War-games champion Udo Berger & his girlfriend Ingeborg are on holiday. There they meet another vacationing German couple, Charly & Hanna, & a band of shady locals. They have fun, see the sights, relax. Then, late one night, Charly disappears without a trace. Desperate to solve the mystery, Udo refuses to leave, even after Ingeborg returns home. Increasingly frightened, the situation slips beyond his grasp & he suddenly realizes that the consequences of this `game` are much more serious than he ever imagined. ...

In August 1936 a Hungarian writer in his mid-thirties arrives by train in Venice, on a journey overshadowed by the coming war & charged with intense personal nostalgia. Aware that he might never again visit this land whose sites & scenes had once exercised a strange & terrifying power over his imagination, he immerses himself in a stream of discoveries, reappraisals & inevitable self-revelations. From Venice, he traces the route taken by the Germanic invaders of old down to Ravenna, to st&, fulfilling a lifelong dream, before the sacred mosaics of San Vitale. This journey into his private past brings Antal Szerb firmly, & at times painfully, up against an explosive present, producing some memorable observations on the social wonders & existential horrors of Mussolini`s new Roman Imperium. Antal Szerb was born in Budapest in 1901. Best known in the West as a novelist & short story writer, he was also a prolific scholar whose interests ranged widely across the whole field of European literature. Debarred from a university post by reason of his Jewish ancestry, he taught in a commercial secondary school until increasing persecution led to his brutal death in a labour camp, in 1945. Yet the tone of his writing is almost always deceptively light, the fierce intelligence softened by a gentle tolerance, wry humour & understated irony. Pushkin Press`s publications of Szerb`s work include his novels Journey by Moonlight, Oliver VII & The Pendragon Legend, as well as the short story collection Love in a Bottle & the history The Queen`s Necklace. ...

THERE’S A NEW KILLER ON THE STREETSA woman is found murdered after an internet date. The marks left on her body show the police that they are dealing with a particularly vicious killer.AND HE’S OUT FOR BLOODUnder pressure from the media to solve the crime, the force know there’s only one man for the job. But Harry Hole is reluctant to return to the place that almost took everything from him. Until he starts to suspect a connection between this killing & his one failed case… ...

HARRY HOLE IS BACK! The blistering new SUNDAY TIMES number one bestseller!THERE`S A NEW KILLER ON THE STREETS...A woman is found murdered after an internet date. The marks left on her body show the police that they are dealing with a particularly vicious killer. HE`S IN YOUR HOUSE... HE`S IN YOUR ROOMUnder pressure from the media to find the murderer, the force know there`s only one man for the job. But Harry Hole is reluctant to return to the place that almost took everything from him. Until he starts to suspect a connection between this killing & his one failed case. HE`S OUT FOR BLOODWhen another victim is found, Harry realises he will need to put everything on the line if he`s to finally catch the one who got away.` An expertly plotted, compelling & gripping white-knuckle ride... Nesbo deserves to be crowned the king of all crime thriller writers` Sunday Express on THE SON` Nesbo deploys all the key ingredients of a cracking good thriller with expertise & verve. The ticking clock, the tension expertly ratcheted ever upwards, the changing scenery, the constantly shifting goalposts & the effortless, triumphant outpacing of the reader`s ability to guess what`s going to happen will keep you gripped to the last page` Guardian on THE LEOPARD` The undisputed king of Scandinavian crime fiction` The Times` Scandinavian crime thrillers don`t come much darker or more tense than the best-selling Harry Hole series, & this tenth outing for the Norwegian detective is the best yet` Sunday Mirror on POLICE ...

This title is presented with an introduction by Stella Rimington. It`s May, 1914. Britain is on the eve of war with Germany. Richard Hannay is living a quiet life in London, but after a chance encounter with a mysterious stranger he stumbles into a hair-raising adventure
- a desperate hunt across the country & against the clock, pursued by the police & a cunning, ruthless enemy. Hannay`s life & the security of Britain are in grave peril, & everything rests on the solution to a baffling enigma: what are the thirty-nine steps?
...

A gripping tale of adventure that has enthralled readers since it was first published, John Buchan`s ” The Thirty-Nine Steps” is edited with an introduction & notes by Sir John Keegan in ” Penguin Classics”. Adventurer Richard Hannay has just returned from South Africa & is thoroughly bored with his London life
- until a spy is murdered in his flat, just days after having warned Hannay of an assassination plot that could plunge Britain into a war with Germany. An obvious suspect for the police & an easy target for the killers, Hannay picks up the trail left by the assassins, fleeing to Scotl&, where he must use all his wits to stay one step ahead of the game
- & warn the government before it is too late. One of the most popular adventure stories ever written, ” The Thirty-Nine Steps” established John Buchan as the original thriller writer & inspired many other novelists & filmmakers including Alfred Hitchcock. In his introduction to this edition, historian Sir John Keegan compares Buchan`s life
- his experiences in South Africa, his love of Scotland & his moral integrity
- with his fictional hero. This edition also

Includes:: notes, a chronology & further reading. John Buchan (1875-1940) was born in Perth, & first began writing at Oxford University, producing two volumes of essays, four novels & two collections of stories & poems before the age of twenty-five. During the First World War he worked both as a journalist & at Britain`s War Propaganda Bureau, eventually becoming Director of Information. He published his most popular novel, ” The Thirty-Nine Steps”, in 1915
- & it has never since been out of print. If you enjoyed ” The Thirty-Nine Steps”, you might like G.K. Chesterton`s ” The Man Who Was Thursday”, also available in ” Penguin Classics”. ” Richard Hannay is...a modern knight-errant”. (” Observer”). ” Once you`ve started, you can`t put the book down”. (Stella Rimington).






...

A special edition of The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan reissued with a bright retro design to celebrate Pan`s 70th anniversary. When a strange man turns up on his doorstep with stories of spies & assassinations, Richard Hannay is drawn into the murky world of international espionage. Four days later, the stranger is dead & Hannay is caught up in a dramatic race to prevent a world war. Hunted across Britain by enemies unknown, he must outwit his pursuers & try to reach the site of the mysterious ` Thirty-Nine Steps`. Set in 1914, this classic British thriller has been adapted many times for stage, television & film. ...

June 1940. As German troops pour across France, the veteran soldier & adventurer Richard Hannay is called back into service. In Paris an individual code named ` Roland` has disappeared & is assumed to be in the hands of Nazi agents. Only he knows the secret of the Thirty-One Kings, a secret upon which the whole future of Europe depends. Hannay is dispatched to Paris to find Roland before the Germans overrun the city. On a hazardous journey across the battlefields of France Hannay is joined by old friends & new allies as he confronts a ruthless foe who will stop at nothing to destroy him. The lights are going out across Paris & time is running out for the world as both sides battle for the secret of the Thirty-One Kings. ...

The thorny relationship between the thistle & the rose has been central to our history since the first attempt at dynastic union -- the ' Rough Wooing' -- between Margaret Tudor & James IV. Their great-grandson brought the nations together under a single monarch. A hundred years later, in 1707, the Treaty of Union was to link their destinies until the loosening of ties at the end of the twentieth century when the Scots opted for devolution. This compelling narrative is peopled with some of the greatest figures in history, from Bonnie Prince Charlie & Dr Johnson to James Boswell & William Pitt. The nineteenth century saw Glasgow become the second city of the British Empire, & Queen Victoria launch the cult of Scotland -- especially of the Highlands. The two World Wars brought the countries ever closer, only for the long story of devolution to begin. Margaret Thatcher's role in this growing disillusionment is analysed for the first time. In revealing how the two nations have seen & influenced each other, Allan Massie questions whether this historic & powerful union can survive. His inspiring narrative will unsettle received wisdom on this most fascinating, turbulent & romantic relationship. ...

Sometimes when he didn`t know he was being watched Meggie would look at him & try desperately to imprint his face upon her brain`s core.. . And he would turn to find her watching him, a look in his eyes of haunted grief, a doomed look. She understood the implicit message, or thought she did; he must go, back to the Church & his duties. Never again with the same spirit, perhaps, but more able to serve. For only those who have slipped & fallen know the vicissitudes of the way.. . ...