The Apple-Tree Table and Other Sketches

The Penguin English Library Edition of The Five Orange Pips and Other Cases by Arthur Conan Doyle • 'He is the Napoleon of crime, Watson ... He sits motionless, like a spider in the centre of its web, but that web has a thousand radiations, and he knows well every quiver of each of them' • Sherlock Holmes, scourge of criminals everywhere, whether they be lurking in London's foggy backstreets or plotting behind the walls of an idyllic country mansion, and his faithful colleague Dr Watson, solve these breathtaking and perplexing mysteries. In Arthur Conan Doyle's The Five Orange Pips and Other Cases we encounter some of his most famous and devilishly difficult problems • The Penguin English Library - 100 editions of the best fiction in English, from the eighteenth century and the very first novels to the beginning of the First World War

The Mudfog Papers, a collection of sketches by Charles Dickens, describes the local politics of the fictional town of Mudfog - such as thedelusions of grandeur of its mayor Nicholas Tulrumble and his disastrous attempts at putting on a public show - and the meetings of its Society for the Advancement of Everything, during which the town is overrun by illustrious scientists and professors conducting ostensibly pointless research

The Scent of Almonds • Из-за снежной бури семья застревает в отеле на островке недалеко от Фьельбаки…а потом в библиотеке находят тело • An Elegant Death • Две сестры становятся свидетельницами убийства в модном бутике • Dreaming of Elisabeth • Женщина застревает на судне с мужчиной, которого начинает бояться… • The Widows’ Cafe • Марианна подает опасный отвар в своем кафе • The Scent of Almonds – это сборник рассказов Камиллы Лэкберг, как ничто другое демонстрирующий литературный талант писательницы • Книга на английском языке • The scent of almonds • A snowstorm traps a family in a hotel on a tiny island off Fjallbacka - and then a body is discovered in the library • An elegant death • Two sisters witness a murder in a fashion boutique • Dreaming of Elisabeth • Malin is trapped on a boat with a man she is beginning to fear… • The widows' cafe • Marianne is serving up a dangerous concoction at the Widows' Cafe

In The Marquise of O-, a virtuous widow finds herself unaccountably pregnant. And although the baffled Marquise has no idea when this happened, she must prove her innocence to her doubting family and discover whether the perpetrator is an assailant or lover. Michael Kohlhaas depicts an honourable man who feels compelled to violate the law in his search for justice, while other tales explore the singular realm of the uncanny, such as The Beggarwoman of Locarno, in which an old woman's ghost drives a heartless nobleman to madness, and St Cecilia, which portrays four brothers possessed by an uncontrollable religious mania. The stories collected in this volume reflect the preoccupations of Heinrich von Kleist (1777-1811) with the deceptiveness of human nature and the unpredictability of the physical world

When strange things are reported to be floating in rivers in rural Vermont after a flood, old myths about hill-dwelling monsters who abduct humans resurface in subsequent debates, much to the annoyance of local academic Albert N. Wilmarth. However, when he starts receiving letters from a man named Henry Wentworth Akeley about the supposed presence near his farmhouse of an extraterrestrial race worshipping ancient cosmic deities, Wilmarth finds himself drawn into an astonishing correspondence that leads to a harrowing discovery • A seminal early contribution to the horror and science-fiction genres, ‘The Whisperer in Darkness’ is presented here, along with other classics from the Lovecraft canon – such as ‘The Call of Cthulhu’, ‘The Shadow over Innsmouth’, ‘The Music of Erich Zann’ and ‘The Silver Key’ – in a brand-new collection showcasing the finest tales from the twentieth century’s foremost purveyor of terror

Gilbert's libretti of the comic operas composed by Arthur Sullivan are hugely well known, and lines such as "let the punishment fit the crime" have entered the English lexicon - but his short stories also deserve to be rediscovered by the modern reader. This collection, carefully curated by the secretary of the W.S. Gilbert Society, brings together the best of these sharp, clever, comical tales - many of which are published here for the first time since their first appearance in ephemeral magazines - enriched with the author's own illustrations • The stories feature many of the powerful motifs so associated with his work - fairies, elixirs, magic - and a wide variety of characters - from burglars to barristers and shopkeepers to gentlemen. This volume is shot through with the observational wit which drove Gilbert and Sullivan's works to fame, and constitutes a hugely enjoyable companion for fans of the pair's theatrical oeuvre

This collection of Pushkin’s stories begins with ‘The Queen of Spades’, perhaps the most celebrated short story in Russian literature. The young Hermann, while watching some friends gambling, hears a rumour of how an officer’s grandmother is always able to predict the three winning cards in a game. He becomes obsessed with the woman and her seemingly mystical powers, and seeks to extract the secret from her at any cost. This volume, part of a new series of the complete works of Pushkin in English, also includes ‘Dubrovsky’, the story of a man’s desire to avenge himself after his land is unjustly taken from him by an aristocrat; ‘The Negro of Peter the Great’, a tale inspired by Pushkin’s maternal grandfather; and the unfinished story ‘Egyptian Nights’, a meditation on poetry and the poet

Edgar Allan Poe was a writer of uncommon talent; in The Murders in the Rue Morgue he created the genre of detective fiction while his genius for finding the strangeness lurking within us all has been an influence on everyone from Freud to Hollywood. This complete collection of all his short stories and novellas contains well-known tales 'The Pit and the Pendulum' and 'The Tell-Tale Heart' alongside hidden gems that both unsettle and enthrall the reader

In 'The Decay of Lying' Oscar Wilde uses his decadent ideology in an attempt to reverse and therefore reject his audiences' 'normal' conceptualizations of nature, art and morality. Wilde's views of life and art are illustrated through the use of Platonic dialogue where the character Vivian takes on the persona of Wilde. Wilde's goal is to subvert the norm by reversing its values. Wilde suggests to us that society is wrong, not him. Calling on diverse examples - from Ancient Greek sculpture to contemporary paintings - Oscar Wilde's brilliant essay creates a witty, paradoxical world in which the only Art worth loving is that built on complete untruths

Three favourite stories of Paddington, the beloved classic bear from Peru, are brought together in this entertaining concept book. Paddington is now a major movie star! • Paddington Bear has been delighting adults and children alike with his earnest good intentions and humorous misadventures for more than sixty years • Bringing together three simple concept-based stories, this funny book will delight the youngest of Paddington fans as they learn all about numbers, colours and shapes • Find out what happens at the beach when ten hungry seagulls spot Paddington’s sandwiches, learn which colour Paddington likes best and join him on a surprising hunt for shapes!

Fifteen-year-old Virginia feels like a fat, awkward outsider in her perfect family, especially next to her golden-boy big brother Byron. She's got a lot to deal with – her weight, her best friend moving away, the mean girls at school – not to mention a boy who seems to like her! To survive, she decides to follow the 'Fat Girl Code of Conduct' to make herself acceptable, unnoticed ... invisible • It seems to be working until something unthinkable happens and, before her eyes, Virginia's flawless family begins to fall apart. As her world spins out of orbit, Virginia realises that breaking the Fat Girl Code might be the only way to create a life that belongs to her • Carolyn Mackler's acclaimed book has been updated for a new audience and is as relevant, funny and full of heart as it was when it was first published fifteen years ago

As usual with the Sherlock Holmes stories it is very hard to say which are the best - but there are many stories here which would get the vote - ranging from The Boscombe Valley Mystery to the wonderful Adventure of Silver Blaze, from the Adventure of the Norwood Builder to A Case of Identity, but above to the uniquely strange and macabre Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb