Classic crime and mystery fiction

With an essay by T.

'It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.

'When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.

'Holmes,' I cried.

'We must fall back upon the old axiom that when all other contingencies fail, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.

'If I were assured of your eventual destruction I would, in the interests of the public, cheerfully accept my own.

'It was a monstrous constellation of unnatural light, like a glutted swarm of corpse-fed fireflies dancing hellish sarabands over an accursed marsh (.

The colossus of crime leaned over to the little rustic priest with a sort of sudden interest.

'The new crime and espionage series from Penguin Classics makes for a mouth-watering prospect' Daily TelegraphMaude Slocum is in trouble.

Private detective Lew Archer has better things to do than take on an investigation for Alex Kincaid, a young man claiming that his new bride, Dolly, has gone missing.

For Willi Kufult, prison life means staying out of trouble, keeping his cell clean, snagging a precious piece of tobacco - and dreaming of the day of his release.

'Outrageous, shocking, wonderful' The New York TimesA golden Cadillac big enough to cross the ocean has been seen sailing along the streets of Harlem.

'The toughest crime stories in print' Sunday TimesThe night's over for Ulysses Galen.

'The greatest find in American crime fiction since Raymond Chandler' Sunday TimesJackson's woman has found him a foolproof way to make money - a technique for turning ten dollar bills into hundreds.

THE FOURTH GEORGE SMILEY NOVELWhen the Department - faded since the war and busy only with bureaucratic battles - hears rumours of a missile base near the West German border, it seems the perfect opportunity to regain some standing in the Intelligence world.

'Brilliant, unforgettable .

A murder mystery in the finest tradition of English detective novels, John le Carr 's A Murder of Quality is an ingenious puzzle featuring his best-loved character George Smiley.

Taking us into a 1930s London of grimy back streets, smoky cafes and shabby rooms, Plain Murder, C.

Marjorie had never seen a dead body until she got home one tranquil summer evening and found her sister Dot lying on the kitchen floor in a pretty dress, with her head in the oven.

'I pushed her back into the house without saying anything, shut the door.

Immortalized in these famous stories, G.

The complete adventures of the well-loved clerical sleuth, collected in one brilliant volume.

Laurence is a young ex-sailor who can't resist the lure of the good life, and when he finds a job as chauffeur to the wealthy Mr and Mrs Bannister, his occasional work leaves him free to indulge.

'The new crime and espionage series from Penguin Classics makes for a mouth-watering prospect' Daily TelegraphLos Angeles, the late 1940's.

The Anatomy of Ghosts is a gripping historical mystery from the bestselling author of The Ashes of London1786, Jerusalem College, Cambridge.

When Dr John Watson takes rooms in Baker Street with amateur detective Sherlock Holmes, he has no idea that he is about to enter a shadowy world of criminality and violence.

Playback is a classic novel by Raymond Chandler, the master of hard-boiled crime.

SHERLOCK HOLMES IS NOT ONLY THE MOST FAMOUS CHARACTER IN CRIME FICTION BUT THE MOST FAMOUS CHARACTER IN ALL OF FICTION.

'The new crime and espionage series from Penguin Classics makes for a mouth-watering prospect' Daily Telegraph1940.

Discover the new Penguin Crime and Espionage seriesA crime novelist has found the perfect subject - but it may cost him his lifeEnglish writer Charles Latimer is travelling in Istanbul when a police inspector tells him about the infamous master criminal Dimitrios, long wanted by the law, whose body has just been fished out of the Bosphorus.

One of the BBC's '100 Novels That Shaped Our World'The Hound of the Baskervilles gripped readers when it was first serialised and remains one of Sherlock Holmes's greatest and most popular adventures.

From the annals of Dr Watson comes this dark tale of Sherlock Holmes early encounter with Professor Moriarty.

One of the BBC's '100 Novels That Shaped Our World'Raymond Chandler invented a new way of talking about America, and America has never looked the same to us since' Paul Auster, author of The New York TrilogyRaymond Chandler was America's preeminent writer of detective fiction, and this edition of The Big Sleep and Other Novels collects three of the best novels to feature his hard-drinking, philosophising PI, Philip Marlowe.

A CLASSIC NOVEL BY THE MASTER OF HARD-BOILED CRIME, THE HIGH WINDOW IS RAYMOND CHANDLER'S THIRD STORY FEATURING LACONIC PI PHILIP MARLOWE.

'Everything was quiet and sunny and calm.

The Little Sister is a classic detective novel by the master of hard-boiled crimeHer name is Orfamay Quest and she's come all the way from Manhattan, Kansas, to find her missing brother Orrin.

Founder of the hard-boiled school of detective fiction, The Big Sleep is Raymond Chandler's most famous and popular novel of allLos Angeles PI Philip Marlowe is working for the Sternwood family.

Farewell, My Lovely is a classic novel by Raymond Chandler, the master of hard-boiled crime.

Killer in the Rain collects together eight classic short stories by Raymond Chandler.

As a dense yellow fog swirls through the streets of London, a deep melancholy has descended on Sherlock Holmes, who sits in a cocaine-induced haze at 221B Baker Street.

Despite the grave misgivings of both their families, Valeria Brinton and Eustace Woodville are married.

Magdalen and her sister Norah, beloved daughters of Mr and Mrs Vanstone, find themselves the victims of a catastrophic oversight.

A collection of the most famous cases faced by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's peerless creation, the inimitable detective Sherlock HolmesThis collection includes many of the famous cases - and great strokes of brilliance - that made the legendary Sherlock Holmes one of fiction's most popular creations.

Horror lies waiting.

The Penguin English Library editionA dense yellow miasma swirls in the streets of London as Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson accompany a beautiful young woman to a sinister assignation.

The Penguin English Library editionAs usual with the Sherlock Holmes stories it is very hard to say which are the best - but there are many stories here which would get the vote - ranging from The Boscombe Valley Mystery to the wonderful Adventure of Silver Blaze, from the Adventure of the Norwood Builder to A Case of Identity, but above to the uniquely strange and macabre Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb.

The Penguin English Library editionWhen Dr John Watson takes rooms in Baker Street with amateur detective Sherlock Holmes, he has no idea that he is about to enter a shadowy world of criminality and violence.

The Penguin English Library editionMany readers would claim that The Adventure of the Copper Beeches or The Man with the Twisted Lip was their favourite Sherlock Holmes story - but then that would be doing an injustice to The Adventure of the Yellow Face and The Problem of Thor Bridge.

The Penguin English Library EditionThe deadly hand of Professor Moriarty once more reaches out to commit a vile and ingenious crime, but a mole in Moriarty's criminal organization alerts Sherlock Holmes of the evil deed by means of a cipher .

'The father of contemporary European detective fiction' Ann Cleeves Maigret savoured the sensations of his youth again: the cold, stinging eyes, frozen fingertips, an aftertaste of coffee.