Showing results by narrator "Scott Graham" in All Categories

In 1896, H.G Wells was stimulated to compose this dystopian fantasy about an obsessed scientist and his efforts to artificially accelerate the intellectual development of animals using bizarre medical procedures involving vivisection.  Wells described the book as "an exercise in youthful blasphemy."

The focus in Melincourt is the operation of the "rotten borough" which corrupted the English electoral system until the reform bill of 1832. A rotten borough was a constituency that had been established by royal prerogative but had subsequently lost most of its population. Nevertheless, it still retained the right to have two representatives in the House of Commons. On the other hand, many population centers which had expanded rapidly during the Industrial Revolution were not entitled to any electoral representation.

In The Red Thumb Mark, the doctor works to clear young Reuben Hornby of stealing a parcel of diamonds from his uncle's safe, despite the apparently damning evidence. Then, in The Eye of Osiris, an amateur Egyptologist abruptly goes missing, leaving behind a strangely vexatious will. In The Mystery of 31 New Inn, Thorndyke's long-time collaborator Dr. Jervis consults his mentor regarding a mystery who may be being slowly poisoned. And in A Silent Witness, someone is making very determined attempts to murder inoffensive newly-qualified Doctor Humphrey Jardine.

When Robin Anstey KC comes upon the beautiful Miss Blake, who has been wounded while courageously attempting to detain a fleeing murderer, he calls upon his long-time legal collaborator Dr. John Thorndyke to investigate the killing. But what at first looks like a mere robbery gone wrong, leaving a scene awash with clues, in fact proves to be far from straightforward. And while trying to untie that knot, Thorndyke also interests himself in the still more complex mystery of Miss Blake's family inheritance, and the cat's eye pendant....

The Wonderful Visit tells the story of an angel who finds himself unexpectedly marooned on Earth. Wells used John Ruskin's remark that an angel appearing on earth in Victorian England would be shot on sight as the inspiration for this tale of a celestial being who is completely out of place in human society. Ironically, the angel's first confidant and protector is a clergyman, who never recovers from the eventual and inevitable disappearance of the angel. Wells dwells in detail on the contrast between the idealism of the celestial visitor and the discourtesy of his hosts.

Twelve years on from the events of The Three Hostages, Sir Richard Hannay begins to fear that his idyllic existence with his family in their Cotswolds home is a little too comfortable, merely the placid acceptance of encroaching old age. But then echoes of a past adventure during his days in Africa, and an old oath to protect the son of the man whom he saved then, draw him—along with son Peter John and old friend Sandy Clanroyden—into new danger, and a showdown on the remote Island of Sheep.... 

Calidore is a fragment of an unfinished romance and may be considered unique among Peacock's work. Composition probably commenced after the publication of Peacock's largest novel, Melincourt, in 1817. The action concerns the adventures of a young man, Calidore, who finds himself in Wales, en route to London in search of "a wife and a philosopher". 

Thomas Love Peacock is today remembered as the author of seven satirical novels which many regard merely as literary curiosities. However, he was also a man of considerable learning, a skilled poet, and an astute literary critic. This collection includes Recollections of Thomas Love Peacock, an affectionate reminiscence by Sir Edward Strachey; Some Recollections of Childhood, a window into Peacock's early youth; "Four Ages of Poetry", in which he pokes fun at his contemporaries; and "The Last Day of Windsor Forest", an old man's recollection of a memorable episode.

Mike is among Wodehouse's earliest adult novels, and reportedly remained the author's personal favorite. The story follows the adventures of cricketing prodigy Mike Jackson, first at the prestigious Wrykyn public school, where he strives to achieve the unprecedented feat of a place in the First Eleven in his freshman year, and later (when to his father's annoyance Mike's academic performance at Wrykyn fall rather short of his sporting achievements) at Sedleigh, a smaller school with little sporting reputation, where he first encounters the immaculate and unflappable Psmith....

A collection of 6 short stories from the golden age of detective fiction, introducing H. C. Bailey's amateur sleuth Mr. Reginald Fortune, surgeon and general practitioner: a man interested in everything, but not in anything in particular, whose vast store of eclectic knowledge makes him just the man to help Scotland Yard unravel the most complex of murders, no matter how privileged or powerful the perpetrator may be...

Thomas Love Peacock was a linguist, scholar and East India Company official. He had a wide circle of literary friends, including Coleridge and Shelley, and his early works were poems, some of a considerable length. In 1815 his first novel, Headlong Hall, was published, and between that year and 1831, he published a further five novels. His final completed novel, Gryll Grange, was written in 1860 and published the following year. Peacock also produced a number of articles on literary and historical subjects, and some other long poems, which have faded into obscurity.

Country doctor Kennedy tells the story of Amy Foster, a tender-hearted country girl, who alone takes pity on a starving and bewildered foreign castaway, feared and shunned by the rest of her community. The castaway proves to be amiable and intelligent, but this is not enough to overcome the prejudice aroused by his alienness.

In another of Freeman's revolutionary "inverted" detective stories, celebrated forensic investigator Dr. John Thorndyke examines the case of a man found dead in a cave at Margate, and the curious absence of the money lender attempting to make an insurance claim on the dead man's life.

Drawn to the little seaport of Colebrook by an anonymous letter, elderly and eccentric Captain Hagberd settles down to build a home ready for the day when his son, Harry, who ran away to sea many years ago, finally returns. As the years pass, the old man convinces himself that Harry will come back on some never-realized "to-morrow", and Bessie, the lonely and unhappy daughter of the Captain's neighbor, comes to share in the Captain's desperate hope....

Seven more tales of mystery for the great forensic investigator Dr. John Thorndyke, involving missing jewels, stolen bullion, a disappeared will, an ancient family tale of piracy and betrayal, the wrong hat, curious white footprints, and a body incinerated in a burning hay rick....

As Christmas approaches, Mr. Percival Bland finds his criminal enterprises unraveling. Fortunately, though, his plan of escape requires little beyond a set of human bones and a quantity of shin of beef. But will his scheme deceive the great forensic investigator Dr. John Thorndyke?

The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902) re-introduced the world to the famous consulting detective Sherlock Holmes, who Arthur Conan Doyle seemingly killed off in 1894 in his story "The Final Problem." Based on British legend, this novella has Holmes and his colleague Dr. Watson trying to solve a supernatural killing in the wilds of Devonshire.

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes is the second published collection of short stories featuring the famous consulting detective and his friend and colleague Dr. Watson.

See You At San Diego is the comprehensive chronicle of Comic-Con International and modern geekdom itself as told through countless stories by nearly fifty of the most integral members of the Comic-Con and fandom scene. This full-fledged oral history—bursting with intimate reflections, hilarious observations, and at times, heartbreaking stories—is about how the geek at last inherited the earth and the story of the transformation of mainstream American pop culture into comic book culture over the past century. 

Nine more cases of theft and murder for the great "scientific investigator" Dr. John Thorndyke. Including a woman harassed over a Japanese casket of dubious artistic merit; an allegation of murder where the victim has already been cremated; a Suffragist accused of theft and murder; a man found drowned in a ditch, and a woman found with her throat cut; the grizzly contents of a salesman's sample box; a mysterious death and a missing ornament; and a man blown to pieces in an explosion.