Reading Essentials: 322 books

A girl employed in the box office of a London cinema falls into the power of a mysterious trio of crooks. A helpful solicitor sends her to Scotland Yard. There she tells Inspector French the story of the Purple Sickle. Her body is found floating in Southampton Water the next day. French discovers...

Universally recognized as a landmark in American literature, Elmer Gantry scandalized the generation in which it was written, causing Sinclair Lewis to be "invited" to a jail cell in New Hampshire and to his own lynching in Virginia. His portrait of an evangelist who rises to power within...

A story that deals with a successful white man who well into his life discovers that he is part black, quite a controversial subject for 1947. A very honest and masterful tale of a man trying to connect with his "blackness" and the society and heritage to which he belongs, including insights into the racism of the time and the relationships between blacks and whites. 

Frightened by anonymous messages that tell her that her estranged, missing spy husband is still alive, Meg O'Hara asks her old friend, Bill, for assistance, and finds their investigation taking them into a shadowy and murderous underworld.

Rafael Sabatini was one of the greatest writers of the 20th Century. More than that, if one makes the rather dubious distinction between 'mere' storytellers and writers who are supposed to have a greater depth of expression, then Sabatini stands second only to Dumas. In this collection of tales is...

The poetic classic of decadence and eroticism. Beautifully translated by Roy Campbell. 

Captain Blood is handsome, brilliant and skilled with his blade, always one step ahead of his enemies. Perils upon perils challenge him but with his faithful crew, ever willing to follow him into danger, he manages to be both chivalrous and victorious.

The charming story of Pippinella, the green canary, as told by Pip herself to the Doctor.

Doctor Dolittle returns from his voyages and sets his house in order. This includes expanding his zoo to include a home for crossbred dogs and a club for rodents. The doctor also takes time to solve a mystery with the aid of Kling, the Dog Detective.

Although at first he plans only to exhibit the Pushmi-pullyu, Dolittle soon becomes manager of a very special circus.

Challenge was the tenth and final Bulldog Drummond novel.  When Colonel Henry Talbot summons Bulldog Drummond and Ronald Standish, it is to inform them of the mysterious death of one of their colleagues, a millionaire. There was no sign of any wound, no trace of any weapon when they found...

Peter Cheyney does an excellent job of conveying the world of spying, with all its twists and double crosses. No one is what he seems, and everyone knows that; but no one is sure just what anyone else really is. This is one of the best in the "Dark" Series of espionage novels. 

On Christmas Eve, heavy snowfall brings a train to a halt near the village of Hemmersby. Several passengers take shelter in a deserted country house, where the fire has been lit and the table laid for tea - but no one is at home. Trapped together for Christmas, the passengers are seeking to unravel the secrets of the empty house when a murderer strikes in their midst.

While waiting for a train connection, Sarah Marlowe is drawn into a conversation with an elderly woman named Emily who is also traveling alone. She tells Sarah an incredible tale of being entrusted with a package by a stranger dying of a stab wound. Soon afterward, on the train to London, Sarah discovers...