It Took Nine Tailors is a story told in Adolphe Menjou's own voice that recounts life from his 1890 birth in Pittsburgh through days spent working in his father's restaurants and early travails breaking into the acting business right into detailed stories of breaking into movies and climbing the ladder to become a leading man. It was Menjou's mustache and a top hat rented for fifty cents that brought him his first part in the movies. Working with Douglas Fairbanks, Rudolph Valentino, Pola Negri, the immortals of early Hollywood, he made his special spot in that difficult town. The hilarity of silent pictures, the birth of the Hays office and the beginnings of the talkies provide a colorful background for the fantastic progress of the actor Adolphe Menjou. Woven throughout the book are accounts of his excursions into the realms of tailoring, as well as his own witty version of the peccadillos of Hollywood greatness. In his foreword, Clark Gable says of Menjou: 'In Hollywood, nothing less than sensational or colossal is considered worthy of recording. . . . Adolphe's nonstop career as an actor speaks for itself. He started in the business when any pictures over two reels in length was considered a super-special and he is still a leading film personality.' " From the book's original description: It took nine tailors and thirty-five years as Hollywood's beloved man-about-town to make Adolphe Menjou. Famous for his wardrobe and his wit, he has probably been associated with more popular moving pictures than any other actor in Hollywood. But the man and how he made his unique place in the picture world has never before been revealed. Here is his own story and the phenomenon of Hollywood, written with great humor and gusto in collaboration with M. M. Musselman, author of Wheels in His Head.
When a dispute among the Fellows of St. Severin's College, Oxford University, reaches a stalemate, Lord Peter Wimsey discovers that as the Duke of Denver he is "the Visitor"—charged with the task of resolving the issue. It is time for Lord Peter and his detective novelist wife, Harriet, to revisit their beloved Oxford, where their long and literate courtship finally culminated in their engagement and marriage. At first, the dispute seems a simple difference of opinion about a valuable manuscript that some of the Fellows regard as nothing but an insurance liability, which should be sold to finance a speculative purchase of land. The voting is evenly balanced. The Warden would normally cast the deciding vote, but he has disappeared. And when several of the Fellows unexpectedly die as well, Lord Peter and Harriet set off on an investigation to uncover what is really going on at St. Severin's. With this return in The Late Scholar to the Oxford of Gaudy Night, which many readers regard as their favorite of Sayers's original series, Jill Paton Walsh at once revives the wit and brilliant plotting of the Golden Age of detective fiction.
“Beyond question one of the most skillful mystery writers . . . offers a first rate piece of work. . . . Lord Peter Wimsey [is] at his amusing best. . . . The book is a treat” (The New York Times). The majestic landscape of the Scottish coast has attracted artists and fishermen for centuries. In the idyllic village of Kirkcudbright, every resident and visitor has 2 things in common: They either fish or paint (or do both), and they all hate Sandy Campbell. Though a fair painter, he is a rotten human being, and cannot enter a pub without raising the blood pressure of everybody there. No one weeps when he dies. Campbell’s body is found at the bottom of a steep hill, and his easel stands at the top, suggesting that he took a tumble while painting. But something about the death doesn’t sit right with gentleman sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey. No one in Kirkcudbright liked Campbell, and 6 hated him enough to become suspects; 5 are innocent, and the other is the perpetrator of the most ingenious murder Lord Peter has ever encountered. The Five Red Herrings is the 7th book in the Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries, but you may enjoy the series by reading the books in any order. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Dorothy L. Sayers including rare images from the Marion E. Wade Center at Wheaton College.
In an exciting timeslip tale, Claire finds an old trunk filled with her grandmother's treasures, including an old star-shaped brooch covered in sequins. Why does Claire's wealthy grandmother own such a cheap piece of jewelry? The mystery deepens when the brooch hurtles Claire back in time to 1932. Australia is in the grip of the Great Depression and people seek distraction from their problems through entertainment. There's the famous horse Phar Lap, cricket hero Don Bradman, and then there are circuses. Claire finds herself stranding in the camp of the Sterling Brothers Circus. Rescued by Princess Rosina, a beautiful trick rider, Claire is given a job in the camp kitchen. Life is hard, but she makes friends with Rosina and Jem, and a boy named Kit who comes to the circus night after night to watch Rosina perform. When Kit is kidnapped by a fanatical political group, it's up to Claire, Rosina, and Jem to save him. But Claire is starting to wonder just who Kit and Rosina really are. One is escaping poverty and the other is escaping wealth--can the two find happiness together?
Mystery writer Dorothy Sayers is loved and remembered, most notably, for the creation of sleuths Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane. As this biography attests, Sayers was also one of the first women to be awarded a degree from Oxford, a playwright, and an essayist--but also a woman with personal joys and tragedies. Here, Reynolds, a close friend of Sayers, presents a convincing and balanced portrait of one of the 20th century's most brilliant, creative women. 30 b&w photos.
When a reader contacts local newspaper The Crow to report a rare sighting of the Boreal or so-called 'Funeral' owl, the paper's editor Philip Dryden has a sense of foreboding. For the Funeral Owl is said to be an omen of death. It's already proving to be one of the most eventful weeks in The Crow's history. The body of a Chinese man has been discovered hanging from a cross in a churchyard in Brimstone Hill in the West Fens. The inquest into the deaths of two tramps found in a flooded ditch has unearthed some shocking findings. A series of metal thefts is plaguing the area. And PC Stokely Powell has requested Dryden's help in solving a ten-year-old cold case: a series of violent art thefts culminating in a horrifying murder. As Dryden investigates, he uncovers some curious links between the seemingly unrelated cases: it would appear the sighting of the Funeral Owl is proving prophetic in more ways than one.
Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane investigate a dead body on the beach in this “nearly perfect detective story” by the author of Busman’s Honeymoon (Saturday Review). Harriet Vane has gone on vacation to forget her recent murder trial and, more importantly, to forget the man who cleared her name—the dapper, handsome, and maddening Lord Peter Wimsey. She is alone on a beach when she spies a man lying on a rock, surf lapping at his ankles. She tries to wake him, but he doesn’t budge. His throat has been cut, and his blood has drained out onto the sand. As the tide inches forward, Harriet makes what observations she can and photographs the scene. Finally, she goes for the police, but by the time they return the body has gone. Only one person can help her discover how the poor man died at the beach: Lord Peter, the amateur sleuth who won her freedom and her heart in one fell swoop. Have His Carcase is the 8th book in the Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries, but you may enjoy the series by reading the books in any order. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Dorothy L. Sayers including rare images from the Marion E. Wade Center at Wheaton College.
Aristocratic gentleman detective Lord Peter Wimsey’s brother has been accused of murdering his sister's fiancé. It's up to Lord Wimsey and Scotland Yard to solve this cozy, atmospheric and suspenseful whodunit.
'Australian crime fiction has just found an exciting new voice.' Marie Claire On the evening of September 22, 1998, three teenage girls venture out for a night of mischief in the coastal town of Blairgowrie. But only two return . . . For over twenty years the disappearance of fifteen-year-old Cecilia May remains a baffling cold case - until human bones are discovered on an isolated beach. Now it’s up to Detective Emmett Corban and his team to dig up decades of trauma, and find the missing piece of an investigation that’s as complex as it is tragic. Does the answer lie with the only suspect, a registered sex offender who confessed, then immediately provided a rock-solid alibi? Or with the two teen survivors – neither of whom can keep their story straight? But the police aren’t the only ones hunting for the truth: someone else has arrived in the seaside town. And she’s prepared to do whatever it takes to find her own version of justice... 'A strong debut that marks Firkin out as a writer to watch out for.' Canberra Weekly on Sticks and Stones 'A gritty police procedural . . . hopefully this is the start of a great new series.' New Idea on Sticks and Stones 'This twisted and thrilling novel is a must-read for any fan of true crime.' Stellar Magazine on Sticks and Stones