The victim's body turned up under a tree in a park, the body unusually battered and bruised – but that’s not what killed him; he appeared to have had potassium cyanide sprayed into his nose. What kind of animal could do that - and why?

It couldn't have been suicide - the victim was beheaded inside a watched and locked room - but the room was empty, except for the victim. French police director Henri Bencolin stars in the first novel by John Dickson Carr.

A theatrical and criminal problem for Ludovic Travers to solve.

Right from the start, it was clearly going to be an interesting case – the murder of an inoffensive little man with no apparent enemies, not much in the way of physical clues. And that kind of case can be very frustrating indeed.

What connection could there be between a gruesome fire in a London house and a ski holiday in Lech Am Arlberg in the Austrian Alps? The answer may conceal a ruthless murderer.

Princess Olga Karukhin escaped from Russia after the revolution. Was she murdered for her supposed collection of art objects? 

The death of a two-bit hustler was just the tip of the iceberg – that iceberg being a delicate international dispute over a contested strip of land – a dispute which may have involved no fewer than three murders…with every prospect of more crimes still to come.

a mystery with artfully rearranged bodies & missing heads & eccentric characters & assorted mayhem - and funny as well.

Passersby watching the daily advertising show in French's Department Store window got a lot more than they expected when a dead body fell out of the display's bed.

Claude Merivale admits he strangled his wife - but he says he did so while in a sleep so deep that everything he did, he did in a dream. Will the jury buy it? Or can Anthony Bathurst find evidence of a cunning killer at work?

Lord Edgeware's wife threatened to kill him. Now His Lordship has been murdered - but his wife has an unbreakable alibi! Hercule Poirot is on the case!

Trostler was described by Ellery Queen as "the first important Teutonic sleuth." These early stories find Dagobert using logic and reason to solve crimes.

Set in ancient China, Judge Dee must solve a couple of murders  involving very powerful individuals - and some black-haired foxes.

Cécile had come to the Parisian police headquarters to tell her secret to Inspector Maigret. But Maigret, in the course of a busy day, lost track of Cécile – until she disappeared. And when Maigret, now worried about her, want to her apartment to see what he could find – well, by then it was too late, for Cécile was dead. Now Maigret must uncover her secret.

What was the deadly secret of the book that forced Rena Austen to flee her home and husband and seek help from biblio expert Henry Gamadge?

Amid the turmoil of the late 1960s, Rabbi David Small deals with synagogue politics and the civil rights struggle within his Conservative congregation, not to mention solving a couple of murders.

Bobby Owen was spending the weekend at Cambers, planning to advise Lady Cambers on ways to keep her valuable jewelry safe. But when he woke up the next morning, Lady Cambers had been murdered - and the jewels had vanished. An excellent mystery mixed with some pointed British social satire.

Mr. Mottram's life insurance would pay handsomely, whether he was murdered or died by accident. But they wouldn't pay for a suicide. So insurance investigator Miles Bredon was sent to uncover the true story of Mottram's peculiar death.

It was the kind of murder Los Angeles saw all too often. But this time, Homicide Detective Mendoza had a hunch that he had worked on a similar crime before. Would he be able to solve both murders - or would a killer seek another victim?

Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin travel to Montenegro, in the heart of Europe, to find the person who murdered Wolfe's longest and closest friend.

Inspector French hears a young woman's plea for help too late to save her - but when she is murdered, French must find out why a gang seems to be targeting low-level clerks.

Ngaio Marsh is best known for her novels about Detective Inspector Roderick Alleyn. This collection features short fiction - some with Alleyn, some with other characters, and most are likely to be unfamiliar to her fans..

On the Classic Mysteries podcast this week, a mysterious cryptogram, sudden death - and a shocking way to commit murder.

Henry Gamadge puts together a daring rescue for a woman held a virtual prisoner by her family. What was the secret worth killing for?

a murder in the Australian outback - and DI Napoleon Bonaparte - Bony - is on the case. Arthur Upfield's "Sinister Stones" reviewed.

Another of Catherine Aird's witty 'Calleshire Chronicles" mysteries with Inspector Sloan and company.

Miss Amanda Gipson was a fine researcher to investigate old murders.  But what if an old killing made a new one necessary?  Pam and Jerry North investigate a possible murder within a murder.

Eight fascinating short stories about cases investigated and solved by Judge Dee, a magistrate (and later court official) in T'ang Dynasty China during the 7th century.

"But that's impossible!" Or maybe not. Not when the story you're reading comes from Paul Halter, a modern French author with a gift for impossible crime stories. Ten short stories by Halter, translated by John Pugmire. Savor the (im)possibilities.

When a small group of neighbors is getting successful stock tips from a self-styled "psychic," sudden death may not be quite as accidental as you think. 

Henry Clandon wanted to hire Ludovic Travers to find the war hero who saved his life. But there were a few obstacles - including murder.

Ludovic Travers was nearly run off the road by a car driven by a man dying of atropine poisoning. But Ludo - and the police - found that the deeper they dug into a case of murder, the more bizarre the clues became.

A blackmailer is driving victims to suicide when they cannot meet payment demands in this classic country house mystery from a top author of the Golden Age.

The beauty of Arlena Stuart Marshall moved nearly everyone she met either to love her or to hate her. When passion exploded into murder, only Hercule Poirot could explain what had happened.

When a fire destroys Starvel House, trapping and killing three people, it seems like a terrible accident. But when Inspector French arrives from Scotland Yard, he finds evidence that points to murder.

The man who followed him home was a stranger to Maigret - but his secret could lead to murder.

The show must go on - but will it be overshadowed by the murders offstage?

A man is found murdered in a hidden escape tunnel being built under an Italian POW camp during World War II.

Young men were dying for no apparent cause. But each had told friends they were deeply in love with someone. Was that love leading those men to a lonely and unexplained death?

The victim was all alone on the upper deck of a double decker bus, despite the pouring rain. But when they got to the end of the line, the victim was dead - strangled. Impossible? Maybe not...

The editor of a gossip-filled newspaper is murdered - but how did the killer manage to poison him?

Miss Edna Alice only wants to improve her neighbors' morals and behavior. How could those ignorant local authorities believe her anonymous notes to those neighbors, pointing out their moral failings, are "poisoned pen" letters? A true masterpiece of very dark humor.

At first, it looked like red paint on the floor of the artists' studio - until the first body was discovered.

Investigator Ludovic Travers was uneasy about that promised murder - but could he keep it from coming true?

Three puzzling cases to be solved by the sedentary Nero Wolfe and his right-hand, wisecracking assistant, Archie Goodwin.

Meet the masters of the scientific skills essential for investigating crime. Fourteen short stories, selected and introduced by Martin Edwards.

Mr. Lomas told the police that he was being poisoned. The Chief Constable thought it was nonsense - until Mr. Lomas's body was discovered the next morning.

Who is the mysterious "Angel of Music" living underneath the Paris Opera House? And why is he obsessively fascinated with Christine Daaè and her beautiful voice? The original novel that led to the play which has become the longest-running musical on Broadway.

"This crime is conditioned by the place. To understand the one you've got to study the other."