Description In this, Gaboriau’s penultimate Lecoq novel, Lecoq doesn’t make an appearance until the last few chapters of the book. In fact, the protagonists’ identity remains unclear until almost halfway through. They’re not missed, though, because the antagonists are a group of blackmailers of exhaustive ingenuity and knowledge, and piecing together the game they’re playing with several noblemen and women occupies all of one’s faculties for most of the book. Young love, old love, forbidden
Description A bank safe is robbed. Only two men have both the key and the combination to the safe. The police naturally look to the employee rather than the owner of the bank. But Monsieur Lecoq, as always, sees what everyone else misses. Was it one of the two? Or was it a seemingly-impossible third party? Only Lecoq will be able to determine it. But why doesn’t he want his involvement in the case known? Like Gaboriau’s two novels before it, File No. 113 is a mystery with a Dickensian tragedy
Description The last Lecoq novel goes back to the beginning, to Monsieur Lecoq’s first case, the case that began his reputation as a master of detection, master of disguise, and master of detail. The case begins simply: Lecoq and several other policemen come upon a crime as it’s being committed. Three men are dead and the killer is in custody. But who is he? Lecoq and his companion officer spend months trying to figure it out, to no avail. Lecoq finally goes to visit his old mentor in order to
Description The Problems of Philosophy, published in 1912, is an introductory book for a beginner in philosophical studies. In this book, the author attempts to provoke a discussion by posing different problems. The book covers a wide variety of theories proposed by philosophers like Plato, Descartes, Hume, Aristotle, etc. In view of these theories, Russell poses questions about the nature of reality and our perception of it. While the book refrains from providing absolute solutions to the
Description The Prophet is Lebanese-American writer Khalil Gibran’s best known work. In the book, the prophet Almustafa is returning home after 12 years in the fictional city of Orphalese. Before he boards his ship, he speaks to the people of Orphalese on a number of universal themes such as love, work, marriage, beauty, and death, which form this collection of 26 short fables or prose poetry. First published in 1923, The Prophet has never been out of print since, and has been translated into
Description Dallas McCord “Mack” Reynolds was an American science fiction writer who authored almost two hundred short stories and novellas, was a staple in all the major science fiction and fantasy magazines and published dozens of science fiction novels. He began his writing career in the late 1940s. His fiction focused on exploring and challenging both the socioeconomic themes of the day and the implications of the Cold War that raged throughout his career. A thoughtful writer of speculative
Description Thomas Bulfinch was an American banker and Latin scholar. Bulfinch’s Mythology is a posthumous compilation of three volumes published by Bulfinch during his lifetime which were intended to introduce the general reader to the myths and legends of Western Civilization by presenting them in simple prose with occasional commentary by the author. Bulfinch also includes many quotations showing how these stories have been handled by poets and playwrights of later years. The three original
Description Considered by many to be the first detective novel, The Lerouge Case (aka The Widow Lerouge) introduces Monsieur Lecoq (later Inspector Lecoq), a former “habitual criminal” who becomes a police officer. Émile Gaboriau based Lecoq at least in part on an actual criminal-turned-police-officer, Eugène Vidocq, who went on to be the first director of the Sûreté. In this first book, Lecoq plays a relatively small part, the bulk of the mystery solving being done by Lecoq’s mentor Tabaret,
Description A murder is discovered. The authorities quickly arrest an obvious suspect. A detective spends hours at the scene in disguise before making himself known, and proceeds to minutely examine the evidence with the assistance of a doctor, among others, before proclaiming the answer lies in a completely different direction. One would be forgiven for thinking the detective must be a certain famous Englishman and his doctor companion. But this detective is French rather than English, a
Description Ernest Bramah’s Kai Lung stories are set in a fantastical ancient China and written with an oblique, ornate prose style that serves to mimic that of Chinese folk tales. The titular character is an itinerant storyteller and the books themselves are mostly collections of stories presented as if he were narrating. Kai Lung’s Golden Hours, published in 1922, is the second of the Kai Lung books, and the first to have an overarching framing narrative and thus be published as a novel. In
Description In this, Gaboriau’s penultimate Lecoq novel, Lecoq doesn’t make an appearance until the last few chapters of the book. In fact, the protagonists’ identity remains unclear until almost halfway through. They’re not missed, though, because the antagonists are a group of blackmailers of exhaustive ingenuity and knowledge, and piecing together the game they’re playing with several noblemen and women occupies all of one’s faculties for most of the book. Young love, old love, forbidden
Description A bank safe is robbed. Only two men have both the key and the combination to the safe. The police naturally look to the employee rather than the owner of the bank. But Monsieur Lecoq, as always, sees what everyone else misses. Was it one of the two? Or was it a seemingly-impossible third party? Only Lecoq will be able to determine it. But why doesn’t he want his involvement in the case known? Like Gaboriau’s two novels before it, File No. 113 is a mystery with a Dickensian tragedy
Description The last Lecoq novel goes back to the beginning, to Monsieur Lecoq’s first case, the case that began his reputation as a master of detection, master of disguise, and master of detail. The case begins simply: Lecoq and several other policemen come upon a crime as it’s being committed. Three men are dead and the killer is in custody. But who is he? Lecoq and his companion officer spend months trying to figure it out, to no avail. Lecoq finally goes to visit his old mentor in order to
Description The Problems of Philosophy, published in 1912, is an introductory book for a beginner in philosophical studies. In this book, the author attempts to provoke a discussion by posing different problems. The book covers a wide variety of theories proposed by philosophers like Plato, Descartes, Hume, Aristotle, etc. In view of these theories, Russell poses questions about the nature of reality and our perception of it. While the book refrains from providing absolute solutions to the
Description The Prophet is Lebanese-American writer Khalil Gibran’s best known work. In the book, the prophet Almustafa is returning home after 12 years in the fictional city of Orphalese. Before he boards his ship, he speaks to the people of Orphalese on a number of universal themes such as love, work, marriage, beauty, and death, which form this collection of 26 short fables or prose poetry. First published in 1923, The Prophet has never been out of print since, and has been translated into
Description Dallas McCord “Mack” Reynolds was an American science fiction writer who authored almost two hundred short stories and novellas, was a staple in all the major science fiction and fantasy magazines and published dozens of science fiction novels. He began his writing career in the late 1940s. His fiction focused on exploring and challenging both the socioeconomic themes of the day and the implications of the Cold War that raged throughout his career. A thoughtful writer of speculative
Description Thomas Bulfinch was an American banker and Latin scholar. Bulfinch’s Mythology is a posthumous compilation of three volumes published by Bulfinch during his lifetime which were intended to introduce the general reader to the myths and legends of Western Civilization by presenting them in simple prose with occasional commentary by the author. Bulfinch also includes many quotations showing how these stories have been handled by poets and playwrights of later years. The three original
Description Considered by many to be the first detective novel, The Lerouge Case (aka The Widow Lerouge) introduces Monsieur Lecoq (later Inspector Lecoq), a former “habitual criminal” who becomes a police officer. Émile Gaboriau based Lecoq at least in part on an actual criminal-turned-police-officer, Eugène Vidocq, who went on to be the first director of the Sûreté. In this first book, Lecoq plays a relatively small part, the bulk of the mystery solving being done by Lecoq’s mentor Tabaret,
Description A murder is discovered. The authorities quickly arrest an obvious suspect. A detective spends hours at the scene in disguise before making himself known, and proceeds to minutely examine the evidence with the assistance of a doctor, among others, before proclaiming the answer lies in a completely different direction. One would be forgiven for thinking the detective must be a certain famous Englishman and his doctor companion. But this detective is French rather than English, a
Description Ernest Bramah’s Kai Lung stories are set in a fantastical ancient China and written with an oblique, ornate prose style that serves to mimic that of Chinese folk tales. The titular character is an itinerant storyteller and the books themselves are mostly collections of stories presented as if he were narrating. Kai Lung’s Golden Hours, published in 1922, is the second of the Kai Lung books, and the first to have an overarching framing narrative and thus be published as a novel. In