Commander Dalgliesh is recuperating from a life-threatening illness when he receives a call for advice from an elderly friend who works as a chaplain in a home for the disabled on the Dorset coast. Dalgliesh arrives to discover that Father Baddeley has recently and mysteriously died, as has one of the patients at Toynton Grange. Evidently the home is not quite the caring community it purports to be. Dalgliesh is determined to discover the truth of his friend's death, but further fatalities follow and his own life is in danger as he unmasks the evil at the heart of Toynton Grange.

Set in the violent times of Edward III, when England is at war against the Scots and the French, The Mystery of the Black Tower is the story of young Leonard, who longs to escape the anonymity of his peasant's life. Seeking to win fame and renown, Leonard enlists in England's army, where he earns knighthood and the favour of the King. But when his true love, the beauteous Emma, is kidnapped and imprisoned in the haunted Black Tower, Leonard must save her. Aided by his loyal but cowardly squire Owen, Leonard will face a series of adventures along the way. Finally, he will have to face an old nemesis in a duel to the death and escape a troop of robbers before he can rescue Emma and learn the secret of his own birth! Influenced by Don Quixote and Clara Reeve's The Old English Baron, The Mystery of the Black Tower was popular with the Gothic reading public upon its release in 1796. Critically acclaimed in its own time, and influential on later writers such as Scott and Ainsworth, it ranks among the finest historical Gothic novels. This edition includes a new introduction for modern readers, as well as the text of contemporary reviews.

At the eerie Hunt mansion, Herculeah Jones has been reading aloud to Lionus Hunt, an elderly stroke victim who can only communicate by blinking his eyes (once for yes, twice for no). Mr. Hunt seems to be trying to tell Herculeah something, but his gruff nurse won't allow her to ask any questions. What is Mr. Hunt trying to say? Is it related to a murder that took place in the mansion?s black tower years ago? And who is the creepy old lady who lives in the mansion? Herculeah's friend Meat thinks she may be asking for trouble, but Herculeah Jones won't quit until she gets to the bottom of this mystery.

A young girl’s life changes forever when she investigates a mystery with the help of writers, artists, and musicians in 1920s Harlem Bessie Coulter has no idea why her father spirits her and her brother, Eddie, away from their home in Burlington, North Carolina, in the middle of the night, leaving their sick mother behind. But from the moment she steps off the train at Grand Central Station, she’s captivated by this teeming, colorful city that’s both scary and exciting. Although Harlem is a thrilling place, Bessie misses her mother and can’t get used to living with her two aunts. She’s lonely and homesick, especially when her father begins going out with a beautiful, well-dressed woman. Desperate to find out what’s going on, Bessie launches an investigation that takes Eddie and her into a world of artists, jazz musicians, and writers, in search of a strange place called the Dark Tower. With the help of their next-door neighbor Lillian Moore and a Caribbean hoodoo woman named Miss Flo, Bessie is determined to uncover the mystery and get her family back together. This ebook includes a historical afterword.

Just recovered from a grave illness, Commander Adam Dalgliesh is called to the bedside of an elderly priest. When Dalgliesh arrives, Father Baddeley is dead. Is it merely his own brush with mortality that causes Dalgliesh to sense the shadow of death about to fall once more? "Splendid, macabre," wrote the London Sunday Telegraph. "The Black Tower is a masterpiece," the London Sunday Times concurred.

At the eerie Hunt mansion, Herculeah Jones has been reading aloud to Lionus Hunt, an elderly stroke victim who can only communicate by blinking his eyes (once for yes, twice for no). Mr. Hunt seems to be trying to tell Herculeah something, but his gruff nurse won't allow her to ask any questions. What is Mr. Hunt trying to say? Is it related to a murder that took place in the mansion?s black tower years ago? And who is the creepy old lady who lives in the mansion? Herculeah's friend Meat thinks she may be asking for trouble, but Herculeah Jones won't quit until she gets to the bottom of this mystery.

The acclaimed author of "Mr. Timothy" and "The Pale Blue Eye" has constructed another spellbinding historical mystery about a real-life convict who transformed himself into the world's first modern detective.