In the early 20th century in the English-speaking world Arthur Conan Doyle & Harry Houdini were two of the most feted & famous men alive. & their relationship is extraordinary: As strange as it may seem Arthur Conan Doyle the creator of the ultra-rational detective Sherlock Holmes was a believer in Spiritualism. He came to his belief that one could communicate with the dead after his son was killed in World War I & became an expert in the field. Harry Houdini the worlds foremost magician was a friend of Conan Doyles but was sceptical of his belief in the supernatural. Houdini took every opportunity to use his knowledge of illusion to expose psychics who he thought were fakes particularly incensed by their exploitation of grief & insecurity. Based on original research this sensational dual biography of two popular geniuses conjures up the early 20th century & the fame personality & competing beliefs. ...

The Hound of the Baskervilles is the classic detective chiller. It features the worlds greatest detective Sherlock Holmes in his most challenging case. The Baskerville family is haunted by a phantom beast with blazing eyes & dripping jaws" which roams the mist-enshrouded moors around the isolated Baskerville Hall on Dartmoor. Now the hound seems to be stalking young Sir Henry the new master of the Baskerville estate. Is this devilish spectre the manifestation of the family curse? Or is Sir Henry the victim of a vile & scheming murderer? Only Sherlock Holmes can solve this devilish affair. The Valley of Fear is a dark powerful tale which provides the great detective with a most perplexing case & opens with a vile murder. " Lying across his chest was a most curious weapon a shotgun with the barrel sawn off in front of the triggers. It was clear that it had been fired at close range & that he had received the whole charge in the face blowing his head almost to pieces". Sherlock Holmes arch enemy the criminal genius Professor Moriarty is back! But the solution to the riddle found after many surprising twists & high dramas lies far away half across the world in a location known as The Valley of Fear. This is Conan Doyles last Holmes novel & in the opinion of many of his fans it is the best!" ...

Never in the delirious dream of a disordered brain could anything more savage more appalling more hellish be conceived than that dark form & savage face. The coroner may have ruled death by natural causes. but Sherlock Holmes knows theres something more sinister behind Sir Charles Baskervilles demise. The question is could he really have fallen victim to the legendary phantom hound the curse said to have haunted his ancestors for generations? Or is this the work of a very real & calculating murderer? ...

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles" gripped readers when it was first serialised & has continued to hold its place in the popular imagination to this day. This " Penguin Classics" edition is edited with an introduction & notes by Christopher Frayling. Could the sudden death of Sir Charles Baskerville have been caused by the gigantic ghostly hound that is said to have haunted his family for generations? Arch-rationalist Sherlock Holmes characteristically dismisses the theory as nonsense. & immersed in another case he sends Dr Watson to Devon to protect the Baskerville heir & observe the suspects at close h&. With its atmospheric setting on the ancient wild moorland & its savage apparition " The Hound of the Baskervilles" is one of the greatest crime novels ever written. Rationalism is pitted against the supernatural & good against evil as Sherlock Holmes sets out to defeat a foe almost his equal. This edition contains a full chronology of Arthur Conan Doyle's life & works an introduction by renowned horror scholar Professor Christopher Frayling discussing the background to the novel & the legends & events that inspired the story with further reading & explanatory notes. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) was born in Edinburgh where he qualified as a doctor but it was his writing which brought him fame with the creation of Sherlock Holmes the first scientific detective. He was also a convert to spiritualism & a social reformer who used his investigative skills to prove the innocence of individuals. If you enjoyed " The Hound of the Baskervilles" you might enjoy Conan Doyle's " The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" & " The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes" also available in " Penguin Classics". " Arthur Conan Doyle is unique.. . Personally I would walk a mile in tight boots to read him to the milkman." (Stephen Fry)." ...

The master of deduction Sherlock Holmes & his acolyte Dr Watson are here adapted into graphic novel form
- a refreshing transformation
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Some blame the sudden death of Sir Charles Baskerville on the legend of a fearsome & ghostly hound that is said to have haunted his Devonshire family for generations. So when the services of famed detective Sherlock Holmes are engaged to ensure the safety of Baskerville heir Sir Henry
- recently arrived from America
- Dr Watson is surprised to find his friend dismissive of the matter. In fact Watson is dispatched alone to accompany Sir Henry to Baskerville Hall in Devon while Holmes deals with another case. Yet Watson finds the wild moors are a far cry from the orderly streets of London & in the cold night a savage & bestial howl may be heard.. .

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The boy who takes up the spear & shield of Manhood on this day will become the most renowned of all the warriors of Ireland men will follow at his call to the worlds end & his enemies will shudder at the thunder of his chariot wheels. So the prophecy went & as the boy Cuchulain heard it he went forward to claim the weapons of his manhood. This is the story of how he became the greatest of heroes
- the Hound of Ulster.
...

As scandal & the aftershocks of the crash rock the financial world former Wall Street trader John Coates investigates why our financiers are driven to take risks. Now shortlisted for the 2012 Financial Times & Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award & the Wellcome Trust Book Prize this startling & unconventional book sees neuroscientist & former Wall Street trader John Coates explain something we have long suspected: that we think with our body as well as our brain. & this only intensifies when we take risks; at work in sport & on the financial markets. Making & losing money provokes an overwhelming biological response & this can alter the way we behave. Could this bodily turmoil lead to the kind of irrational behaviour that so regularly upsets the global economy? In a series of groundbreaking experiments Coates has shown that under the pressure of risk our biology transforms us into different people. Traders & investors are especially prone becoming revved-up & testosterone-driven when on a winning streak & tentative & risk-averse when cowering from losses. Revealing the biology of bubbles & crashes The Hour Between Dog & Wolf sheds new & surprising light on issues that affect us all. ...

Now shortlisted for the 2012 Financial Times Business Book of the Year Award & the Wellcome Trust Book Prize The Hour Between Dog & Wolf is a resonant exploration of economic behaviour & its consequences. Now shortlisted for the In this startling & unconventional book neuroscientist & former Wall Street trader John Coates shows us the bankers in their natural environment. He reveals how their biochemistry has a lasting & significant impact on our economy. We learn how risk stimulates the most primitive part of the bankers brain & how making the deals our bank balances depend on provokes an overwhelming fight-or-flight response. Constant swinging between aggression & apprehension impairs their judgment causing economic upheaval in the wider world. The transformation between each split-second decision is what Coates calls the hour between dog & wolf & understanding the biology behind bubbles & crashes may be the key to stabilising the markets. ...

Following their collaboration in SPLIT SECOND ex-Secret Service agents Sean King & Michelle Maxwell have gone into partnership & are investigating the robbery of some secret documents at the residence of the incredibly wealthy Battle family. It seems like a straightforward case of domestic burglary but soon they begin to suspect links to larger more terrifying events now shaking the prosperous town of Writghtsburg.. . The unidentified corpse of an attractive young woman turns up in the woods; two high school kids one shot in the back the other in the face are found dead in their car; a successful lawyer is discovered stabbed to death in her own home. A serial killer is on the loose. The murderer kills in the manner of famous killers of the past but takes care to leave a stopped watch at the scene of each crime -- corresponding to the victim's position on his hit list. As the killing spree escalates it seems that the fractured Battle family are somehow involved & Maxwell & King suddenly find themselves racing to solve an intricate puzzle one that is full of tantalizing clues but barren of solid evidence & one that is leaving even the FBI confounded. & all the while the body count is rising.. . ...