Speedy Death (1929) is the debut novel by Gladys Mitchell, introducing her famous detective, the unorthodox psychoanalyst Mrs. Beatrice Bradley, who investigates a murder at a country house party where a woman’s body is found in a bathtub, leading to a series of events and suspects among the guests. The book is a classic Golden Age mystery, known for its witty dialogue, complex plot, and the introduction of the eccentric but brilliant Mrs. Bradley, who uses her psychological insig...

Mary Wimbush stars as unconventional psychoanalyst sleuth Mrs Bradley in these two full-cast dramatisations of stories by Gladys Mitchell. Colourful, cynical, intimidating and extremely intelligent, Mrs Bradley is one of the most unorthodox detectives in the history of Golden Age crime fiction. The heroine of 66 novels by Gladys Mitchell, she has also appeared in several radio adaptations and a BBC TV series starring Diana Rigg.In these two dramas, she puts her extraordinary mind t...

Two early science fiction stories by the wonderful craftsman, Philip K. Dick. In the Crystal Crypt, taken from the 1954 Planet Stories, the war between Mars and Terra is about to erupt and earth has only merchants and salesmen to fight; can they carry out their mission? Beyond the Door is a story that asks and answers the question: what lives beyond the door? And is it dangerous?

"I am going to kill a man. I don't know his name, I don't know where he lives, I have no idea what he looks like. But I am going to find him and kill him ..." So commences this classic story of retribution. Felix Lane is bent upon revenge for the death of his young son in a hit-and-run accident, and uses all the knowledge he has gained as a well-known crime writer to track down the culprit. The plot features amateur sleuth Nigel Strangeways, a character modelled on W.H. Auden.A mode...

Rickie Alleyn, son of the famed detective Roderick Alleyn had taken to the peaceful Channel Island village of Deep Cove to write his book. However, soon enough the tedium of provincial life threatens to send him packing until, that is, he finds a dead stablehand and sleepy community's world is upturned. His father is called to take proceedings into hand, but as a darker side to island life emerges, one of illegal drugs and smuggling, Rickie goes missing. Will Ngaio Marsh's stalwart detecti...

In the summer of 1924, the Honourable Daisy Dalrymple Fletcher is off on a holiday by the sea with her step-daughter Belinda, Belinda's chum Deva, and Daisy's husband, Detective Chief Inspector Alec Fletcher of Scotland Yard. Daisy is anticipating a relaxing, nondramatic holiday—but Daisy doesn't have that kind of luck. It seems that a low-rent Don Juan has been busily seducing the local womenfolk, and, in a town this small, no secret is kept for long.When the Fletchers' picnic is ...

Agatha Troy, world famous portrait painter, is inveigled into accepting a commission to paint the 70-year-old Sir Henry Ancred, Bart., the Grand Old Man of the stage. But just as she has completed her portrait, the old actor dies.The dramatic circumstances of his death are such that Scotland Yard is called in - in the person of Troy's long-absent husband, Chief Detective-Inspector Roderick Alleyn...

Dreams of stardom had lured Martyn Tarne from faraway New Zealand to make the dreary, soul-destroying round of West End agents and managers in search of work. The Vulcan Theatre had been her last forlorn hope, and now, driven by sheer necessity, she was glad to accept the humble job of dresser to its leading lady. And then came the eagerly awaited Opening Night. To Martyn the night brought a strange turn of the wheel of fortune - but to one distinguished member of the cast it was to bring ...

A grand masked ball. An aristocratic estate. And a crime cloaked in elegance and deception.In Tragedy at Ravensthorpe, Chief Constable Sir Clinton Driffield arrives at the Ravensthorpe estate just in time for an opulent 1920s masquerade—but behind the silk masks and champagne toasts, danger simmers. A mysterious figure is stalking the halls, family tensions threaten to erupt, and whispers of local folklore—including the enigmatic “Fairy Houses”—haunt the estate grounds.

Mary Bellamy is the sweetheart of the London stage, fluffy as only an elderly lady of 50(!) can be. Her fans and friends-and who didn't adore, positively adore darling Mary?-are heartbroken when somehow Mary manages to spritz herself not with her favorite perfume but with the deadly insecticide meant to be sprayed on the azaleas. Inspector Alleyn begins by smelling something fishy (everything he learns about lovely, fragile Mary suggests that in fact she was a rather vicious battleax), but...