Dornford Yates: 30 books

Classic Yates, this novel featuring the suave Richard Chandos was reprinted three times within the first month of publication, was warmly received by the critics and served hugely to expand the author’s already large readership. Typically deft, pacey and amusing, it ‘contains every crime in the...

The Berry Scene once again shows that Berry Pleydell is one of the funniest characters ever created. If you're a sucker for old-fashioned British comedy, then Yates always satisfies. He combines a fast-paced Jazz Age detective story with high-spirited romps and comedic twists that generate true belly laughs!

This is Yates’ first thriller: a tautly plotted page-turner featuring the crime-busting adventures of suave Richard Chandos. Chandos is thrown out of Oxford for ‘beating up some Communists’, and on return from vacation in Biarritz he witnesses a murder. Teaming up at his London club with friend Jonathan Mansel, a stratagem is devised to catch the killer.

On the way home from Germany after capturing Axel the Red’s treasure, Jonathan Mansel comes upon a corpse in the road. There ensues a gripping tale of adventure and vengeance of a rather gentlemanly kind. On publication, this novel was such a hit that it was reprinted six times in its first year and assured Yates huge popularity. A classic Richard Chandos thriller...

Richard Chandos makes a welcome return in this classic adventure story. Suave and decadent, he leads his friends into forbidden territory to rescue a kidnapped (and very attractive) young widow. Yates gives us a highly dramatic, almost operatic, plot and unforgettably vivid characters.

Eight stories in which we encounter ‘the hair-raising adventures and idiotic situations of the Pleydell family’ (Punch). Along with John Buchan and ‘Sapper’, Yates dominated the adventure book market of the inter-war years, and Berry is regarded as one of British comic writing’s finest creations, including Tom Sharpe amongst his fans. Read these and weep (with laughter).

This is one of Yates' best and most popular books. When Rose Noble kidnaps the wife of Jonah Mansel's cousin and holds her for ransom, can Jonah and his friends Richard Chandos and George Hanbury come to the rescue?

These stories, written in response to huge popular demand, give us classic Berry Pleydell – Yates’ finest comic character – at the top of his form. The first story sees Berry capturing a German spy at a village cricket match in 1914, and things get more bizarre from then on. A self-consciously...

On the way home from Germany after having captured Axel the Red’s treasure, dapper Jonathan Mansel happens upon a corpse in the road, that of an Englishman. There ensues a gripping tale of adventure and vengeance of a rather gentlemanly kind. On publication this novel was such a hit that it was...

This is an enjoyable, hilarious, and suspenseful tale of a close-knit group and the situations they encounter when they attend an estate sale but it soon turns into another adventure thwarting crooks and escaping incarceration for being too close to the fan when the mess hits it! The stories as ever...

It is hard, sitting here, to believe that, if I would call for a cab, I could be in St. James's Street in less than ten minutes of time. Nevertheless, it is true. I have proved it so many times. Soon I shall prove it for the last time. Better men than I will sit in this study and pace the lawn in the...

At his chivalrous, rakish best in a story of mistaken identity, kidnapping, and old-world romance, Richard Chandos takes us on a romp through Europe in the company of a host of unforgettable characters. This fine thriller can be read alone or as part of a series with ‘Blind Corner’, ‘An Eye For a Tooth’, ‘Fire Below’ and ‘Perishable Goods’.

A vintage thriller featuring the welcome return of Richard Chandos, dashing hero extraordinaire, who seeks to rescue a young girl who has been kidnapped and drugged by a sinister old woman in the mountains of the Pyrenées. A gripping read originally published in serial form, ‘She Fell Among Thieves’ was a huge hit when it first appeared.

Berry & Co. captures the English upper classes of the Edwardian and Golden Age era, still self-assured, but affected by changing social attitudes and the decline of their fortunes. Grand houses, powerful motor cars, and foreign travel feature prominently in the Berry stories. This book about...