, Mrs Lancaster, starts talking to Tuppence about there being something behind the fireplace, Tuppence is strangely disturbed. And when they return to Sunny Ridge to find that Mrs Lancaster has gone, Tommy and Tuppence find themselves caught up in a spine-chilling adventure which could spell death for either of them...

Tommy and Tuppence Beresford have just become the proud owners of an old house in an English village. Along with the property, they have inherited some worthless bric-a-brac, including a collection of antique books. While rustling through a copy of THE BLACK ARROW, Tuppence comes upon a series of apparently random underlinings. However, when she writes down the letters, they spell out a very disturbing message: M a r y - J o r d a n - d i d - n o t - d i e - n a t u r a l l y... And sixty years after their first murder, Mary Jordan's enemies are still ready to kill...

Pretty young Anne Beddingfeld has come to London looking for adventure. But adventure finds her when a strange-smelling man falls off an Underground platform and is electrocuted on the rails. The police verdict is accidental death. But who was the man who examined the body before running away? Armed with only one cryptic clue, Anne is determined to track him down and get to the truth of the matter.

Little did Anthony Cade suspect that an errand for a friend would place him at the centre of a deadly conspiracy. Drawn into a web of intrigue, he begins to realize that the simple favour has placed him in serious danger. As events unfold, the combined forces of Scotland Yard and the French Sûreté gradually converge on Chimneys, the great country estate that hides an amazing secret...

Gerry Wade had proved himself to be a champion sleeper; so the other house guests decided to play a practical joke on him. Eight alarum clocks were set to go off, one after the other, starting at 6.30 a.m. But when morning arrived, one clock was missing and the prank had backfired with tragic consequences. For Jimmy Thesiger in particular, the words 'Seven Dials' were to take on a new and chilling significance...

In a remote house in the middle of Dartmoor, six shadowy figures huddle around a table for a SEANCE. Tension rises as the spirits spell out a chilling message: 'Captain Trevelyan...dead...murder.' Is this black magic or simply a macabre joke? The only way to be certain is to locate Captain Trevelyan. Unfortunately, his home is six miles away and, with snow drifts blocking the road, someone will have to make the journey on foot...

Murder can occur in the most unexpected places, and there are times when the spectre of death is very close - you just have to look for the signs: omens and haunted houses, seances and nightmares, split personalities and disembodied voices... Welcome to a stunning collection of macabre stories, from the earthly drama of a courtroom to the unearthly chills of the widow who can hear her husband, all evidence of a natural - or supernatural - storyteller!