Marques Publishing: 115 books

Excerpt: "Those who anticipated the discovery of a crime, were unhappily not deceived. The commissary was convinced of this as soon as he crossed the threshold. Everything in the first room pointed with a sad eloquence to the recent presence of a malefactor. The furniture was knocked about, and a chest of drawers and two large trunks had been forced and broken open."

Excerpt: "On the bank of the river, among the stumps and flags, was stretched a woman's body. Her long, dishevelled locks lay among the water-shrubs; her dress—of gray silk—was soiled with mire and blood. All the upper part of the body lay in shallow water, and her face had sunk in the mud....

At about eleven o'clock in the evening of the 20th of February, 186—, which chanced to be Shrove Sunday, a party of detectives left the police station near the old Barriere d'Italie to the direct south of Paris. Their mission was to explore the district extending on the one hand between the highroad...

Louis XVIII has once again returned to power and the emigres are returing to France to reclaim the lands and fortunes they had relinquished. The Duc de Sairmeuse is returning to his tiny hamlet where the now widowed Lacheneur has been managing his estate for twenty years, so long that he is currently...

Set against the bleak winter landscape of New England, Ethan Frome is the story of a poor farmer, lonely and downtrodden, his wife Zeena, and her cousin, the enchanting Mattie Silver. In the playing out of this short novel's powerful and engrossing drama, Edith Wharton constructed her least characteristic and most celebrated book.

The Odd Women is an 1893 novel by the English novelist George Gissing. Its themes are the role of women in society, marriage, morals and the early feminist movement.

When the great actor, Bassett Oliver, who was a martinet for punctuality, failed to turn up to a rehearsal which he himself had called, his business manager guessed that something had happened. It had. But it took more than one set of brains to discover the truth, and another set of very curious circumstances...

Nothing is what it seems, and dead bodies abound in this classic 1920 murder mystery from the British crime author and journalist, J.S. Fletcher.

"The Borough Treasurer" (1921) by J.S. Fletcher is a tale of blackmail, murder and a secret quarry. He has quite a large cast of interesting characters in this one, and manages to bring them all to life with great detail. This novel tales place in an obscure small town by the Yorkshire moors...

This novel, which appeared in 1921, has a fascinating setting - South Paddington, home to working people and shopkeepers of various cultures and languages. Struggling writers also like the neighborhood for its cheap lodgings and eating places. The Jewish community dominates the novel. But while contemporary...

An elderly man called Deane is murdered in an English town. Inspector Mellapont thinks it's a simple robbery, but others disagree, and Deane's business partner, an attractive young girl named Miss Pretty, offers a reward for information. No fewer than three rogues decide to improve their own prospects...

In the heart of London, John Ashton--the man from Australia--has been murdered. It seems clear that the motive was not robbery, and as he apparently had no acquaintances in town, the exposure of the murderer appears hopeless. Nevertheless, Mr. Fletcher accomplishes it in a story that keeps the reader...

Excerpt: "That's just what I was going to suggest, he said. "There's no good to be done hanging about here. Let's get on to the scene of operations. If Miss Lennard's maid has stolen her jewels, she's probably had some hand in the theft from my cousin. We must find her. Now, then, let me...

Joseph Smith Fletcher (1863-1935) was a British journalist and writer. He wrote about 200 books on a wide variety of subjects, both fiction and non-fiction. He was one of the leading writers of detective fiction in the "Golden Age." Fletcher was born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, son of a...