At the beginning of the Second World War there was no thought of delivering planes by air across the Atlantic. It was assumed to be too costly and too dangerous, especially in winter. Despite this initial reluctance, between the fall of 1940 and the spring of 1945, Royal Air Force Ferry Command's [...]

A facsimile first edition hardback of the Miss Marple books, published to mark the 75th anniversary of her first appearance and to celebrate her new-found success on television. When The Murder at the Vicarage was published in October 1930, little did the literary world realise that Agatha Christie,[...]

Collins brings the Queen of Crime, Agatha Christie, to English language learners.

There's a serial killer on the loose, workinghis way through the alphabet and the wholecountry is in a state of panic.A is for Mrs. Ascher in Andover, B is for BettyBarnard in Bexhill, C is for Sir Carmichael Clarkein Churston. With each murder, the killer is gettingmore confident--but leaving a tra[...]

Rex Fortescue, king of a financial empire, was sippingtea in his "counting house" when he sufferedan agonizing and sudden death. On later inspection, the pockets of the deceased were found to containtraces of cereals.Yet, it was the incident in the parlor which confirmedMiss Marple's suspicion that [...]

This collection gathers together every short storyfeaturing one of Agatha Christie's most famouscreations: Miss Marple. Described by her friendDolly Bantry as "the typical old maid of fiction,"Miss Marple has lived almost her entire life in thesleepy hamlet of St. Mary Mead. Yet, by observingvillage[...]

Three young women share a London flat. The first is a coolly efficient secretary. The second is an artist. The third interrupts Hercule Poirot's breakfast confessing that she is a murderer--and then promptly disappears.Slowly, Poirot learns of the rumors surrounding the mysterious third girl, her fa[...]

The crime-fighting careers of Hercule Poirot and Captain Hastings have come full circle--they are back once again in the rambling country house in which they solved their first murder together.Both Poirot and Great Styles have seen better days--but, despite being crippled with arthritis, there is no[...]

Regularly the media reminds us that while crime rates fall, fear of crime remains and prison populations soar. How can these apparent contradictions be so? Crime and punishment are social and cultural manifestations; they are closely bound up with people's perceptions of morality, norms and values[...]

Through poems and poetic prose pieces, acclaimed children's author Arnold Adoff celebrates that uniquely American form of music called the blues. In his signature "shaped speech" style, he creates a narrative of moments and joyous music, from the drums of the ancestors, the red dirt of the plantatio[...]

As Miss Marple sat basking in the Caribbean sunshine she felt mildly discontented with life. True, the warmth eased her rheumatism, but here in paradise nothing ever happened. Eventually, her interest was aroused by an old soldier's yarn about strange coincidence. Infuriatingly, just as he was about[...]