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Five Red Herrings
by Dorothy L. SayersPainting can be a dangerous pastime. When a famous artist is found dead, and a painting done in his style used to stage the death as accidental, Lord Peter Wimsey must solve a murder with exactly six suspects - six local artists talented enough to have painted the fake, and with motive to kill the painter. Five of them are Red Herrings, but one is a murderer. Initially published as Suspicious Characters in the United States.
The Franchise Affair
by Josephine TeyRobert Blair has a quiet life as a solicitor in a small town until the Sharpes, a mother and daughter living in The Franchise, their country home, are accused of kidnapping and abuse.
Blair, with some guidance from Scotland Yard's brilliant Inspector Grant, dons the cap of the amateur detective, determined to get to the bottom of these startling accusations. Penguin Random House Canada is proud to bring you classic works of literature in e-book form, with the highest quality production values. Find more today and rediscover books you never knew you loved.
The Fruit of the Tree
by Edith WhartonJustine is a young nurse, born into a wealth that was lost before she reached adulthood. When she takes a job assisting with the recovery of an injured mill-worker, she finds herself at the centre of a struggle for power, dignity, and a better life.
John Amherst, the assistant manager of the mill, is fed up with the deplorable working and living conditions of the workers in his charge. When the mill's owner passes away, leaving control in the hands of his widow, Amherst sees a chance to change things for the better. Bessy, the widow, is initially receptive to his ideas, but breaking down a lifetime of embedded ideology about class and wealth is no easy feat.
Gaudy Night
by Dorothy L. SayersThe seedy underbelly of academia threatens to erupt into violence, if Lord Peter and Harriet Vane can’t put a stop to it. Famous mystery writer Harriet Vane is asked to help when her alma mater becomes plagued by scandalous letters, threats, and vandalism. Fearing that things might escalate to murder, she asks Lord Peter Wimsey to assist her investigation, but his reentrance into her life brings to a head her uncertainty regarding love and marriage – and Lord Peter himself. Penguin Random House Canada is proud to bring you classic works of literature in e-book form, with the highest quality production values. Find more today and rediscover books you never knew you loved.
Ghost Stories of an Antiquary
by M. JamesGhost Stories of an Antiquary consists of eight classic tales by M. R. James, including “Number 13,” “The Ash-Tree,” “Lost Hearts,” and “Canon Alberic’s Scrapbook.” Known for their wit, erudition, and suspense, these tales represent a turning point in the ghost story genre. They plunge readers into a world of pervasive unease and an unsettling atmosphere, populated by vengeful phantoms and disturbing visions—a world that taps into our most primal fears. Penguin Random House Canada is proud to bring you classic works of literature in e-book form, with the highest quality production values. Find more today and rediscover books you never knew you loved.
The Glass Key
by Dashiell HammettUnlike most of Hammett's works, the protagonist of The Glass Key isn't a private detective; Ned Beaumont is a gambler, and the friend of a criminal boss.
The action starts when he discovers the body of a senator's son, and his friend wants him to help cover it up as a means of gaining the senator's favour. This draws Beaumont into a brewing gang war, and he has to solve the mystery if he wants to get out alive. It has been adapted for film twice. Penguin Random House Canada is proud to bring you classic works of literature in e-book form, with the highest quality production values. Find more today and rediscover books you never knew you loved.
The Glimpses of the Moon
by Edith WhartonAn expertly drawn portrait of two young lovers, caught between bright-eyed passion and the bitter allure of wealth. Nick Lansing and Susy Branch are torn - they are in love, but believe that they can never be happy without the wealth that their friends so cavalierly throw around. They wed, but with an agreement to divorce if a more financially suitable prospect appears for either of them. This agreement makes a certain banal sense, at least at first, but when it is tested by the messy realities of love, lust, desire, and ambition, Nick and Susy realize that they are in over their heads. Penguin Random House Canada is proud to bring you classic works of literature in e-book form, with the highest quality production values. Find more today and rediscover books you never knew you loved.
The Gods Arrive
by Edith WhartonVance and Halo have found each other. But can they find happiness? Picking up from the events of Hudson River Bracketed, Vance’s wife has passed away, and his novel is a success. Halo cannot escape her happy marriage while she stays in America, but between a sudden inheritance and Vance’s newfound wealth, the two can escape to Europe. But what will they find there? Freedom from the pettiness and hollowness they see in the States? Or just more of the same? And can their relationship survive the journey? Penguin Random House Canada is proud to bring you high quality, classic works of literature in e-book form. Find more today and rediscover books you never knew you loved.
Gulliver's Travels
by Jonathan SwiftAlso known as Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships, Gulliver’s Travels is a wickedly clever novel satirizing both human nature and the “travellers’ tales” literary subgenre, and was an immediate success upon publication in 1726. To this day, Gulliver’s Travels is Swift’s best-known work and one of the most popular books in the world. The novel describes the four voyages of Lemuel Gulliver, a ship’s surgeon. In Lilliput, he discovers a miniature world; in Brobdingnag, a land of giants; in Laputa, a flying island, he encounters a society of speculators and projectors who have lost grip on everyday reality; and in the land of the Houyhnhnms, gentle horses come in contrast to the bestial Yahoos that closely resemble humans. Swift’s savage satirical prose views humankind in a distorted hall of mirrors as a diminished, magnified, and bestial species, presenting readers with an uncompromising reflection of our existence. Penguin Random House Canada is proud to bring you classic works of literature in e-book form, with the highest quality production values. Find more today and rediscover books you never knew you loved.
Hamlet
by William ShakespeareOne of the greatest plays of all time, the compelling tragedy of the tormented young prince of Denmark continues to capture the imaginations of modern audiences worldwide. Confronted with evidence that his uncle murdered his father, and with his mother’s infidelity, Hamlet must find a means of reconciling his longing for oblivion with his duty as avenger. The ghost, Hamlet’s feigned madness, Ophelia’s death and burial, the play within a play, the “closet scene” in which Hamlet accuses his mother of complicity in murder, and breathtaking swordplay are just some of the elements that make Hamlet an enduring masterpiece of the theater.
The Hamlet
by William FaulknerThe first novel of Faulkner's Snopes trilogy, The Hamlet is both an ironic take on classical tragedy and a mordant commentary on the grand pretensions of the antebellum South and the depths of its decay in the aftermath of war and Reconstruction. It tells of the advent and the rise of the Snopes family in Frenchman's Bend, a small town built on the ruins of a once-stately plantation. Flem Snopes -- wily, energetic, a man of shady origins -- quickly comes to dominate the town and its people with his cunning and guile.Penguin Random House Canada is proud to bring you classic works of literature in e-book form, with the highest quality production values. Find more today and rediscover books you never knew you loved.
A Handful of Dust
by Evelyn WaughThe Jungle, as it turns out, is not the best place to forgot your troubles. Tony Last has it all: A loving wife, a delightful son, and a splendid home in the countryside. Or so he thinks. His life is left in shambles when, in the wake of his son’s death, he discovers that his wife has been having an affair and wants to divorce him. To get away from it all, he joins an expedition to Brazil, but the incompetence of its organizer may prove to be even more trouble for Tony.
Hangman's Holiday
by Dorothy L. SayersA collection of short stories featuring Lord Peter Wimsey and Montague Egg. In this collection the two amateur detectives encounter cases covering everything from elopement to evil twins. Penguin Random House Canada is proud to bring you classic works of literature in e-book form, with the highest quality production values. Find more today and rediscover books you never knew you loved.
The Haunted House
by Walter HubbellThe blood-chilling true story of a nineteenth-century girl’s terrifying and bewildering haunting First published in 1879, The Haunted House: A True Ghost Story is the author’s account of the infamous haunting of eighteen-year-old Esther Cox, who lived with her extended family in Amherst, Nova Scotia—a beautiful, peaceful little village, population three thousand—during the late 1800s. Walter Hubbell stayed with the family for six weeks, during which he witnessed a variety of alternately compelling and terrifying paranormal and unexplained events. As he describes these manifestations: No person has yet been able to ascertain their cause. Scientific men from all parts of Canada and the United States have investigated them in vain. Some people think that electricity is the principal agent; others, mesmerism; whilst others again, are sure they are produced by the devil. Of the three supposed causes, the latter is certainly the most plausible theory, for some of the manifestations are remarkably devilish in their appearance and effect. For instance, the mysterious setting of fires, the powerful shaking of the house, the loud and incessant noises and distinct knocking, as if made by invisible sledge-hammers, on the walls; also, the strange actions of the household furniture, which moves about in the broad daylight without the slightest visible cause. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.
Have His Carcase
by Dorothy L. SayersWhen Harriet Vane, famous mystery novelist, finds a dead body near a beach in Devon, she suspects foul play, and calls in Lord Peter Wimsey, who helped acquit her when charged with murder, to uncover the truth. Will their combined wits be able to solve the mystery and bring justice to the dead?
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
by Carson McCullersThe Heart Is a Lonely Hunter is the first novel from the critically acclaimed author Carson McCullers, and one that made her an overnight literary sensation at age twenty-three. Ambitious in scope, this book presents five radically different characters whose troubled lives intersect in the Depression-era south. At the center of the novel is John Singer, a deaf-mute, who becomes a confidant to the town’s four misfits, helping them to navigate their troubles. The five characters unite in a cry of isolation from being voiceless and rejected; the result is a vision of existence as terrible as it is real and as violent as it is beautiful. Penguin Random House Canada is proud to bring you classic works of literature in e-book form, with the highest quality production values. Find more today and rediscover books you never knew you loved.
Helena
by Evelyn WaughA unique take on a fascinating chapter of history, from the pen of one of the twentieth century’s most distinguished authors. A fictionalized retelling of the life of Helena, mother of Emperor Constantine I, and her quest for the relics of the True Cross. Despite being seen today as a minor example of Waugh’s writing, he considered Helena to be his best work.
The High Window
by Raymond ChandlerIn his third novel appearance, private investigator Philip Marlowe is hired to retrieve a rare coin that has gone missing, but as the bodies start piling up around him he realizes that he has become enmeshed in a web of lies and blackmail. It has been filmed twice, first as Time to Kill, and then as The Brasher Doubloon.
Homage to Catalonia
by George OrwellA first-hand account of the horrors of the Spanish Civil War, straight from the pen of one of the twentieth century's most renowned authors.
In 1936, George Orwell enlisted with a left-wing Spanish militia organization, The Workers' Part of Marxist Unification, out of a combined desire to fight against fascism and to record the events of the war. He fought against the fascist forces for several months, before infighting among the various left-wing groups turned him against former allies, and eventually forced him to flee the country. Homage to Catalonia is a vivid, intensely personal retelling of these events. Penguin Random House Canada is proud to bring you classic works of literature in e-book form, with the highest quality production values. Find more today and rediscover books you never knew you loved.
The House of Mirth
by Edith WhartonLily Bart is a beautiful socialite, born into a world of wealth and luxury – a world that threatens to slip through her fingers. The death of her parents and drying up of her family estate threaten to wrench her from the high-class lifestyle of her birth, unless she can secure a marriage to a wealthy young man. But Lily is growing older, and her window of marriageability is getting smaller. A penchant for gambling at bridge, and a secret desire to break free of the claustrophobic expectations of her social class, add extra complication to Lily’s already fraught situation.
Hudson River Bracketed
by Edith WhartonA brilliant, complex tale of love, life, and art in the 1920s. Two artistic souls, Vance and Halo, are drawn into unhappy marriages. Vance lives the impoverished life of a struggling novelist, while Halo marries for money to ensure her parents' security. Through their common love of literature, the two find the happiness and love lacking in their marriages. But can they overcome the obstacles keeping them apart? Edith Wharton, never one to fall into sentimentality, will not let their happiness come easy.
Idylls of the King
by Lord Alfred TennysonThe timeless legend of King Arthur retold in Alfred, Lord Tennyson's scintillating poetry. Tennyson brings to the page his own unique take on many of the classic Arthurian tales, including Lancelots marriage to Elaine and his affair with Queen Guinevere, and the quest for the Holy Grail. The saga is bookended by the story of Arthur - his ascent to the throne, and the fall of Camelot. Penguin Random House Canada is proud to bring you classic works of literature in e-book form, with the highest quality production values. Find more today and rediscover books you never knew you loved.
The Iliad
by HomerThe oldest work of Western literature, and one of the greatest epic poems ever written. Presented here in the Alexander Pope translation. The Iliad tells the story of the Trojan War. Paris, the prince of Troy, has stolen off with Helen, the beautiful wife of Menelaus, the King of Sparta. He leads a coalition of Greek states in a ten-year-long siege of Troy, with the poem picking up the story in the tenth year, and telling of the rivalry between Agamemnon and Achilles. A tale of heroes and gods, it is one of the pillars of the Western canon.
In the Teeth of the Evidence
by Dorothy L. SayersA collection of short stories featuring Lord Peter Wimsey, Montague Egg, and others. Includes stories such as "Absolutely Everywhere," "Bitter Almonds", and "The Leopard Lady."
The Iron Heel
by Jack LondonAn early example of modern dystopian fiction, The Iron Heel dabbles in sci-fi, and is a wonderfully unique, though often terrifying, example of London’s writing. Avis Everhard was born into a position of privilege as the daughter of an esteemed scientist and is also married to a socialist revolutionary. Despite her blessed life, Avis must still watch in horror as, in the early years of the twentieth century, democracy collapses in the United States, replaced by The Oligarchy, or Iron Heel. The middle class has been destroyed, and workers have been reduced to serfdom or poverty. Avis joins an underground resistance, and together they plan the glorious Second Revolt which is sure to obliterate The Oligarchy and put power back in the hands of the people – if they can pull it off…