Witness for the Defence is a masterful novel by A. E. W. Mason that artfully intertwines elements of crime fiction and legal drama, immersing readers in a gripping narrative that challenges the ethics of truth and justice. Set against the backdrop of early 20th-century England, Mason's keen attention to detail and sharp dialogue serves to illuminate the intricacies of courtroom proceedings. The story revolves around a sensational murder trial, posing profound questions about the reliabilit...

Just before his regiment sails off to war in the Sudan, British officer Harry Feversham resigns his commission, wanting desperately to be free of his family’s proud military heritage and terrified of risking his life. He is immediately given four white feathers as symbols of cowardice, one by each of his three best friends and one by his fiancée. To disprove this grave dishonor, Harry dons an Arabian disguise and leaves for the Sudan, where he anonymously comes to the aid of his three frie...

The Four Feathers is a 1902 adventure novel by British writer A. E. W. Mason that has inspired many films of the same title. Against the background of the Mahdist War, young Feversham disgraces himself by quitting the army, which others perceive as cowardice, symbolized by the four white feathers they give him. He redeems himself with acts of great courage and wins back the heart of the woman he loves.Alfred Edward Woodley Mason (1865 – 1948) was an English author and politician. H...

The Classic Collection of A. E. W. Mason: Inspector Hanaud Series presents seven of the most captivating detective novels from one of the early masters of crime fiction. Featuring the astute and sophisticated French detective Inspector Gabriel Hanaud, this illustrated edition includes such notable works as At the Villa Rose, The House of the Arrow, No Other Tiger, The Ginger King, and more. Inspector Hanaud, often considered a prototype for later detectives like Hercule Poirot, is a brilli...

When the wealthy widow Madame Dauvray is found murdered at the Villa Rose in Aix-les-Bains, suspicion falls on her young companion Celia Harland, who has gone missing—along with Dauvray's valuable jewels. The famous French detective Inspector Hanaud is called in to solve the mystery, which involves a séance, a missing chauffeur, and a web of deceit. A. E. W. Mason was inspired to write this story after his own stay at an inn near London, where he saw the names of two victims of a famous mu...

The scene is the south of France. An English lady has been murdered and a beautiful American girl has disappeared. Discovered is a body with a severed hand and an opal bracelet somehow connected to devil worship. Clearly a case for Inspector Hanaud or the Sûreté and his English friend Mr. Ricardo. Can Hanaud solve the two mysteries in time to prevent a second murder? Readers will be kept in a constant state of mystification until the surprising denouement.

At the fashionable French resort of Aix-les-Bains, a murder is discovered: wealthy but naïve Mme Dauvray is found strangled in the salon of her villa, apparently for her famously expensive jewels. Her young English companion, Celia Harland, is missing, and her maid is bound and chloroformed upstairs. A young English inventor who has been courting Miss Harland adamantly protests her innocence, and begs the famous Sûreté detective Inspector Hanaud to investigate …

The usual picture of Drake in men's minds is a brave, bluff man of infinite audacity, a great patriot, a great sailor, a man to whom success came of its own accord.But this is only half the truth.He was always studying and learning. He reached success by the painful ways of failure. Few men have stood up to so many rebuffs in early manhood and snatched victory out of them. In many respects he was in advance of his time—in none perhaps more than the kindness and humanity he sh...

“The Ginger King”, was first printed in the Strand Magazine in 1940, and was never collected in a book form during Mason’s lifetime. A detective Hanaud mystery.

BOOK 2 IN THE INSPECTOR HANAUD SERIES, in which we again join Ricardo and Hanaud, this time in an ambiguous situation. A young, wealthy vagabond English man, Calladine, whom Ricardo knew before, hastily comes to Ricardo's London home in the morning, while Hanaud happens to be visiting. Calladine, very agitated, still dressed formally as for an evening ball, tells his disturbing story-- He had gone to a costume party that night in a hotel ballroom, met a beautiful young woman, Joan Carew, w...

Book in which we again join Ricardo and Hanaud, this time in an ambiguous situation. A young, wealthy vagabond English man, Calladine, whom Ricardo knew before, hastily comes to Ricardo’s London home in the morning, while Hanaud happens to be visiting. Calladine, very agitated, still dressed formally as for an evening ball, tells his disturbing story… He had gone to a costume party that night in a hotel ballroom, met a beautiful young woman, Joan Carew, with whom he danced, dined, and talk...

When Boris Waberski, brother-in-law of the wealthy widow Mrs. Harlowe, attempts to talk her English solicitors into advancing him money on his expectations as her heir, he is ignored. Unknown to Waberski, he has been disinherited in favour of Betty Harlowe, the niece of Mrs. Harlowe’s late husband. But when Mrs. Harlowe dies suddenly and Waberski accuses Betty of murder, junior partner Jim Frobisher is sent to the estate to find out what’s really going on.