Charles Armstrong

Arthur Prescott is happiest when surrounded by the ancient manuscripts of the Barchester Cathedral library, nurturing his obsession with the Holy Grail and researching his perennially unfinished guidebook to the medieval cathedral. But when Bethany Davis arrives in Barchester to digitize the library's manuscripts, Arthur's tranquility is broken. Appalled by the threat of modern technology, he sets out to thwart Bethany, only to find in her a kindred...

Set in the summer of 1917, the story follows the war-wounded Hastings to the Styles St. Mary estate of his friend John Cavendish. The Cavendish household is wrought with tension due to the marriage of John's widowed mother to a suspicious younger man. In the village, Hastings runs into his old friend Hercule Poirot and, when the estate's trouble turns deadly, the friends unite to solve a most baffling case.

In Agatha Christie's short story, "The Case of the Missing Will," Poirot must help clever student Violet Marsh meet the terms of an unusual will by her Uncle Andrew. She must live in his house for a month and "prove her wits" if she is ever to receive his fortune. But is there another will? This short story originally appeared in the October 31, 1923 issue of The Sketch magazine.

Bound for the Riviera, detective Hercule Poirot has boarded Le Train Bleu, an elegant, leisurely means of travel, free of intrigue. Then he meets Ruth Kettering. The American heiress - bailing out of a doomed marriage - is en route to reconcile with her former lover. But by morning, her private affairs are made public when she is found murdered in her luxury compartment. The rumour of a strange man loitering in the victim's shadow is all Poirot has...

In Agatha Christie's short story, "The Adventure of Johnnie Waverly," Poirot investigates the kidnapping of Johnnie Waverly, the three-year-old son of a wealthy couple in Surrey. Could the butler be in on the plot? And why were all the clocks in the house set ten minutes ahead at the time of the kidnapping? This short story originally appeared in the October 10, 1923 issue of The Sketch magazine.

Easy-going adventurer Anthony Cade becomes caught in a quagmire of intrigue, murder, romance, and the fate of a nation, when he accepts a highly paid job to convey the scandalous memoirs of the Count of Herzoslovakia to a publisher in London.

Purgatorio, by Dante Alighieri, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics: • New introductions commissioned from todays top writers and scholars • Biographies of the authors • Chronologies of contemporary...

In Agatha Christie's short story, "The Veiled Lady," Poirot's investigation of a jewelry heist intersects with a case of blackmail brought to him by a heavily veiled lady. The woman wants to retrieve an embarrassing letter from an extortionist, but is she telling the whole truth? This short story originally appeared in the October 3, 1923 issue of The Sketch magazine.

In Agatha Christie's short story, "The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor," Poirot investigates the case of a middle-aged man who died under suspicious circumstances just weeks after insuring his life for fifty thousand pounds. Could the man, who was in financial straits, have killed himself to benefit his beautiful young wife? This short story originally appeared in the April 18, 1923 issue of The Sketch magazine.

The political tract in which Marx presented the core of his philosophy and revolutionary program, with an introduction analyzing its significance to the realities of today and to Marx's own times.