The murder, a brutal stabbing, definitely took place on Guy Fawkes' night. It was definitely by the bonfire on the village green. There were definitely a number of witnesses. And yet, was it definitely clear to anybody exactly what they had seen? In the writhing, violent shadows, it seems as if the truth may have gone up in smoke. Julian Symons' phenomenal 1960 novel is a searing drama of wrongful accusation, twisty police procedural and account of grim murder all rolled together. This edition also includes the resonant short story 'The Tigers of Subtopia'.

Lady Wainwright presides over the gothic gloom at Belting, in mourning for her two sons lost in the Second World War. Long afterwards a stranger arrives at Belting, claiming to be the missing David Wainwright - who was not killed after all, but held captive for years in a Russian prison camp. With Lady Wainwright's health fading, her inheritance is at stake, and the family is torn apart by doubts over its mysterious long-lost son. Belting is shadowed by suspicion and intrigue - and then the first body is found. This atmospheric novel of family secrets, first published in 1964, is by a winner of the CWA Diamond Dagger.

Christmas Eve. While the world sleeps, snow falls gently from the sky, presents await under the tree ... and murder is afoot. In this collection of ten classic murder mysteries from the best crime writers in history, death and mayhem take many festive forms, from the inventive to the unexpected. From a Santa Claus with a grudge to a cat who knows who killed its owner on Christmas Eve, these are stories to enjoy - and be mystified by - in front of a roaring fire, mince pie to hand.

It's the middle of summer. On Cornish sea-fronts, happy children grip melting ice-creams. In the south of France, sunlight filters through leaves as families picnic in the shade. And in the fashionable resorts of the Mediterranean, the beautiful people sun themselves on picture-postcard beaches.

And in those long, hot summer nights ... murder walks abroad. Away from familiar surroundings, and as the temperature rises, old grudges come to the surface, new hatreds reach boiling point - and clever minds start to make dangerous plans. These ten classic mysteries, from some of the finest crime writers, prove that no matter where you travel to - there's no rest for the wicked.

"Animal Farm" is the most famous by far of all twentieth-century political allegories. Its account of a group of barnyard animals who revolt against their vicious human master, only to submit to a tyranny erected by their own kind, can fairly be said to have become a universal drama. Orwell is one of the very few modern satirists comparable to Jonathan Swift in power, artistry, and moral authority; in animal farm his spare prose and the logic of his dark comedy brilliantly highlight his stark message.

Taking as his starting point the betrayed promise of the Russian Revolution, Orwell lays out a vision that, in its bitter wisdom, gives us the clearest understanding we possess of the possible consequences of our social and political acts.
(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed)

'Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic Socialism as I understand it'. Thus wrote Orwell following his experiences as a militiaman in the Spanish Civil War, chronicled in Homage to Catalonia. Here he brings to bear all the force of his humanity, passion and clarity, describing with bitter intensity the bright hopes and cynical betrayals of that chaotic episode.

"Nineteen Eighty-Four" revealed George Orwell as one of the twentieth century's greatest mythmakers. While the totalitarian system that provoked him into writing it has since passed into oblivion, his harrowing cautionary tale of a man trapped in a political nightmare has had the opposite fate: its relevance and power to disturb our complacency seem to grow decade by decade. In Winston Smith's desperate struggle to free himself from an all-encompassing, malevolent state, Orwell zeroed in on tendencies apparent in every modern society, and made vivid the universal predicament of the individual.
(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed)

There are times when Judith Lassiter feels content, perhaps even happy. She is content to be married to a well-heeled architect who graciously remembers their fifteenth anniversary with fifteen red roses. She is content with Green Diamonds, the house her husband designed, the envy of their acquaintances. She is content with her life in the town of Wyfleet, content with her financial status, even content with her appearance. Then why does Judith write herself imaginary love letters in the solitude of her bedroom? Why does she take on a very real lover several years her junior? Why does she believe she can redeem her life only by taking another's, employing the unlady-like recourse of a professional hit man?

All of the Midways will remember this Saturday ... because Jenny Midway is about to vanish from the face of the earth. In a strange turn - almost as if magnetic poles have been reversed - the members of the Midway family will begin to repel each other, exchange personalities, and discover shocking strengths and weaknesses they never knew existed. Detective Superintendent Hilary Catchpole is called in to investigate the disappearance, which might very well not be a crime at all. Against daunting odds, he must unearth the truth about Jenny - before the rest of the family implodes, changing beyond recognition and becoming utterly without mercy ...

In celebration of distinguished author/critic Julian Symons' 80th year, here is the third and final revised edition of his classic history of mystery fiction. The views expressed here are as candid as ever. One bestselling writer is called unreadable, another compared to writers of "strip cartoon stories". But the general tone is warmly appreciative of every sort of book within the genre.