Frank Carlson Library

Previously published in the print anthology Murder in the Mews: Four Cases of Hercule Poirot. Hercule Poirot attends an auction and gets much more than he bid on: a disputed will, gunshots, and ancient Egyptian spirits. This might be Poirot's strangest case yet.

This is a collection of the published and previously unpublished short stories by Thomas Murtha, a Canadian writer born and raised in Ontario. Murtha was one of the notable experimental writers of the 1920s, but his work has been largely ignored by literary historians. Thomas Murtha was a classmate and colleague of other notable Canadians including former prime minister Paul Martin, Morley Callaghan, and Raymond Knister. Callaghan, Murtha, and Knister...

A beautiful heiress has been found dead on a train. A playboy has been stabbed through the heart during a costume ball. An elderly woman suspects that she is being slowly poisoned to death. A prince fears for his reputation when his fiancée is embroiled in another man's murder. A forgotten recluse makes headlines after he is shot in the head. Who but Agatha Christie could concoct such canny crimes? Who but Belgian detective Hercule Poirot could possibly...

When his father brings him some new word puzzles, Word Bird makes up more words with his friend Hen. Each word that they make up leads them into a new activity.

In 1900s Australia, in the hill town of Byron, Missy's future stretched drearily in front of her with no particular direction and no man in view. It was hardly wise, then, for the local librarian, with a taste for purple prose, to suggest Missy consult a wildly romantic novel for the answer to her plight. But it was certainly effective.

A psychologically thrilling tale, The Black Monk delves into the murky region between fantasy and reality and asks what separates self-confidence from self-delusion. Our protagonist Andrei Kovrin, a brilliant scholar who takes a leave of absence from academia due to stress, and recuperates at the house of his former guardian Pesotsky. He grows close to Pesotsky's daughter Tatiana as they tend the orchard together. Kovrin enjoys taking long walks in...

He's handsome. He's charming. He's a total gentleman . . . and he's totally outgunned and outnumbered. He's Michael Patrick Obañon-a role that has Antonio Banderas written all over it. Obañon's lost his inheritance-a 100,000-acre New Mexico spread-and he could lose his life if he's not careful. A ruthless band of renegades have seized his land, and he's determined to get it back.. Obañon's got one secret weapon: his fierce intelligence. He...

For over 70 years, The Best American Short Plays has been the standard of excellence for one-act plays in America. From its inception, it has identified cutting-edge playwrights who have gone on to establish award-winning careers, including Tennessee Williams, Edward Albee, and more. In this volume, the plays capture the struggle between "hot tempers and cold decrees." Humans love to think of themselves as rational beings well in control of their...

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." Really? Words can break spirits, destroy confidence. They can also build hope and incite great acts of heroism. Playwrights know this, and so do theater audiences. Otherwise, why go? Words matter and carry clout every bit as dangerous as a hammer or crowbar. This, too, playwrights know. The monologues in this volume are full of such blows, striking at our imaginations and our memories,...