The Best Virtual Library Project : Oscar Wilde

Mostrando postagens com marcador Oscar Wilde. Mostrar todas as postagens

sexta-feira, 2 de dezembro de 2016

Sparkling Cyanide by Agatha Christie

[Download Link]

[The ads are displayed for supporting The Best Virtual Library Work]

You can Download this book and much more at:

http://thebestvirtuallibrary.myfreesites.net

Download Instructions

Step 1: Click on [Download Link]. Wait 5 seconds.

Step 2: Click on the UsersCloud Download Button 3 times to unlock your Download. Obs: You don't have to do any install.

Step 3: After your Download is unlocked, just Download and Read your E-Book!

Synopsis

One year earlier on 2 November, seven people sat down to dinner at the restaurant "Luxembourg". One, Rosemary Barton, never got up. The coroner ruled her death suicide due to post-flu depression. Six months later, her husband George receives anonymous letters saying that Rosemary was murdered. George investigates and decides to repeat the dinner at the same restaurant, with the same guests, plus an actress who looks like his late wife meant to arrive late and startle out a confession. The actress does not arrive and George dies at the table – poisoned, like his wife, by cyanide in his champagne. His death might have been judged as suicide, but George shared his concerns and some of his plan with his friend Colonel Race.

As per their uncle's will, if Rosemary died childless her inherited fortune passed to her younger sister Iris, now a wealthy girl. If Iris dies unmarried, the money would pass to her only relative, her aunt Lucilla Drake. Mrs. Drake is a decent person but has a rotter of a son, Victor. During the investigation it becomes clear that the intended victim was Iris. Colonel Race and Iris's suitor, Anthony Browne, realise that Ruth Lessing, George's trusted secretary, had fallen for Victor a year earlier.

The wrong person dies because of Iris's evening bag and the toast to her, the conjuring trick that saves her life. After the entertainment, George proposes a toast to Iris, when all sip champagne except her, being toasted. When the group leaves the table to dance, Iris drops her bag; a young waiter, retrieving it, misplaces it at the seat adjacent hers. When the group returns to the table, Iris sits one seat askew due to the misplaced bag. George sits at Iris's original seat and drinks the poisoned champagne. When this plot fails, Ruth attempts to run Iris over with a car. Colonel Race, together with the police and Anthony Browne, unravel the truth in time to save Iris from Ruth. Her last attempt at killing Iris is to knock her unconscious in her bedroom, then turn on the fireplace gas, and leave the house. Anthony and Colonel Race rescue Iris in the nick of time.

The anonymous letters to George were sent by Ruth, who then encouraged him to re-stage the dinner at the Luxembourg so that Victor and Ruth could kill Iris, as they killed Rosemary. To support a decision of suicide, Ruth had planted a packet of cyanide in Iris's bag, which packet dropped to the floor when she pulled her handkerchief out, without touching it (no fingerprint). Victor acted as a waiter, to drop the poison in the champagne during the show. He was taken at New York at the request of the police. Note that Christie named the ruthless female conspirator "Ruth Lessing", a pun.

The Best Virtual Library Project

Our Project is to bring Online a Free Download souce of classic e-books, and help do spread culture and the good habit of reading to the world. We have tons of e-books in the pdf format, virus clean for free! We display ads on the Download redirection to help keeping our library alive.

http://thebestvirtuallibrary.myfreesites.net

quinta-feira, 1 de dezembro de 2016

Cards on the Table by Agatha Christie

[Download Link]

[The ads are displayed for supporting The Best Virtual Library Work]

You can Download this book and much more at:

http://thebestvirtuallibrary.myfreesites.net

Download Instructions

Step 1: Click on [Download Link]. Wait 5 seconds.

Step 2: Click on the UsersCloud Download Button 3 times to unlock your Download. Obs: You don't have to do any install.

Step 3: After your Download is unlocked, just Download and Read your E-Book!

Synopsis

Mr Shaitana hosts an unusual dinner party, with four sleuths and four people he suspects have murder in their past as the guests. In a veiled statement of accusation, Shaitana lists the ways various people might commit murder based on their occupation. After the meal, he settles the latter four at one bridge table in the main room, and leads the four sleuths to a table in another room. He settles in a chair near the fireplace in the main room. When the sleuths end their game, two of them, Poirot and Colonel Race, in saying good night to their host, find the man dead in his chair, a fine weapon from his own collection in his chest. The two call Superintendent Battle to take over the situation.

Only Poirot knew Shaitana’s plan for the dinner party, he tells Battle, Race and Mrs Ariadne Oliver, the celebrated mystery author. The other four guests wait in a separate room while the police do their work, and remove the body. Battle questions each one by one. Dr Roberts, Mrs Lorrimer, young Anne Meredith, and explorer Major Despard each deny the murder. Poirot rescues the score sheets kept for the four rubbers of the game, which he uses both to mark the passage of time and the character of each player as the evening passed.

The investigation proceeds openly on the connection of each of the four to Shaitana, and quietly in finding if there is a death that could have been murder in their past, seeking motives and psychology for Shaitana's murder. Each sleuth uncovers a death: Battle finds that one client of Dr Roberts and her husband died separately, he of anthrax, she of a blood infection while in Egypt; Colonel Race learns that the botanist Luxmore being guided through the Amazon by Despard died of fever, with rumours he was shot; Mrs Oliver learns that a woman who employed Anne as a companion died of accidental poisoning; while Poirot learns at the end that Mrs Lorrimer poisoned her husband. Colonel Race then leaves the country for his work in the Secret Service. During the investigation, tensions rise among the four guests. Anne is skittish and afraid, even with offers of support from Mrs Oliver and Mrs Lorrimer, an older woman who wants the young woman to be free of accusation. Despard engages a solicitor for himself and for Anne. Dr Roberts lives as before.

Mrs Lorrimer tells Poirot that she killed her husband years ago, that she has a fatal health condition, and then not believably confesses to Shaitana’s murder, to save Anne. As Poirot leaves, Anne comes to visit Mrs Lorrimer. The next morning, Mrs Lorrimer is found dead by Dr Roberts, who makes a dramatic entrance to her home, saying he received a note from Mrs Lorrimer admitting to the murder as part of a suicide note she mailed to the other three guests. He says she is dead of a sleeping drug overdose. Poirot joins Battle at the scene, where Poirot sees the mark of a hypodermic needle in Mrs Lorrimer. The same morning, Anne takes her flatmate Rhoda out in a punt in the nearby river, as they await a visit from Despard. Realising another death is possible, Poirot and Battle race to Anne’s cottage, arriving just after Major Despard. Anne intentionally tips Rhoda out of the punt, but Rhoda pulls her into the water as well, neither able to swim. Despard first saves Rhoda then he and Battle bring in Anne. Rhoda survives, but Anne dies.

Gathered at Poirot’s apartment, the survivors of the dinner party plus Rhoda hear the final resolution. Poirot accuses Dr Roberts of murder; he denies it. Poirot introduces a window washer who saw Dr Roberts injecting Mrs Lorrimer. The police found her cause of death to be injected anaesthesia. Roberts killed Shaitana as well. Roberts waited until he was “dummy” in the bridge game and the play of the game held the attention of the other three, as he wandered from the table to get a drink. Further, the doctor had killed Mr Craddock, husband of his patient, by infecting his shaving brush with anthrax during a house call. Then he injected Mrs Craddock during her required anti-typhoid injections prior to her trip to Egypt with the germ that led to her death by a blood infection. Roberts protests then confesses as Superintendent Battle makes clear the strength of the police cases against him. Later explaining the psychology, Poirot reveals that the window washer was an actor, used to elicit that confession.

Poirot learned from Mrs Luxmore, and then from Despard, how the botanist had died. He did have fever but died from an accidental shooting. The Major is exonerated. The police investigation identified the woman Anne killed, out of anger at being found out for petty thievery. Anne meant to kill her flatmate; instead, Despard courts Rhoda.

The Best Virtual Library Project

http://thebestvirtuallibrary.myfreesites.net

A Murder is Annouced by Agatha Christie

[Download Link]

[The ads are displayed for supporting The Best Virtual Library Work]

You can Download this book and much more at:

http://thebestvirtuallibrary.myfreesites.net

Download Instructions

Step 1: Click on [Download Link]. Wait 5 seconds.

Step 2: Click on the UsersCloud Download Button 3 times to unlock your Download. Obs: You don't have to do any install.

Step 3: After your Download is unlocked, just Download and Read your E-Book!

Synopsis

A strange notice appears in the morning paper of a perfectly ordinary small English village, Chipping Cleghorn: "A murder is announced and will take place on Friday, October 29th, at Little Paddocks, at 6:30 p.m. Friends accept this, the only intimation." This apparently comes as a great surprise to Letitia Blacklock, the owner of Little Paddocks, as she has no idea what the notice means; she didn't place it and none of her companions knows more than she. Miss Blacklock decides to take it in her stride and prepares herself to have guests that evening. Naturally, the villagers are intrigued by this notice, and several of them appear on the doorstep with awkward reasons but a definite interest. As the clock strikes 6:30, the lights go out and a door swings open, revealing a man with a blinding torch.

The heavily-accented man demands they "Stick 'em up!" Most of the guests do so, believing it to be part of a game. The game ends when shots are fired into the room. The door slams shut, and panic takes hold: in short order, it's discovered that the fuses are blown, the gunman has been shot, and Miss Blacklock's ear is bleeding, apparently from a bullet grazing her earlobe. The most curious thing is the gunman: he is recognised by Dora Bunner (affectionately known as "Bunny", who is an old friend of Letitia and lives at Little Paddocks as her companion) as Rudi Scherz, the receptionist at a local spa, who had asked Letitia for money just a few short days ago.

The police are called in. All clues suggest that the case is merely a strange suicide or accidental death, but Inspector Craddock is uneasy about both possibilities. As luck would have it, Miss Marple is a guest at the very same spa where Scherz was employed. Craddock is advised to involve her in the case, and the two commence working together. At the spa, it emerges that Scherz has a criminal background, but petty theft and forgery rather than any more serious crime. His girlfriend, a waitress at the spa, however, reveals that he had been paid to appear as the holdup man; he believed it was all "a silly English joke", and was clearly not planning on being shot. With this new knowledge, Craddock returns to Chipping Cleghorn. Miss Marple, not uncoincidentally, is the godmother of the local vicar's wife, and decides to stay with her.

The first step is to establish a motive for Scherz's attack on Miss Blacklock. This presents a problem: Letitia has no known enemies. She worked for a successful financier (Randall Goedler) and has done quite well for herself but is not herself wealthy. She does not lead a lavish life and, aside from her house, has only enough to live on. However, she may shortly come into a great deal of money; Randall Goedler's estate passed to his wife, Belle, when he died. Belle is frail and near death. When Belle dies, Miss Blacklock inherits everything. If, however, she predeceases Belle, the estate goes to the mysterious "Pip" and "Emma", children of Randall's estranged sister, Sonia. No one knows where these two are, much less what they look like.

Inspector Craddock discovers oil on the hinges of a door into the parlour (where the shooting took place) thought to be unused, and Bunny mentions that until quite recently there had been a table placed against the door. Craddock travels to Scotland to meet Belle; she mentions that Letitia had a beloved sister, Charlotte, who developed a goitre. Their father, an old-fashioned doctor, tried unsuccessfully to treat Charlotte, but she only withdrew further into herself as her goitre got worse. Their father died shortly before World War II, and Letitia gave up her job with Goedler and took her sister to Switzerland for surgery to repair the defect. The two sisters waited out the war in the Swiss countryside, but before it was over, Charlotte died very suddenly. Letitia returned to England shortly thereafter.

Miss Marple takes tea with Bunny during her shopping trip with Letitia, and Bunny reveals several details about the case: she talks about the recently oiled door she found with the Inspector; she's sure that Patrick Simmons, a young cousin of Letitia, who, with his sister Julia, is also staying at Little Paddocks, is not as he appears; and, most tellingly, she's absolutely positive there was a different lamp in the room on the night of the murder – the one with the shepherdess, not the one with the shepherd that is there now. This tête-à-tête ends, however, when Letitia arrives, and she and Bunny resume their shopping.

That evening, Letitia arranges a birthday party for Bunny, complete with almost everyone who was at the house when Scherz was killed; and she asks Mitzi (a somewhat paranoid young refugee who helps keep house and cooks for her) to make her special cake, which Patrick has nicknamed "Delicious Death". This was while post-war austerity rationing was in effect – butter and eggs were hard to come by even in a rural community, and the chocolate and raisins used in the cake were very difficult to get. A box of chocolates is also a present. Bunny loves chocolate but it gives her a headache and she can't find the aspirin she bought. She takes some of Letitia's aspirin instead, lies down for a nap – and dies.

Miss Marple visits Miss Blacklock, who mourns Bunny and starts crying. Miss Marple asks to see photo albums which might contain pictures of Sonia Goedler, Pip and Emma's mother, but all photos of Sonia were taken out of the albums recently, although they were in place before the death of Rudi Scherz. Through deduction and re-enactment, Misses Hinchcliffe and Murgatroyd (two spinster farming companions present at the time of the Scherz shooting) figure out that Miss Murgatroyd could see who was in the room as she was standing behind the door when it swung open; she couldn't have seen Rudi as he was on the other side of the opened door, but she could see whose faces were illuminated by the torch beam. The two women conclude that the person who wasn't in the room (and therefore not seen by Miss Murgatroyd) could have sneaked out of the room when the lights went out and come around behind Scherz and shot him and at Miss Blacklock.

Just as Miss Murgatroyd remembers the one person not in the room, the stationmaster calls to notify them that a dog has just arrived. As Miss Hinchcliffe drives away, Murgatroyd runs into the driveway, shouting "She wasn't there!", but is later found murdered and never gets to reveal what she means. Miss Hinchcliffe returns and meets Miss Marple. They discover Murgatroyd's body, and a distraught Hinchcliffe informs Miss Marple of Murgatroyd's cryptic statement.

At Little Paddocks, Letitia receives a letter from the real Julia Simmons in Perth. She confronts "Julia" with the letter, and "Julia" reveals that she is actually Sonia's daughter, Emma Stamfordis, masquerading as Julia so that she could attempt to gain a portion of the inheritance from Letitia and let the real Julia spend time pursuing an acting career. Julia/Emma insists she is uninvolved in the assassination attempt – she was a crack shot during the French Resistance and would not have missed at that range, even in the dark – nor did she wish to prevent Letitia from inheriting Randall Goedler's estate. She had intended to ingratiate herself with Letitia and try to obtain a portion of the money, and once the murder took place, had no choice but to continue the masquerade.

Phillipa Haymes (a boarder at Little Paddocks and a young widow) sneaks into the kitchen to speak to Julia/Emma, but Julia/Emma sends her away before finding out what Phillipa had to say. That night, the vicar's cat, Tiglath Pileser, knocks over a glass of water onto a frayed electrical cord, which causes the fuses to blow, and the final clue falls into place for Miss Marple. Inspector Craddock gathers everyone at Little Paddocks and launches the final inquest, which is interrupted by Mitzi, crying out that she saw Letitia commit the murder. The inspector continues with his questioning, and quickly insinuates that Edmund Swettenham who, with his widowed mother, was also present at the shooting, is in fact Pip. However, Phillipa comes forward and confesses she is Pip. Craddock accuses Edmund of wanting to marry a rich wife in Phillipa by murdering Letitia. Edmund denies this and as he does so, a terrified scream is heard from the kitchen.

Everyone heads to the kitchen to find Miss Blacklock attempting to drown Mitzi in the sink. Miss Blacklock is arrested by a local constable who has been hiding in the kitchen with Miss Marple, who imitates Dora Bunner's voice to make Miss Blacklock break down. Miss Marple explains it quite simply: it wasn't Charlotte who died in Switzerland, but Letitia. Charlotte, aware that Letitia was in line to inherit a fortune, posed as Letitia and returned to England; few people knew Charlotte, as she had been a recluse before leaving England, and a slight change in Letitia's appearance could be explained away to casual acquaintances by her time abroad during the war. She only needed to avoid people who knew Letitia well, such as Belle Goedler, and to always cover her throat with strings of pearls or beads to hide the scars from her goitre surgery. Bunny was one of the few people who remembered Charlotte as Charlotte, but by then, Charlotte was so lonely that she allowed her old school friend, fallen on hard times, to move in.

Scherz could have ruined everything, however. He worked at the Swiss hospital where Charlotte had been treated and could identify her as such, which is why Letitia/Charlotte hired him to come to Chipping Cleghorn and "hold up" a room full of guests. She blew the fuse by pouring water from a vase of flowers onto the frayed cord of a lamp, slipped out the second door, stood behind Scherz and shot him. She then nicked her ear with a pair of nail scissors and rejoined the others, playing the part of perplexed host.

Bunny became the next target because she knew too much. Bunny had an eye for detail, but was prone to slip-ups: on several occasions, she referred to Miss Blacklock as "Lotty" (short for "Charlotte") instead of "Letty" (short for "Letitia"), and her conversation with Miss Marple in the cafe proved fatal.

Amy Murgatroyd, the final victim, was also killed for guessing too much and for coming to the realisation that Letitia/Charlotte was the one person, beside herself, whose face was not illuminated by Rudi Scherz's torch. The tall, strongly built Hinchcliffe, when she learns who murdered her companion, has to be physically restrained from doing harm to Letitia/Charlotte.

Mitzi and Edmund had been persuaded by Miss Marple to play parts in tripping Charlotte Blacklock up; Miss Marple's plans were almost brought down when Phillipa admitted to being Pip, but Inspector Craddock thought quickly enough to turn around and claim Edmund was after Phillipa's money. In the end, Phillipa/Pip and Julia/Emma inherit the Goedler fortune; Edmund and Phillipa get married and return to Chipping Cleghorn to live.

The Best Virtual Library Project

http://thebestvirtuallibrary.myfreesites.net

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

[Download Link]

[The ads are displayed for supporting The Best Virtual Library Work]

You can Download this book and much more at:

http://thebestvirtuallibrary.myfreesites.net

Download Instructions

Step 1: Click on [Download Link]. Wait 5 seconds.

Step 2: Click on the UsersCloud Download Button 3 times to unlock your Download. Obs: You don't have to do any install.

Step 3: After your Download is unlocked, just Download and Read your E-Book!

Synopsis

On a hot, late August day sometime in the late 1930s, eight people arrive on a small, isolated island off the Devon coast of England. Each appears to have an invitation tailored to his or her personal circumstances, such as an offer of employment or an unexpected late summer holiday. They are met by Thomas and Ethel Rogers, the butler and cook/housekeeper, who state that their hosts, Mr Ulick Norman Owen and his wife Mrs Una Nancy Owen, have, oddly, not yet arrived.

A framed copy of a nursery rhyme, "Ten Little Niggers" (called "Ten Little Indians" or "Ten Little Soldiers" in later editions), hangs in every guest's room, and ten figurines sit on the dining room table. After supper, a gramophone (or "phonograph") record is played; it contains a recording that describes each visitor in turn, accuses each of having committed murder but escaping justice, and then asks if any of "the accused" wishes to offer a defence. All but Anthony Marston and Philip Lombard deny the charges, and Miss Brent refuses to discuss the matter with men present.

They discover that none of them actually knows the Owens and conclude that the name "U.N. Owen" is shorthand for "Unknown". In the aftermath of the recording, Marston finishes his drink and immediately dies from cyanide poisoning. The remaining guests notice that one of the ten figurines is now broken, and the nursery rhyme appears to reflect the manner of death ("One choked his little self and then there were nine").

The next morning, Mrs Rogers' corpse is found in her bed; she had died in her sleep from an overdose of chloral hydrate. By lunchtime, General MacArthur is found dead, from a heavy blow to his head. Two more figurines are found to be broken, and again the deaths parallel the rhyme. Miss Brent relates the account of her presumed charge to Vera Claythorne, the only other remaining woman.

A search for "Mr Owen" shows that nobody else is on the island except the remaining seven. The island is a "bare rock" with no hiding places, and no one could have arrived or left; thus, they uncomfortably conclude that any one of the seven remaining persons is the killer. Justice Wargrave leads the group in determining that as of yet, none of them can definitively be ruled out as the murderer. The next morning, Rogers is found dead while chopping wood, and after breakfast, Miss Brent is found dead in the kitchen, where she had been left alone after complaining of feeling unwell; she had been injected with potassium cyanide via a hypodermic needle.

Wargrave then suggests searching all the rooms, and any potentially dangerous items they can think of are locked up. However, Philip Lombard's gun is missing from his room. When Vera goes upstairs to take a bath, she is shocked by the touch of seaweed left hanging from the ceiling of her room and screams; the remaining guests rush upstairs to her room. Wargrave, however, is still downstairs. The others find him seated, immobile and crudely dressed up in the attire of a judge. Wargrave is examined briefly by Dr Armstrong and pronounced dead from a gunshot to the forehead.

That night, Lombard appears surprised when he finds his gun returned to his room. Blore catches a glimpse of someone leaving the house but loses the trail. He then discovers Armstrong is absent from his room, and the remaining three guests conclude that Armstrong must be the killer. Vera, Blore, and Lombard decide to stay together at all times. In the morning, they unsuccessfully attempt to signal SOS to the mainland from outside by using a mirror and sunlight. Blore then decides to return to the house for food by himself -- the others are not hungry -- and is killed by a heavy bear-shaped clock statue that is pushed from Vera's window sill, crushing his skull.

Vera and Lombard are now confident that Armstrong is the killer. However, shortly afterwards, the duo come upon Armstrong's body washed up on the beach, which they do not immediately recognize due to decomposition. They both realise he could not have killed Blore. Panicked, each concludes the other must be the killer.

Quickly regaining her composure, Vera suggests moving the doctor's body past the shore, but this is a pretext. She manages to lift Lombard's gun. When Lombard lunges at her to get it back, she shoots and kills him. She returns to the house in a shaken dreamlike state, relieved to be alive. She finds a noose and chair arranged in her room, and a strong smell of the sea. With visions of her former lover, Hugo, urging her on, in a post-traumatic state, she adjusts the noose and kicks the chair out from under her.

Two Scotland Yard officials, leaded by Sir Thomas Legge, are puzzled by the identity of U.N. Owen. Although they can reconstruct the deaths from Marston to Wargrave with the help of the victims' diaries and a coroner's careful report, they are forced to conclude that "U.N. Owen" was one of the victims, but are unable to determine which one. They note that the chair on which Vera stood to hang herself had been set back upright, indicating that someone - presumably the killer - was still alive on the island after her suicide. As the name Legge means Law, in Italian, the meaning is: the police, leaded by Legge, can't solve the case; that is Legge can't solve it; so the Law can't solve the case.

The Best Virtual Library Project

http://thebestvirtuallibrary.myfreesites.net

After the Funeral by Agatha Christie

[Download Link]

[The ads are displayed for supporting The Best Virtual Library Work]

You can Download this book and much more at:

http://thebestvirtuallibrary.myfreesites.net

Download Instructions

Step 1: Click on [Download Link]. Wait 5 seconds.

Step 2: Click on the UsersCloud Download Button 3 times to unlock your Download. Obs: You don't have to do any install.

Step 3: After your Download is unlocked, just Download and Read your E-Book!

Synopsis

After the funeral of the wealthy Richard Abernethie, his relatives assemble for the reading of the will at Enderby Hall. The death was not unexpected and of natural causes. Nevertheless, Mrs Cora Lansquenet, says, "It's been hushed up very nicely ... but he was murdered, wasn't he?" The family lawyer, Mr Entwhistle, begins to investigate. Mr Entwhistle relates the outline of the will to the relatives. As Richard's wife and child died before he did, his possessions are divided among his two living siblings and the widow or children of those who died before him. His brother Timothy and sister Cora Lansquenet were alive when he wrote the will. Brothers Leo and Gordon were killed in the war. Richard has a nephew and two nieces, the sum total of the next generation. He spent time with his nephew George, and his nieces Susan and Rosamund and their husbands, Leo's widow Helen, Timothy, and Cora. He split his wealth in six portions. Enderby Hall is to be sold.

The next day, Cora Lansquenet is murdered in her sleep at her home by repeated blows with a hatchet. The motive is not obvious. Her life income reverts to Richard's estate. Miss Gilchrist, Cora's companion, thinks it is because Richard was poisoned, as Cora told her. Miss Gilchrist gains nothing from Cora's death except Cora's own paintings. Entwhistle calls on his friend, Hercule Poirot, to resolve doubts about the death of Richard. Poirot employs an old friend, Mr Goby, to investigate the family. Goby rapidly turns up a number of reasons for family members desperate for the money in Richard's estate. Goby employs all sorts of clever methods to uncover the most private information, using agents who pose as actors, lawyers or Catholic nuns. None of the family members can be cleared of suspicion.

Cora Lansquenet was an artist and collector of paintings from local sales. Niece Susan Banks, heir of Cora's property, goes to her cottage to clear up the possessions and prepare them for auction, on the day of the inquest into Cora's murder. Miss Gilchrist's claims that Cora always painted from life, yet Susan finds one quite recent painting featuring a pier that was destroyed in the war. The next day, after Cora's funeral, art critic Alexander Guthrie, arrives to look through Mrs Lansquenet's recent purchases as previously scheduled. He finds nothing of any value there. That evening, Miss Gilchrist is poisoned by arsenic in a slice of wedding cake apparently sent to her through the post. She ate just a small portion of it, which saved her. Inspector Morton investigates the Lansquenet murder along with Poirot.

Poirot joins the family as they gather to look over and select items of interest before the estate auction. Timothy Abernethie, his wife Maude, and Miss Gilchrist, who is now assisting them, come to Enderby. Poirot briefly poses as Monsieur Pontalier but Rosamund uncovers his guise the first evening. Helen Abernethie telephones Entwhistle early the next morning with the news that she has realised what struck her odd the day of the funeral. Before she can say more, she is savagely struck on the head.

Helen is safely away to recover from her concussion. Inspector Morton asks each family member to account for themselves on the day of Cora Lansquenet's murder. Cora had not come to the funeral at all. It was Miss Gilchrist in disguise, as part of a plot for her own gain, leaving Cora home asleep from a sedative in her tea. Miss Gilchrist planted the idea that Richard Abernethie's death had been a murder - when Cora is murdered, it would seem that Richard's alleged murderer had killed Cora to silence her. None of the family had seen Cora for more than two decades, due to the ill feeling at the time of her marriage. Miss Gilchrist copied her mannerisms and the only flaw in her portrayal was spotted by Helen Abernethie - Miss Gilchrist had rehearsed a characteristic turn of the head in a mirror, where the reflection is a reverse of reality; when she came to the house after the funeral, she turned her head to the left, not the right. After a timely conversation among the young cousins, Helen realises this difference. Miss Gilchrist gave herself away to Poirot by referring to the wax flowers on the green malachite table the first day the relatives gathered to select objects before the auction: these were on display on the day of the reading of Richard Abernethie's will but removed by the time Miss Gilchrist, as herself, visited Enderby Hall. She had deliberately poisoned herself with the arsenic-laced wedding cake to evade suspicion and appear yet another potential victim, which aroused suspicions.

Miss Gilchrist recognised a painting by Vermeer in Cora's purchases, but Cora did not recognize it. Mr Guthrie would have seen the painting's value, so Miss Gilchrist made her plan of murder. Miss Gilchrist covered the Vermeer with her own painting of the destroyed pier. The scent of the oils lingered when Mr Entwhistle visited the cottage the day after the murder. Miss Gilchrist's dream was to rebuild her beloved tea shop with funds raised on the Vermeer. Poirot deduced the key role of the painting. It was sent to Guthrie, who replied tersely, "definitely a Vermeer, Guthrie." Inspector Morton added that two nuns had called at Cora's cottage the day of Richard Abernethie's funeral. No one answered, yet they heard noises from a person, witnessing the real Cora Lansquenet's presence in her own home as Miss Gilchrist was impersonating her at Enderby Hall.

Once accused, Miss Gilchrist breaks down in a flood of complaints of the hardships of her life and fantasies about a new teashop. She goes quietly with Inspector Morton. Thus Poirot answered the question Mr Entwhistle hired him to resolve, and untangled the mystery of Cora's death. Miss Gilchrist is found guilty at trial. In her time in prison during legal proceedings, she is quickly becoming insane, planning one tea shop after another. Mr Entwhistle and Hercule Poirot suspect her punishment might be served in Broadmoor, but have no doubt she had plotted and carried out the cold blooded murder in full possession of her faculties – this ladylike murderer.

The Best Virtual Library Project

http://thebestvirtuallibrary.myfreesites.net

A Pocket Full of Rye by Agatha Christie

[Download Link]

[The ads are displayed for supporting The Best Virtual Library Work]

You can Download this book and much more at:

http://thebestvirtuallibrary.myfreesites.net

Download Instructions

Step 1: Click on [Download Link]. Wait 5 seconds.

Step 2: Click on the UsersCloud Download Button 3 times to unlock your Download. Obs: You don't have to do any install.

Step 3: After your Download is unlocked, just Download and Read your E-Book!

Synopsis

When wealthy businessman Rex Fortescue dies after drinking his morning tea, the police are called in to investigate. The cause of death is poisoning by taxine, an alkaloid poison obtained from the leaves or berries of the yew tree, not in his tea but ingested earlier at breakfast. Searching his clothing, the police find one pocket full of rye, a fact not easily explained. Rex's wife Adele is the main suspect in the murder. Son Lancelot and his wife Pat are travelling from Kenya to London, at the invitation of his father, per Lance. At Paris, he wires that he will be home next day. Police meet him at the airport. The day Lance arrives at Yewtree Lodge, leaving his wife in London, his stepmother, Adele, dies of cyanide in her tea, and a few hours later, the maid Gladys Martin is found strangled in the yard, with a clothes pin put on her nose.

Inspector Neele is working full-time with the aid of Sergeant Hay on these murders, interviewing all at the office and in the home. The older son, Percival, tells the Inspector that his father was erratic and ruining the business. After the story of the three murders is in the newspapers, Miss Marple arrives at Yewtree Lodge, as she can shed light on Gladys Martin. Gladys learned serving and cleaning at Miss Marple's home. Miss Ramsbottom invites Miss Marple to stay at Yewtree Lodge. Inspector Neele agrees to work with Miss Marple, seeing that she can talk with people in a different way than he can. Neele learns that the taxine was ingested in marmalade, with a new jar put out at breakfast, used by Rex alone. That jar was tossed in the yard and found by police. When Miss Marple and Inspector Neele discuss the case, he shares that information, and she asks him if he has asked about blackbirds, having seen the pattern of an old children's rhyme, Sing a Song of Sixpence. When he does, he learns of dead blackbirds on Rex's desk at home, a pie whose contents were removed and replaced with dead blackbirds, and from Lance, of the Blackbird Mine in Africa.

The Blackbird Mine was suspected of having gold, found by Mr MacKenzie. Rex Fortescue investigated the land after investing capital in it. He left MacKenzie there to die, returning alone and owning the land that he felt was of no value. The land is in east Africa. There had been a scene, when Mrs MacKenzie, decades earlier, charged Rex with her husband's death, promising to teach her children to avenge their father's death. Both the Inspector and Miss Marple suspect that the daughter is in the household under another name, as the son died in the war. The Inspector suspects Mary Dove, the housekeeper, and tells her so. Jennifer Fortescue tells Miss Marple she is, and the Inspector confirms it. Jennifer put out the dead blackbirds near Rex to remind him of his past offense. She knew her mother's vengeance lesson was wrong. Miss Marple and Inspector Neele realize this gave the theme to the murderer. Miss Marple explains what Gladys did: put the poison in the marmalade not knowing it was poison, and the rye in his pocket, at the direction of her boyfriend, Albert Evans. Dove immediately blackmails Jennifer; Inspector Neele says if Dove pays the money back, he will not charge her.

Miss Marple explains that Albert Evans is Lance, Rex's son. Lance wants money; the deed to the Blackbird mine will do, as uranium has been found there. He arranged the murder of his father to stop the loss of cash and to deal only with his brother. He murdered his stepmother because she inherited a large amount of cash, but only if she lived thirty days after her husband. The firm would not continue with so much cash going out, between his father's bad decisions and her inheritance. He had already killed Gladys, so she could tell no tales, leaving the clothes pin that so offends Miss Marple to match the line in the rhyme, "and pecked off her nose." Gladys was very easy to persuade to assist him, never questioning his motives, and flattered by his attentions. She believed she was adding a truth drug to the marmalade, to help Albert when he met with Rex. Miss Marple deduces this from knowing Gladys and seeing her things. When Miss Marple returns home, a letter from Gladys awaits her. She explains all she did and begs Miss Marple's help, as she does not know what to do. The letter was waylaid in the post. Enclosed is a photo of her and her Albert, clearly Lance Fortescue. Inspector Neele's case will be very strong.

The Best Virtual Library Project

http://thebestvirtuallibrary.myfreesites.net

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

[Download Link]

[The ads are displayed for supporting The Best Virtual Library Work]

You can Download this book and much more at:

http://thebestvirtuallibrary.myfreesites.net/classics

Download Instructions

Step 1: Click on [Download Link]. Wait 5 seconds.

Step 2: Click on the UsersCloud Download Button 3 times to unlock your Download. Obs: You don't have to do any install.

Step 3: After your Download is unlocked, just Download and Read your E-Book!

Synopsis

The Picture of Dorian Gray begins on a beautiful summer day in Victorian era England, where Lord Henry Wotton, an opinionated man, is observing the sensitive artist Basil Hallward painting the portrait of Dorian Gray, a handsome young man who is Basil's ultimate muse. While sitting for the painting, Dorian listens to Lord Henry espousing his hedonistic world view, and begins to think that beauty is the only aspect of life worth pursuing. This prompts Dorian to wish that the painted image of himself would age instead of himself.

Under the hedonist influence of Lord Henry, Dorian fully explores his sensuality. He discovers the actress Sibyl Vane, who performs Shakespeare plays in a dingy, working-class theatre. Dorian approaches and courts her, and soon proposes marriage. The enamoured Sibyl calls him "Prince Charming", and swoons with the happiness of being loved, but her protective brother, James warns that if "Prince Charming" harms her, he will murder Dorian Gray.

Dorian invites Basil and Lord Henry to see Sibyl perform in Romeo and Juliet. Sibyl, too enamoured with Dorian to act, performs poorly, which makes both Basil and Lord Henry think Dorian has fallen in love with Sibyl because of her beauty instead of her acting talent. Embarrassed, Dorian rejects Sibyl, telling her that acting was her beauty; without that, she no longer interests him. On returning home, Dorian notices that the portrait has changed; his wish has come true, and the man in the portrait bears a subtle sneer of cruelty.

Conscience-stricken and lonely, Dorian decides to reconcile with Sibyl, but he is too late, as Lord Henry informs him that Sibyl killed herself by swallowing prussic acid. Dorian then understands that, where his life is headed, lust and good looks shall suffice. Dorian locks the portrait up, and over the following eighteen years, he experiments with every vice, influenced by a morally poisonous French novel that Lord Henry Wotton gave him.

[ The narrative does not reveal the title of the French novel, but, at trial, Wilde said that the novel Dorian Gray read was À Rebours ('Against Nature', 1884), by Joris-Karl Huysmans.]

One night, before leaving for Paris, Basil goes to Dorian's house to ask him about rumours of his self-indulgent sensualism. Dorian does not deny his debauchery, and takes Basil to see the portrait. The portrait has become so hideous that Basil is only able to identify it as his work by the signature he affixes to all his portraits. Basil is horrified, and beseeches Dorian to pray for salvation. In anger, Dorian blames his fate on Basil, and stabs him to death. Dorian then calmly blackmails an old friend, the scientist Alan Campbell, into using his knowledge of chemistry to destroy the body of Basil Hallward. Alan later kills himself over the deed.

To escape the guilt of his crime, Dorian goes to an opium den, where James Vane is unknowingly present. James had been seeking vengeance upon Dorian ever since Sibyl killed herself, but had no leads to pursue: the only thing he knew about Dorian was the name Sibyl called him, "Prince Charming". In the opium den however he hears someone refer to Dorian as "Prince Charming", and he accosts Dorian. Dorian deceives James into believing that he is too young to have known Sibyl, who killed herself 18 years earlier, as his face is still that of a young man. James relents and releases Dorian, but is then approached by a woman from the opium den who reproaches James for not killing Dorian. She confirms that the man was Dorian Gray and explains that he has not aged in 18 years. James runs after Dorian, but he has gone.

James then begins to stalk Dorian, causing Dorian to fear for his life. However during a shooting party, one of the hunters accidentally kills James Vane who was lurking in a thicket. On returning to London, Dorian tells Lord Henry that he will be good from then on; his new probity begins with not breaking the heart of the naïve Hetty Merton, his current romantic interest. Dorian wonders if his new-found goodness has reverted the corruption in the picture, but when he looks he sees only an even uglier image of himself. From that, Dorian understands that his true motives for the self-sacrifice of moral reformation were the vanity and curiosity of his quest for new experiences.

Deciding that only full confession will absolve him of wrongdoing, Dorian decides to destroy the last vestige of his conscience, and the only piece of evidence remaining of his crimes — the picture. In a rage, he takes the knife with which he murdered Basil Hallward, and stabs the picture. The servants of the house awaken on hearing a cry from the locked room; on the street, passers-by who also heard the cry call the police. On entering the locked room, the servants find an unknown old man, stabbed in the heart, his face and figure withered and decrepit. The servants identify the disfigured corpse by the rings on its fingers which belonged to their master; beside him is the picture of Dorian Gray, restored to its original beauty.

The Best Virtual Library Project

http://thebestvirtuallibrary.myfreesites.net/classics

The Duchess of Padua by Oscar Wilde

[Download Link]

[The ads are displayed for supporting The Best Virtual Library Work]

You can Download this book and much more at:

http://thebestvirtuallibrary.myfreesites.net/classics

Download Instructions

Step 1: Click on [Download Link]. Wait 5 seconds.

Step 2: Click on the UsersCloud Download Button 3 times to unlock your Download. Obs: You don't have to do any install.

Step 3: After your Download is unlocked, just Download and Read your E-Book!

Synopsis

The Duchess of Padua tells the story of a young man named Guido who was left in the charge of a man he calls his uncle as a baby. Guido gets a notice to meet a man in Padua in regards to something concerning his parentage. When he arrives in Padua he is convinced by a man named Moranzone to abandon his only friend, Ascanio, in order to dedicate himself to revenging his father’s death at the hands of Simone Gesso, the Duke of Padua. In the course of the play Guido finds he has fallen in love with Beatrice, the title character, and confides his love to her, a love which she returns. By this time Guido has had a change of heart and decides not to kill the Duke of Padua, and instead intends to leave his father’s dagger at the Duke’s bedside to let the Duke know that his life could have been taken if Guido had wanted to kill him. On the way to the bedchamber, however, Guido is met by Beatrice, who has herself stabbed and killed the Duke so that she might be with Guido. Guido is appalled at the sin committed on his behalf and rejects Beatrice, claiming that their love has been soiled. She runs from him and when she comes across some guards she claims that Guido killed the Duke. He is brought to trial the next day. Beatrice tries to prevent Guido from speaking on his behalf for fear that she might be exposed as the killer, but Guido admits to the killing to protect her, and so the date for his execution is set. Beatrice goes to visit Guido in his cell and tells him that she has confessed to the murder but that the magistrates did not believe her and would not allow her to pardon Guido. Before waking Guido, Beatrice drinks some poison and when Guido discovers that the poison is all but gone, he shares a kiss with Beatrice before she dies, at which time Guido takes her knife and kills himself.

The Best Virtual Library Project

http://thebestvirtuallibrary.myfreesites.net/classics

The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde

[Download Link]

[The ads are displayed for supporting The Best Virtual Library Work]

You can Download this book and much more at:

http://thebestvirtuallibrary.myfreesites.net/classics

Download Instructions

Step 1: Click on [Download Link]. Wait 5 seconds.

Step 2: Click on the UsersCloud Download Button 3 times to unlock your Download. Obs: You don't have to do any install.

Step 3: After your Download is unlocked, just Download and Read your E-Book!

Synopsis

The story begins when Mr Otis and family move into Canterville Chase, despite warnings from Lord Canterville that the house is haunted. Mr Otis says that he will take the furniture as well as the ghost at valuation. The Otis family includes Mr and Mrs Otis, their eldest son Washington, their daughter Virginia and the Otis twins. The other characters include the Canterville Ghost, the Duke of Cheshire (who wants to marry Virginia), Mrs Umney (the housekeeper), and Rev. Augustus Dampier. At first, none of the Otis family believe in ghosts, but shortly after they move in, none of them can deny the presence of Sir Simon de Canterville . The family hears clanking chains, they witness reappearing bloodstains "on the floor just by the fireplace", which are removed every time they appear in various forms. But, humorously, none of these scare the Otis family in the least. In fact, upon hearing the clanking noises in the hallway, Mr Otis promptly gets out of bed and pragmatically offers the ghost Tammany Rising Sun Lubricator to oil his chains.

Despite the ghost's efforts to appear in the most gruesome guises, the family refuses to be frightened, and Sir Simon feels increasingly helpless and humiliated. When Mrs Otis notices a mysterious red mark on the floor, she simply replies that she does "not at all care for blood stains in the sitting room". When Mrs Umney informs Mrs Otis that the blood stain is indeed evidence of the ghost and cannot be removed, Washington Otis, the eldest son, suggests that the stain will be removed with Pinkerton's Champion Stain Remover and Paragon Detergent: a quick fix, like the Tammany Rising Sun Lubricator, and a practical way of dealing with the problem.

Wilde describes Mrs Otis as "a very handsome middle-aged woman" who has been "a celebrated New York belle". Her expression of "modern" American culture surfaces when she immediately resorts to giving the ghost "Doctor Dobell's tincture", thinking he was screaming due to indigestion, at the family's second encounter with the ghost, and when she expresses an interest in joining the Psychical Society to help her understand the ghost. Mrs Otis is given Wilde's highest praise when he says: "Indeed, in many respects, she was quite English..."

The most colourful character in the story is undoubtedly the ghost himself, Sir Simon, who goes about his duties with theatrical panache and flair. He assumes a series of dramatic roles in his failed attempts to impress and terrify the Otises, making it easy to imagine him as a comical character in a stage play. The ghost has the ability to change forms, so he taps into his repertoire of tricks. He takes the role of ghostly apparitions such as a Headless Earl, a Strangled Babe, the Blood-Sucker of Bexley Moor, Suicide's Skeleton, and the Corpse-Snatcher of Chertsey Barn, all having succeeded in horrifying previous castle residents over the centuries. But none of them works with these Americans. Sir Simon schemes, but even as his costumes become increasingly gruesome, his antics do nothing to scare his house guests, and the Otises beat him every time. He falls victim to tripwires, peashooters, butter-slides, and falling buckets of water. In a particularly comical scene, he is frightened by the sight of a "ghost" rigged up by the mischievous twins.

During the course of the story, as narrated from Sir Simon's viewpoint, he tells us the complexity of the ghost's emotions: he sees himself brave, frightening, distressed, scared, and finally, depressed and weak. He exposes his vulnerability during an encounter with Virginia, the Otis's fifteen-year-old daughter. Virginia is different from everyone else in the family, and Sir Simon recognizes this. He tells her that he has not slept in three hundred years and wants desperately to do so. The ghost reveals to Virginia the tragic tale of his wife, Lady Eleanor de Canterville.

Unlike the rest of her family, Virginia does not dismiss the ghost. She takes him seriously: she listens to him and learns an important lesson, as well as the true meaning behind a riddle. Sir Simon de Canterville says that she must weep for him, for he has no tears; she must pray for him, for he has no faith; and then she must accompany him to the angel of death and beg for Death's mercy upon Sir Simon. She does weep for him and pray for him, and she disappears with Sir Simon through the wainscoting and goes with him to the Garden of Death and bids the ghost farewell. Then she reappears at midnight, through a panel in the wall, carrying jewels and news that Sir Simon has passed on to the next world and no longer resides in the house.

Virginia's ability to accept Sir Simon leads to her enlightenment: Sir Simon, she tells her husband several years later, helped her understand "what Life is, what Death signifies, and why Love is stronger than both". The story ends with Virginia marrying the Duke of Cheshire after they both come of age.

The Best Virtual Library Project