Reading Essentials: 322 books

Missing Link is vintage Frank Herbert. It tells the story of Lewis Orne, junior I-A field man, on the planet Gienah III. He is there to investigate a missing space ship, and the natives are nothing but trouble...

The Lake District Murder opens with the discovery of a faceless body in an isolated garage, then follows Inspector Meredith through a complex investigation where every clue seems to lead only to another puzzle. Was this a bizarre suicide, or something more sinister? Why was the dead man apparently...

"The Fairy Caravan" is the story of a miniature circus, William and Alexander's Travelling Circus. It is no ordinary circus, for Alexander is a highland terrier and William is Pony Billy who draws the caravan. Beatrix Potter wrote this chapter book for older children towards the end of her...

One of the most ambitious essays in the interpretation of Dante our times have ever seen. His interpretation of the role of Beatrice is deeply fascinating. Charles Williams was one of the finest - not to mention one of the most unusual - theologians of the twentieth century. His mysticism is palpable...

When Jeanne-Marie Harlowe is poisoned and her adopted daughter is accused of the murder, Inspector Hanaud is called in to investigate.

1930s, somewhere over the English Channel: a family from Yorkshire is on the 12.30 flight from Croydon to Paris - but by the time the plane lands, Andrew Crowther, a wealthy retired manufacturer, is already dead... Inspector French shows up on the scene.

This sequel novel, set in January and February 1793, follows on from "The Scarlet Pimpernel". The League of the Scarlet Pimpernel has disguised themselves as a group of shabby second-rate musicians, in order to save an innocent family from death. But Citizen Chauvelin is hot on their heels,...

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...

Based on a Norse legend which is interesting to compare to Beowulf. Both heroes face monsters but Cappen Varra is of a completely different sort than the mighty warrior Beowulf. An entertaining epic story by one of the masters of science fiction and fantasy!

Fifteen popular animals stories about such characters as Peter Rabbit and Johnny Chuck which reveal the wonderful world of nature to children...

This novel has an intriguing start, as handsome and charming Sir Hargrave Wendever gets a nasty shock from the doctor. He decides to do some good with his money in the time he has left, and offers a penniless young woman a free holiday at his villa, with no strings attached. That is just the beginning of a whole series of romantic complications... Arguably Oppenheim's best book!

An espionage thriller in which the James Bond-like Martin Fawley, a retired major in the US army, takes on some independent information gathering work for the Italians in the mid 1930s. He travels to Rome, Paris, Berlin, and London, collecting useful knowledge in the name of world peace. He has been...

Col. Holles finds it impossible to obtain a commission with the royalists. At his wit's end for money, daily he becomes more impatient and embittered, until, careless of his reputation, he decides to fling away honor as well, and undertakes for the Duke of Buckingham the abduction of a popular actress....

Vintage quality Sabatini, with a rich historical background to the dashing tale of romance, adventure and mystery. A tale that begins with a strange gamble, carries on through the intrigue and plotting that were rife in England during the time, but can it end with the capture of the notorious Jacobin spy and the amazing resurrection of Captain Gaynor from the Gates of Doom?