A reference and overview of the genre of crime fiction, primarily covering the 1950s onwards, although major earlier writers, such as Agatha Christie and Raymond Chandler, also have entries.

This encyclopedia is the most up-to-date, concise, clear and affordable guide to all aspects of science fiction, from its background to generic themes and devices, from authors (established and new) to films. Science fiction has evolved into one of the most popular, cutting-edge and exciting fiction geners, with a proliferation of modern and classic authors, themes and ideas, movies, TV series and awards. Arranged in an A-Z format, and featuring a comprehensive index and cross-referencing system, The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Science Fiction is also the most accessible and easy to use encyclopedia of its kind currently available.

The one unmissable SF collection Widely regarded as the essential book for every science fiction fan, The Mammoth Book of Best New SF 18 continues to uphold its standard of excellence with more than two dozen stories from the previous year. This year's volume includes not just a host of established masters, but also many bright young talents of science fiction. It embrace every aspect of the genre - soft, hard, cyberpunk, cyber noir, anthropological, military and adventure. Plus the usual thorough summations of the year and a recommended reading list.

Mystery conundrums from crime's finest storytellers Presenting 30 impossible mysteries and bizarre crimes guaranteed to fascinate and intrigue. The delight in these stories is unravelling the puzzle and trying to work out what on earth happened. Stories include: • A man alone in an all-glass phone booth, visible on CCTV and with no one near him, is killed by an ice pick. • a man sitting alone in a room is shot by a bullet fired only once and that was over 200 years ago. • A man enters a cable-car carriage alone and is visible the entire journey but is found dead when he reaches the bottom. • A man vanishes at the top of the Indian rope trick and is found dead miles away. • a dead man continues to receive mail in response to letters apparently written by him after he'd died. The anthology includes several brand new stories never previously published, plus a range of extremely rare stories, many never reprinted since their first appearance in increasingly rare magazines.

The biggest and best collection of unsolved murder and mystery cases - updated and expanded. This compelling volume presents thirty-five of the most intriguing crime cases that still defy solution, as reported by leading authors and journalists in the field of crime writing. Expanded and updated, this new edition includes the mystery of 'Jack the Stripper' who preyed on prostitutes in Hammersmith in the 1960s, the death of Starr Faithful whose young body was found on Long Island, the vicious murder of Oxford nurse Janet Brown in her own home in 1995, and the case of Lizzie Borden who, according to the rhyme, 'took an axe, And gave her mother forty whacks'. Other cases include: Colin Wilson and the 'Zodiac' killer of California; Russell Miller and the obsession with the Black Dahlia; Rebecca West on the killing of Stanley Setty, and the man who contracted out of humanity; Brian Masters on the killing of Rachel Nickell; Kenneth Alsop on who shot 'Jake' Lingle, and his connection with Al Capone; Philip Sugden on that most famous Victorian enigma, Jack the Ripper; Sydney Horley on the woman who was cleared of killing her husband, and went on to become a Broadway star. Nearly all the cases involve one or more acts of murder, and all are left with a question mark hanging over them with real-life whodunits that offer a continuing challenge to all who find fascination in the criminal mind.

The third new collection of historical murder and mystery stories A brilliant new collection of thirty stories of mystery and intrigue spread over three thousand years, from Ancient Egypt to spies on the Titanic. Selected by bestselling editor Mike Ashley, the stories include brand new contributions as well as rare reprints, from writers such as Ian Rankin, Lynda Robinson, Sharan Newman, Gail Frazer, Gillian Linscott and Peter Tremayne. Among the characters featured are the Queen of Sheba, Attila the Hun, Hildegarde of Bingen, Geoffrey Chaucer, Henry the Navigator and Benjamin Franklin. And with settings as far-ranging as Botany Bay and ancient Pisa, New Amsterdam and old Edinburgh, ancient Greece and the court of Kublai Khan.

Spanning more than 75 years of espionage writing in USA and the UK, here are gripping tales by classic writers in the field including W. Somerset Maugham, Ian Fleming, Leslie Charteris, and Erle Stanley Gardner. They are presented complete and unabridged. Among the now legendary fictional secret agents, counterspies and double agents featured are Somerset Maugham's enigmatic operative Ashenden; Ian Fleming's legendary 007; and Peter O'Donnell's Modesty Blaise, 'the female James Bond'. The stories include: The formula for a deadly warfare chemical propels secret agent Peter Baron on a mission through Italy - in Deep Sleep by Bruce Cassiday Agent 007 James Bond confronts military intrigue in the Caribbean - in Octopussy, by Ian Fleming International conspiracy, assassination, bombs, plot and counter-plot in Washington D.C. - in Dealers in Doom by William E. Barrett Someone is out to destroy the British Government, from the inside - in The Spoilers, by Michael Gilbert The CIA enlists a small-town policeman to track down a spy who will stop at nothing to preserve his identity - in The People of the Peacock, by Edward D. Hoch

Expanded and with great new stories, this is the biggest and best anthology of ghostly hauntings ever. Over 40 tales of visitation by the undead - from vengeful and violent spirits, set on causing harm to innocent people tucked up in their homes, to rarer and more kindly ghosts, returning from the grave to reach out across the other side. Yet others entertain desires of a more sinister bent, including the erotic. This new edition includes a selection of favourite haunted house tales chosen by famous screen stars Boris Karloff, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. Plus a top ranking list of contributors that includes Stephen King, Bram Stoker, Ruth Rendell, and James Herbert - all brought together by an anthologist who himself lives in a haunted house. Stories include: Something unspeakable lurks in a Connecticut apartment closet, in Stephen King's 'The Boogeyman'; An Irish castle holds something truly horrifying in wait, in 'The Whistling Room' by William Hope Hodgson; The lecherous old ghost of a Georgian country house eyes up his latest tenant, in Norah Lofts' 'Mr Edward'; An ancient mansion on a shelf of rock previously occupied by a doomed castle, in 'In Letters of Fire' by Gaston Le Roux; The hunter is hunted in James Herbert's tale of nineteenth-century country mansion, 'The Ghost Hunter'; Psychic phenomena and poltergeists, avenging spirits and phantom lovers - curl up and read on, but never imagine you are safe from a visit...

More than 200,000 words of the best mystery and suspense fiction from around the world The world's Finest Mystery and Crime Stories Each year, editors Ed Gorman and Martin H. Greenberg cast their net far and wide, across the seas, throughout the world to catch the best-the most suspenseful, most original, intriguing, confounding, downright entertaining stories of crime and mystery. Edgar winners from the U.S., Silver Dagger winners from the U.K., and stories from elsewhere as well come together here in a bountiful crop of great stories by the best in the business, including Lawrence Block - Jon L. Breen - Stanley Cohen - Bill Crider - Jeffery Deaver - Jeremiah Healy - Clark Howard - Susan Isaacs - John Lutz - Sharyn McCrumb - Ralph McInerny - Anne Perry - Bill Pronzini - Donald E. Westlake and many others. This book's a killer! At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

A humorous collection of hundreds of funny news stories, whacky phenomena, and hilarious blunders and gaffes from around the world, such as: the woman who smuggled 75 live snakes in her bra; the man who held a funeral for his amputated foot; the radioactive cat which got mistaken for a bomb; the human tongue that got served up in a hospital; the X-ray that revealed E.T.'s face in a duck; the youth who woke to find a bullet in his tongue; the tortoise that set a house on fire; and many more.