Reading Essentials: 322 books

He had promised a dying prospector to even an old score and he meant to keep his word - with his guns!

Arriving in the desert at the foot of Black Mesa, two men - one hiding from a shady past and the other running from a haunting memory - start a cattle ranch, but a ruthless trader and wild women could ruin their prospects...

This is a high-spirited adventure from a true legend of Western storytelling. Kansas rider Dodge Mercer is an ex-gunslinger hungry for the quiet life and seeking only a little corner of peace in Arizona, so he drifts west looking for a spread of his own, but he runs up against the Southwest's three most dangerous things: a beautiful young woman, sorghum booze runners, and hot-flying lead!

When five British prisoners escape from the Nazis, Tommy Hambledon is assigned to find out which one is a German double agent!

This is Benet's famous long narrative poem about the western migration of peoples and more specifically the Pioneers, first as they came to America and then as they spread out through America toward the West...

A bomber is killed in battle along with all of his companions; but something wakes in his dying, which is first a spirit bomber-crew, then the spirit of all those killed in battle, then the spirit of man, the cosmos and the Universal Spirit.

In this book the boy has grown up to new adventures, to college, to a seaman's berth on a North Atlantic freighter, to African safaris, and treks to the world's far corners - and to other dogs and boys who now follow him.

Dr. Thorndyke is one of the best creations of the Golden Age of British detective fiction. He is both medical doctor and barrister and the first great exponent of forensics in fiction, with an encyclopedic scientific knowledge. R. Austin Freeman was innovative in his writing too - some of his stories...

In this delightful detective story, Richard Austin Freeman should truly satisfy the inquisitive reader’s mind, with incredible twists and turns and the ever-likeable Dr Thorndyke. This excellent novel presents one of the most intriguing dilemmas Freeman wrote about.

On a misty November night in London, Dr Thorndyke comes across an abandoned handbag in an old church. From examining the contents an address is found and so begins a mysterious trail leading to the owner and a violent murder. Written to amuse and perplex the most ardent of crime aficionados.

The Jacob Street Mystery is the story of a brutal murder that takes place in a peaceful, pleasant afternoon. But thanks to an unseen witness, the killer may be caught.

A plethora of clues baffle the reader in this Conan Doyle-style mystery of a medical lawyer intrigued by a young woman's odd marriage and disappearance.

Another brilliant mystery featuring the medico-legal forensic investigator Dr Thorndyke! Harold is a patient found dead from arsenic poisoning, Amos his brother is left in no doubt that foul play is afoot. The inquiry begins and Harold's wife is soon singled out as the prime suspect. What ensues...

Told through the eyes of a watchmaker, Dr Thorndyke is once again faced with a nettly mystery involving a mysterious fire in a Soho house filled with supposedly inflammable objects. What transpires is an entertaining and amazing twist thanks to the eagle eyes of the Doctor and his friend the watchmaker, Mr Polton.