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The play is both hilarious and heart breaking as it takes us
through the changing lives of Robert and Hilary Travers a couple of
ex academics in retirement as they embark on a study of marriage in
old age.
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The Detection Collection (Paperback)
The Detection Club, Colin Dexter, Robert Goddard, Reginald Hill, P.D. James; Edited by …
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R278
R227
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Ten years since it was first published in hardback, and now for the
first time in mass market paperback, this volume of short stories
by the cream of British crime writing talent celebrates 75 years of
the quintessential Detection Club. The Detection Club represents
the cream of British crime writing talent. Founded on the cusp of
the 1930s, the Club's first President was G.K. Chesterton, and
since then the mantle of Presidency has passed to some of the most
significant names inthe history of crime fiction, including Agatha
Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers and Julian Symons. The Club meets three
times a year - to dine, to plot, and to exchange ideas. This
anthology includes eleven new stories by the Best of British:
Robert Barnard, Lyndsey Davis, Colin Dexter, Clare Francis, Robert
Goddard, John Harvey, Reginald Hill, P.D. James, H.R.F. Keating,
Michael Ridpath and Margaret Yorke, and has been edited by the
Club's President, Simon Brett. Among the authors are a number of
bestsellers, as well as winners of both Diamond and Gold Daggers.
This outstanding collection is a must for crime lovers everywhere.
P.D. James * The Part-Time Job Michael Ridpath * Partnership Track
H.R.F. Keating * A Toothbrush John Harvey * The Sun, the Moon and
the Stars Lindsey Davis * 'Going Anywhere Nice?' Colin Dexter *
Between the Lines Robert Barnard * The Life-lie Margaret Yorke *
The Woman from Marlow Robert Goddard * Toupee for a Bald Tyre Clare
Francis * The Holiday Reginald Hill * Fool of Myself
Ellen Curtis is about to have her own life thrown into chaos in
this third light-hearted decluttering mystery! "Brett layers the
old-fashioned puzzle with deep psychological insights . . . Not to
be missed" Booklist Starred Review Declutterer Ellen Curtis has
been working to bring order into the life of Cedric Waites, a
recluse in his eighties who hasn't left his house or let anyone
inside it since his wife died. On one of her regular visits, Ellen
finds the old man dead. Sad but, given his age, perhaps not
unexpected. Nothing to get worked up about . . . until the police
raise the suspicion that Cedric might have been poisoned! The cause
seems be something he ate, and as Ellen cleared away the old man's
food containers, she is under suspicion. As is Dodge, who works for
Ellen and has unhelpfully done a runner . . . Meanwhile, a rival
declutterer is out to sabotage Ellen's reputable business, her two
grown-up children are back home and in crisis, and she has a
potential love interest. Ellen's life has taken on a chaotic turn
of its own! Can she uncover the killer and bring order back to her
own life?
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The Floating Admiral (Paperback)
The Detection Club, Agatha Christie; Preface by Simon Brett; Introduction by Dorothy L Sayers; Prologue by G. K. Chesterton; Epilogue by …
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R286
R236
Discovery Miles 2 360
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Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, G.K. Chesterton and nine other
writers from the legendary Detection Club collaborate in this
fiendishly clever but forgotten crime novel first published 80
years ago. Inspector Rudge does not encounter many cases of murder
in the sleepy seaside town of Whynmouth. But when an old sailor
lands a rowing boat containing a fresh corpse with a stab wound to
the chest, the Inspector's investigation immediately comes up
against several obstacles. The vicar, whose boat the body was found
in, is clearly withholding information, and the victim's niece has
disappeared. There is clearly more to this case than meets the eye
- even the identity of the victim is called into doubt. Inspector
Rudge begins to wonder just how many people have contributed to
this extraordinary crime and whether he will ever unravel it... In
1931, Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers and ten other crime
writers from the newly-formed 'Detection Club' collaborated in
publishing a unique crime novel. In a literary game of
consequences, each author would write one chapter, leaving G.K.
Chesterton to write a typically paradoxical prologue and Anthony
Berkeley to tie up all the loose ends. In addition, each of the
authors provided their own solution in a sealed envelope, all of
which appeared at the end of the book, with Agatha Christie's
ingenious conclusion acknowledged at the time to be 'enough to make
the book worth buying on its own'. The authors of this novel are:
G. K. Chesterton, Canon Victor Whitechurch, G. D. H. Cole and
Margaret Cole, Henry Wade, Agatha Christie, John Rhode, Milward
Kennedy, Dorothy L. Sayers, Ronald Knox, Freeman Wills Crofts,
Edgar Jepson, Clemence Dane and Anthony Berkeley.
When the body of a prospective client is discovered in her
burned-out home, declutterer Ellen Curtis is drawn into a baffling
investigation where nothing is as it first appears. "My mother's
going to kill herself . . . That is, if I don't kill her first."
When Alexandra Richards approaches professional declutterer Ellen
Curtis to ask her to help sort out her mother's chaotic flat, Ellen
gets the impression Alexandra doesn't like her mother very much.
But when Ingrid Richards' body is discovered in her burned-out
home, Alexandra's exasperated words don't seem such a joke. Due to
the hazardous state of the victim's over-cluttered residence, the
police are inclined to dismiss her death as an unfortunate
accident. Ellen's not so sure. Could Alexandra's resentment towards
her mother have escalated into outright violence? The more she
discovers about the dead woman's remarkable past, the more
convinced Ellen becomes that there's something decidedly suspicious
about her death. At least she can console herself that clearing out
widower Edward Finch's bungalow will be a straightforward job in
comparison. But in this assumption, Ellen couldn't be more wrong .
. .
The Floating Admiral was the first of the Detection Club's
collaborative novels, in which twelve of its members wrote a single
novel. Eighty-five years later, fourteen members of the club have
once again collaborated to produce The Sinking Admiral. 'The
Admiral' is a pub in the Suffolk seaside village of Crabwell, The
Admiral Byng. 'The Admiral' is also the nickname of its landlord,
Geoffrey Horatio Fitzsimmons, as well as the name of the landlord's
dinghy. None of them are as buoyant as they should be, for the pub
is threatened with closure due to falling takings. Tempers are
already frayed due to the arrival of a television documentary team
when Fitzsimmons is found dead in his tethered boat. The villagers
assume a simple case of suicide and fear that their debt-ridden pub
will now sink without trace. The journalists seem determined to
finish the job by raking up old skeletons, but they weren't banking
on the fact that this story has been written by 14 extremely
competitive crime writers - arch bamboozlers who will stop at
nothing to save a good pub. The Sinking Admiral, edited by the
Detection Club's outgoing President - author and broadcaster Simon
Brett, OBE - continues a tradition established by the Detection
Club's founders in 1931 when Dorothy L. Sayers, Agatha Christie,
Freeman Wills Crofts and eleven other esteemed authors wrote The
Floating Admiral, a 'collaborative novel' to challenge themselves,
fox their readers and help to pay for the Club's running costs.
Now, 85 years later, 14 of today's leading crime writers have
repeated this unique game of literary consequences, producing an
original, ebullient and archetypal whodunit that will keep readers
guessing right up to what crime lovers insist on calling the
denouement... The contributors to The Sinking Admiral are: SIMON
BRETT KATE CHARLES NATASHA COOPER STELLA DUFFY MARTIN EDWARDS RUTH
DUDLEY EDWARDS TIM HEALD MICHAEL JECKS JANET LAURENCE PETER LOVESEY
MICHAEL RIDPATH DAVID ROBERTS L.C. TYLER LAURA WILSON all members
of The Detection Club.
'A new Simon Brett is an event for mystery fans' P. D. James 'Simon
Brett writes stunning detective stories. I would recommend them to
anyone' Jilly Cooper 'Murder most enjoyable' Colin Dexter The two
aristocratic siblings Blotto and Twinks are once again launched
into another death-defying adventure, this time in the civil
war-torn republic of Jalapeno, in Mexico. But how did they ever get
to such a foreign and distant land in the first place? For Twinks
it was an easy decision - to escape her mother's match-making
attempts she sets out to visit her old friend, Begonia Guiteras,
who lives in Jalapeno, which is fortuitously on the doorstep of an
Aztec dig Twinks wants to work on. Unfortunately, her visit
coincides with the War for Jalapeno Independence, headed by Colonel
Henriquez Guiteras, Begonia's father. At the same time, Twinks's
excavation of the Aztec site is revealing the exciting prospect of
a hoard of Conquistadors' gold - but will taking it away from the
burial ground unleash the dreaded Curse of Attatotalloss? Into this
confusion stumbles Blotto, who only comes to Mexico as he's missing
his sister. On being reunited with Twinks they then discover
Begonia has been kidnapped by Mexican government forces and both
set out to rescue her. This leads to many chases and challenges
across the Mexican countryside, resulting in the capture of the
twins where death by firing squad seems inevitable... but will
trusty chauffeur Corky Froggett, as so very often in past
adventures, be able to save the day? Praise for Simon Brett 'One of
British crime's most assured craftsmen . . . Crime writing just
like in the good old days, and perfect entertainment' Guardian 'Few
crime writers are so enchantingly gifted' Sunday Times
Neighbours Carole and Jude uncover more than they bargained for
when Jude decides to redecorate her cottage in this lighthearted
cosy mystery. "An edgy cozy, filled with dry wit and deft plot
twists"- Booklist Starred Review Having decided to redecorate
Woodside Cottage, Jude has engaged the services of local man Pete,
who has painted and decorated the homes of Fethering residents for
many years. Pete is currently working on Footscrow House, a large
Victorian building which is being converted into holiday flats by a
local developer. Having arranged to meet at 'Fiasco House', as it
is known locally due to the many failed business enterprises over
the years, Jude and Pete make a surprising discovery behind a wall
panel: a woman's handbag! The casual discovery becomes serious when
the police identify the handbag's owner as Anita Garner, a young
woman who vanished in suspicious circumstances twenty years
earlier. Determined to find out what really happened to Anita all
those years ago, Jude and her neighbour Carole's investigations
plunge them into a maze of deception and murder, as they uncover a
number of uncomfortable secrets beneath the serene surface of
Fethering life . . .
In Life, the Universe and Everything, the third title in Douglas
Adams' blockbusting sci-fi comedy series, The Hitchhiker's Guide to
the Galaxy, Arthur Dent finds himself enlisted to prevent a
galactic war. This edition, with a shimmery cover, includes
exclusive bonus material from the Douglas Adams archives, and an
introduction by Simon Brett, producer of the original radio
broadcast. Following a number of stunning catastrophes, which have
involved him being alternately blown up and insulted in ever
stranger regions of the Galaxy, Arthur Dent is surprised to find
himself living in a cave on prehistoric Earth. However, just as he
thinks that things cannot get possibly worse, they suddenly do. An
eddy in the space-time continuum lands him, Ford Prefect, and their
flying sofa in the middle of the cricket ground at Lord's, just two
days before the world is due to be destroyed by the Vogons.
Escaping the end of the world for a second time, Arthur, Ford, and
their old friend Slartibartfast embark (reluctantly) on a mission
to save the whole galaxy from fanatical robots. Not bad for a man
in his dressing gown . . . Follow Arthur Dent's galactic
(mis)adventures in the rest of the trilogy with five parts: So
Long, and Thanks for All the Fish, and Mostly Harmless.
Introducing an engaging new amateur sleuth, declutterer Ellen
Curtis, in the first of a brilliant new mystery series. Ellen
Curtis runs her own business helping people who are running out of
space. As a declutterer, she is used to encountering all sorts of
weird and wonderful objects in the course of her work. What she has
never before encountered is a dead body. When Ellen stumbles across
the corpse of a young woman in an over-cluttered flat, suspicion
immediately falls on the deceased homeowner's son, who has recently
absconded from prison. No doubt Nate Ogden is guilty of many things
- but is he really the killer? Discovering a link between the
victim and her own past, Ellen sets out to uncover the truth. But
where has her best friend disappeared to? And is Ellen really
prepared for the shocking revelations to follow?
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Waste of a Life (Main)
Simon Brett
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R494
R405
Discovery Miles 4 050
Save R89 (18%)
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Ships in 10 - 15 working days
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Someone has stolen valuable paintings from Tawcester Towers,
ancestral home of Blotto and his sister, Twinks. Twinks tracks the
thieves to France and she and Blotto go zipping off to Paris--where
they have rather a jolly time with the Left Bank bohemian set--but
before the hangovers can take hold Twinks has redirected the search
to the Riviera, headquarters of that dastardly criminal mastermind,
la Puce! Will the noble Blotto and the brilliant Twinks recover
their paintings, vanquish la Puce, and rescue the kidnapped film
star we neglected to mention'
When the body of a prospective client is discovered in her
burned-out home, declutterer Ellen Curtis is drawn into a baffling
investigation where nothing is as it first appears. "My mother's
going to kill herself . . . That is, if I don't kill her first."
When Alexandra Richards approaches professional declutterer Ellen
Curtis to ask her to help sort out her mother's chaotic flat, Ellen
gets the impression Alexandra doesn't like her mother very much.
But when Ingrid Richards' body is discovered in her burned-out
home, Alexandra's exasperated words don't seem such a joke. Due to
the hazardous state of the victim's over-cluttered residence, the
police are inclined to dismiss her death as an unfortunate
accident. Ellen's not so sure. Could Alexandra's resentment towards
her mother have escalated into outright violence? The more she
discovers about the dead woman's remarkable past, the more
convinced Ellen becomes that there's something decidedly suspicious
about her death. At least she can console herself that clearing out
widower Edward Finch's bungalow will be a straightforward job in
comparison. But in this assumption, Ellen couldn't be more wrong .
. .
When Carole Seddon's car is vandalised, it heralds the start of a
disturbing series of events in the witty and entertaining new
Fethering mystery. Carole Seddon's trusty Renault is one of her
most treasured possessions. So when it is vandalised, there's only
one person she will entrust with its repair: Bill Shefford has been
servicing the vehicles of the good citizens of Fethering for many
years. But how could something like this happen in Fethering of all
places? Then the note is shoved under Carole's kitchen door: Watch
out. The car window was just the start. It would appear that she
has been deliberately targeted. But by whom . and why? Matters take
an even more disturbing turn when a body is discovered at
Shefford's Garage, crushed to death by a falling gearbox. It would
appear to be a tragic accident. Carole and her neighbour Jude are
not so sure. And the more they start to ask questions, the more
evidence they uncover of decidedly foul play .
'Brilliant! Will make a perfect Xmas stocking filler' Bronya Ralley
'Delightful. This dip-in-anywhere book put a smile on my face from
the first page . . . for everyone who likes a good chuckle' Ruth
Milligan As we all know, the oxymoron is one of the great beauties
of the English language. It has been defined as 'a figure of speech
that juxtaposes elements that appear to be contradictory'. Famous
examples would include 'bitter-sweet', 'open secret' and
'compassionate Conservatism'. Seriously Funny, and Other Oxymorons
brings together a great many examples of the oxymoron genre,
amusingly illustrated by Paul Thomas. The book is arranged
according to various categories ranging from Popular Culture to
Political Principles and Business Ethics, all covered in Simon
Brett's inimitably witty style. Anyone with an 'unbiased opinion'
will quickly grasp that Seriously Funny makes a 'devilishly nice'
book.
'A new Simon Brett is an event for mystery fans' P. D. James
'Murder most enjoyable' Colin Dexter Anyone for cricket - and a
spot of burglary? An idle conversation on the merits of the
glorious game with an old Etonian chum is just the excuse Blotto
needs to put himself forward for a cricket tour to foreign
climes... and so begins the next adventure for our intrepid duo,
where the action takes them to India where, as everyone knows, the
finest cricket players hail from - as well as the world's most
skilled jewel thieves... The Dowager Duchess has no problems in
letting her two children go to the subcontinent as having her
beautiful daughter Twinks married off to a massively rich Maharaja
offers the Dowager Duchess the prospect of a permanent solution to
the cash-draining maintenance of the Tawcester Towers plumbing. So
Twinks joins Blotto on a steamer bound for India, one that is full
of young woman desperate to marry well there - only once having
encountered the dashing Blotto, a lot of them fancy the idea of
getting married before they reach their destination. And,
unbeknownst to the siblings, also on the ship is the international
jewel thief Archie Montmorency, passing himself off as one of
Blotto's cricketing entourage. His real mission though is to steal
the diamond which adorns the turban the Maharajah of Koorbleimee .
. . Praise for Simon Brett 'One of British crime's most assured
craftsmen . . . Crime writing just like in the good old days, and
perfect entertainment' Guardian 'Few crime writers are so
enchantingly gifted' Sunday Times 'Simon Brett writes stunning
detective stories. I would recommend them to anyone' Jilly Cooper
'A new Simon Brett is an event for mystery fans' P. D. James
'Murder most enjoyable' Colin Dexter 'What? You mean the earl does
it for money? That's way beyond the barbed wire!' This explosion of
disgust from Blotto is provoked when Twinks informs him of the
activities of the Earl of Woking. The gentleman in question is
owner of Clusters, a stately home not far from Tawcester Towers,
and he has been renting out parts of Clusters for private functions
- and charging his guests! The discovery of this appalling lapse in
aristocratic behaviour sets Blotto and Twinks off on their latest
adventure. Determined to find out more about the Earl of Woking's
activities, they discover the existence of a sinister group called
Aristotours - brokers between impoverished owners of stately homes
and the common people, offering 'a taste of the high life' to
characters such as stockbrokers, surgeons and solicitors. And if
this were not bad enough, the siblings discover Aristotours trying
to infiltrate their evil practises into Tawcester Towers itself! So
Blotto and Twinks set off on a quest to identify - and stop - the
evil genius behind Aristotours. Praise for Simon Brett 'One of
British crime's most assured craftsmen . . . Crime writing just
like in the good old days, and perfect entertainment' Guardian 'Few
crime writers are so enchantingly gifted' Sunday Times 'Simon Brett
writes stunning detective stories. I would recommend them to
anyone' Jilly Cooper
'One of British crime's most assured craftsmen . . . perfect
entertainment' Guardian Once again, the plumbing at Tawcester
Towers is causing consternation for the Dowager Duchess, so -
unusually for her - she gives her blessing for Blotto to take part
in the 'Great Road Race' in his beloved Lagonda ... so long as he
wins. The first prize of 10,000 pre-War sovereigns will help
towards repairing the leaky ancestral home. Blotto elects to take
chauffeur Corky Froggett as his spare mechanic, while Twinks is
despatched by her mother to the Highlands, to paint water colours
and bag herself a wealthy husband. But, on the morning of the
race's start, enfeebled by food poisoning, Blotto and Corky are
forced to employ an extra mechanic on their team - a slender,
blonde and rather attractive young American... named Ronald. So
Blotto and his team are pitted against Europe's finest, in a race
which takes them through France, across the Alps, to a finish line
at the Colosseum in Rome. Among the competitors are Florian
Carré-Dagneau, indulged son of the race sponsors, Count Daspoontz
from Germany, and the Italian Enrico Parmigiano-Reggiano. All want
to win the race, and all want the prize money and all - with the
exception of Blotto and his team - will resort to dastardly
deception and fiendish sabotage to ensure Blotto's Lagonda is not
the first car over the finishing line... The ninth hair-raising
adventure featuring the aristocratic brother and sister sleuthing
duo! Praise for Simon Brett: 'A new Simon Brett is an event for
mystery fans' P. D. James 'Murder most enjoyable' Colin Dexter 'Few
crime writers are so enchantingly gifted' Sunday Times 'Simon Brett
writes stunning detective stories. I would recommend them to
anyone' Jilly Cooper
A quick trip to the capital goes horribly wrong when Blotto and
Twinks get accidentally involved in London's criminal underworld .
. . It starts innocently enough at the intimate review 'absolutely
everyone is talking about', Light and Frothy, where its glamorous
star, Frou Frou Gavotte, has rather taken the fancy of Blotto's
school friend Giles 'Whiffler' Trumpington. But while Blotto and
Whiffler wait for the star outside the theatre to take her to
dinner, Whiffler is seized and manhandled into the back of a cab
which then drives off into the night . . . Leaving Blotto with the
problem of how to rescue his kidnapped schoolmate. Naturally, he
enlists Twinks's help and the two of them encounter actors,
singers, impresarios, revue writers, cockney showgirls and Scotland
Yard's finest - and white slave traders, who succeed in abducting
Twinks - leaving it up to Blotto and his trusty chauffeur, Corky
Froggett, to rescue her before she's shipped off to foreign parts
forever . . . Praise for Simon Brett 'A new Simon Brett is an event
for mystery fans' P. D. James 'Murder most enjoyable' Colin Dexter
'One of British crime's most assured craftsmen . . . Crime writing
just like in the good old days, and perfect entertainment' Guardian
'Few crime writers are so enchantingly gifted' Sunday Times 'Simon
Brett writes stunning detective stories. I would recommend them to
anyone' Jilly Cooper
Neighbours Carole and Jude uncover more than they bargained for
when Jude decides to redecorate her cottage in this lighthearted
cosy mystery. "An edgy cozy, filled with dry wit and deft plot
twists"- Booklist Starred Review Having decided to redecorate
Woodside Cottage, Jude has engaged the services of local man Pete,
who has painted and decorated the homes of Fethering residents for
many years. Pete is currently working on Footscrow House, a large
Victorian building which is being converted into holiday flats by a
local developer. Having arranged to meet at 'Fiasco House', as it
is known locally due to the many failed business enterprises over
the years, Jude and Pete make a surprising discovery behind a wall
panel: a woman's handbag! The casual discovery becomes serious when
the police identify the handbag's owner as Anita Garner, a young
woman who vanished in suspicious circumstances twenty years
earlier. Determined to find out what really happened to Anita all
those years ago, Jude and her neighbour Carole's investigations
plunge them into a maze of deception and murder, as they uncover a
number of uncomfortable secrets beneath the serene surface of
Fethering life . . .
'One of British crime's most assured craftsmen . . . perfect
entertainment' Guardian Once again, the plumbing at Tawcester
Towers is causing consternation for the Dowager Duchess, so -
unusually for her - she gives her blessing for Blotto to take part
in the 'Great Road Race' in his beloved Lagonda ... so long as he
wins. The first prize of 10,000 pre-War sovereigns will help
towards repairing the leaky ancestral home. Blotto elects to take
chauffeur Corky Froggett as his spare mechanic, while Twinks is
despatched by her mother to the Highlands, to paint water colours
and bag herself a wealthy husband. But, on the morning of the
race's start, enfeebled by food poisoning, Blotto and Corky are
forced to employ an extra mechanic on their team - a slender,
blonde and rather attractive young American... named Ronald. So
Blotto and his team are pitted against Europe's finest, in a race
which takes them through France, across the Alps, to a finish line
at the Colosseum in Rome. Among the competitors are Florian
Carre-Dagneau, indulged son of the race sponsors, Count Daspoontz
from Germany, and the Italian Enrico Parmigiano-Reggiano. All want
to win the race, and all want the prize money and all - with the
exception of Blotto and his team - will resort to dastardly
deception and fiendish sabotage to ensure Blotto's Lagonda is not
the first car over the finishing line... The ninth hair-raising
adventure featuring the aristocratic brother and sister sleuthing
duo! Praise for Simon Brett: 'A new Simon Brett is an event for
mystery fans' P. D. James 'Murder most enjoyable' Colin Dexter 'Few
crime writers are so enchantingly gifted' Sunday Times 'Simon Brett
writes stunning detective stories. I would recommend them to
anyone' Jilly Cooper
|
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