This is a collection of timeless westerns from some of the most well known authors of the genre.Included here are the following stories: “The Little Gold Miners” by Joaquin Miller, “Bulger’s Reputation” by Bret Harte, “The Leaf of Red Rose” by W. H. H. Murray, “The Secret of Macarger’s Gulch” by Ambrose Bierce, “The Californian’s Tale” by Mark Twain, “Twelve O’Clock” by Stephen Crane, “The Vengeance of Padre Arroyo” by Gertrude Atherton, “A Deal in Wheat” by Frank ...

An illuminating biography of the man who taught Americans "how to win friends and influence people"Before Stephen Covey, Oprah Winfrey, and Malcolm Gladwell there was Dale Carnegie. His book, How to Win Friends and Influence People, became a bestseller worldwide, and Life magazine named him one of the "most important Americans of the twentieth century." This is the first full-scale biography of this influential figure.Dale Carnegie was born in rural Missou...

John Lovering Benedict had more than most men—more money, more mansions, more cars, but most of all more women, including three ex-wives with little in common but their extraordinary physiques. For Ellery Queen the question was which one of them had bashed in Benedict's skull with a hunk of iron statuary? The clues were many … but puzzling. All had been planted at the scene of the crime, but by whom, and for what purpose? And who was the last woman in John Benedict's life?

A five-sided card with the letter "J" stamped on it appeared in Robert York's mail, and a day later he was dead, crushed by a boulder. It was no accident. Someone knew York would be under that rock wall at precisely 7:30. Then another card showed up for Emily York, stamped with the letter "H," and Ellery Queen knew he was up against a brilliant killer who made a game of death by warning his victims. The only clue to the murderer's identity was the signature "Y," and Ellery had to find him ...

Frightfully rich and awesomely respectable, the McKells had never been touched by scandal. At least, not until the handsome Dane McKell discovered his father's secret affair. Determined to protect his mother, he forced a meeting with the other woman.But Dane didn't count on falling in love with her himself. Nor did he count on the front page murder that engulfed them all. Sheila, exotic young international leader of haute couture, is found murdered in her Park Avenue penthouse. Two...

In New York City in the early 1930s, a man is poisoned on a crowded streetcar during rush hour. Everyone sees Longstreet die—but no one sees the killer. Inspector Thumm's few clues all lead up a blind alley. He finally seeks the aid of Drury Lane—retired Shakespearean actor, master of disguise, and amateur sleuth. Seated amid the splendor of the vast medieval halls of his castle on the Hudson, Drury Lane hears the story from the inspector. He knows who the murderer is right away, but he re...

In 1903 at the soon-to-open Luna Park on Coney Island, an elephant named Topsy was electrocuted, likely with advice from Thomas Edison, whose film crew recorded the horrible event. Over the past century, this bizarre, ghoulish execution has reverberated through popular culture with the ring of an urban legend. But it really happened, and today, Edison's footage can be found on YouTube, where it has been viewed nearly two million times.Many historical forces conspired to bring Topsy...

The utterly gripping story of the most outrageous case of cyber piracy prosecuted by the US Department of JusticeA former US Navy intelligence officer, David Locke Hall was a federal prosecutor when a bizarre-sounding website, CRACK99, came to his attention. It looked like Craigslist on acid, but what it sold was anything but amateurish: thousands of high-tech software products used largely by the military, and for mere pennies on the dollar. Want to purchase satellite tracking sof...

"Let's face it, Alex: you were the KGB's top assassin, and they paid you off. Just as we might. A cushy lieutenant-colonelcy in Tokyo, riding pour le sport*, a yacht, your pick of Eurasian dolls … Like? We can do you better in the USA, Alex—come on over, and bring your secrets with you."*That was FACE's pitch to the would-be defector, and it got results. Witness one hell of a nice courier slashed and dumped in a Tokyo alley.Maybe Agent Pete Brook could make jolly A...

A debutante's missing body, murder most foul, and weird spectral lights in the fog make for a thrilling gaslight-era tale of mystery and detection.In 1895 San Francisco young debutantes don't commit suicide at festive parties, particularly not under the eye of Sabina Carpenter. But Virginia St. Ives evidently did, leaping from a foggy parapet in a shimmer of ghostly light. The seemingly impossible disappearance of her body creates an even more serious problem for the firm of Carpen...

Once upon an evil time, there was a wicked old woman with a mammoth shoe company worth many millions of dollars, a henpecked husband, and six miserable children. Then one day death came visiting the vast Potts mansion—and began claiming its inhabitants one by one. It was then that Ellery Queen was invited to sup on this nightmare brew of diabolical murder and baffling mystery—in a case that made the most horrific crimes in his entire career seem like fairy tales. As he endeavors to solve t...

Ellery Queen challenges you to solve these clues to death. A thin envelope—worth a man’s life. A shattered display case—whose stolen contents a thief replaced with a strange manuscript. The murder symbol: 3HS wM … the queer cipher found to be an old mark of death. These are but a few of the baffling signs Drury Lane follows down a path of deception and murder to one of the most startling climaxes in mystery fiction.