An impoverished ex-student, Rodion Raskolnikov, kills a pawnbroker & her sister, apparently for financial gain.

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Crime & Punishment is one of the greatest & most readable novels ever written. From the beginning we are

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This acclaimed BBC adaptation of Crime & Punishment remains faithful to Fyodor Dostoevsky's classic novel. Set in St Petersburg in the second half of the 19th century, the psychological thriller tells of a desperate young murderer caught in a web of his own guilt. Rodya Raskolnikov is a poverty-stricken student living among the fetid alleyways & crumbling tenements of St Petersburg. Intense & highly intelligent, Raskolnikov believes he is among a class of men destined for greatness & as such is permitted to breach 'normal' moral values. He decides to test his courage & integrity by killing a pawnbroker, a mean old woman whom he is sure nobody will miss. The murder, however, only serves to draw Raskolnikov into a nightmare world in which he is dogged by guilt, paranoia & alienation. Faced with the wily investigator Porfiry, who sets up a complex series of traps, encounters & conversations, can Raskolnikov escape his own conscience or the seemingly inevitable punishment? ...

Tony Robinson goes on a fascinating & sometimes bizarre journey to discover the origins of our laws & what we do to people when they break them. From trials by boiling water, though the decapitation of a king, to the emergence of modern democracy, it is a journey that starts two thousand years ago & remains unfinished today. We find out how the Normans created the first surveillance society, how today ...

Solicitor Harry Devlin finds himself number one suspect in a murder case that is far too close to home. The victim is his estranged wife, Liz, who is found murdered in a dingy alleyway. Determined to find her killer & prove his innocence, Harry begins a journey that takes him into a sleazy underworld & shatters his illusions about the woman he loved. ...

In this novel Helen Capel takes the position of lady-help in a remote country house owned by the Warren family. She learns that a murderer is on the loose. All four of his victims were young girls, & the last of these was strangled in a lonely house just five miles away. Helen feels safe inside the house, protected, but the maniac is closer than she fears. ...

Time Frazer receives a message from erstwhile business partner Harry Denston, telling him to meet him at a remote fishing village. Tim keeps the rendezvous but there is no sign of Harry. A series of strange happening, including a Russian shipwreck & a dying secret agent, pulls him into the murky world of international espionage & leads him to uncover the truth behind Harry's disappearance. ...

An insurance claim after a traffic accident alerts Perry Mason to the possibility of double-dealing concerning a parcel of l&. He negotiates a very large settlement for his client, but then a wealthy businessman is found dead on a yacht & Mason is asked to defend the man who paid the money to settle the insurance claim. Aided by Della Street & Paul Drake, Mason sets about finding the evidence that will prove his client's innocence. ...

Details: As the turn of the mullenium, breaking news of the murders commited by general practitioner Harold Shipman captured
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Details: Though more than half a century has passed since cold blooded killers Ian Brady & Myra Hindley were apprehended
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