The Arcturus Crime Classics series reissues detective fiction – whodunits, police procedurals and thrillers – from the golden age of the 1930s to 1950s and some later novels, including works by writers such as Francis Durbridge, who remain well-known to crime buffs, and once famous but now less-familiar authors whose works are well worth rediscovering. The six titles included in this set are: Tim Frazer Again (Read more...) The Norwich Victims (Read more...) Blueprint for Murder (Read more...) Lonely Magdalen (Read more...) The Tyler Mystery (Read more...) Close Up on Death (Read more...)

A talented actress, Lisa Drew seemed to have no enemies; yet when she is found murdered in an empty house in north London, Inspector Bright questions the motives of her mother, her lover and her best friend.

A wealthy industrialist, Charles Hollison was devoted to his son Geoffrey and nephew Arthur Cross; both are beneficiaries of Hollison’s will and when the old man is found murdered shortly after their return from the Second World War, both men are suspects.

How much do you know about Bible stories? With more than 5,000 questions and facts, this book will challenge you whatever your level of scripture knowledge. ‘In which town was Jesus born?’ is easy enough; but who was Solomon’s mother and how many wings does a seraph have? The 15-question quizzes are organized under headings including War and Peace, Family Ties and Apocalypse Now.

Written by the Hindu philosopher Vatsyayana around 300 CE, the Kama Sutra is popularly known as a sex manual but is actually a moral treatise on the achievement of sensual and aesthetic pleasure, one of Hinduism’s four goals of life. The text was first translated and published in the West in 1883 by the explorer and linguist, Sir Richard Burton. This edition presents his candid translation, illustrated with classical Indian miniatures.

This collection of unusual puzzles challenges the reader not only to find solutions but, in the spirit of computing pioneer Alan Turing’s methodology, to tease out the rules of the puzzles themselves. The puzzles, which mainly involve words and letters, increase in difficulty as the book progresses, but cryptic titles and numerous optional hints (listed in a separate section) lead codebreakers step by step to solutions catalogued at the back.

Terminally ill Lawrence Todhunter decides to make a last contribution to humanity – by eliminating the most obnoxious person he can find. But when an innocent man is arrested, he must prove his own guilt.

When secret service agent Leo Salinger is run over in Amsterdam, fellow agent Tim Frazer is sent to investigate. The driver of the car seems innocent and Frazer decides that Leo’s death was misadventure, until he returns to London and finds another corpse...

Fateful meetings, ruptured relationships and a small town shattered by violent death… A guilty verdict against solicitor John Prescott seems inevitable, but the real killer is still at large.

After winning a lottery, Miss Haslett, a middle-aged school mistress, seeks financial advice. She is introduced to a stockbroker, John Throgmorton, and shortly thereafter found murdered. Scotland Yard’s DI Martin is called in to investigate.

A prostitute is found strangled on Hampstead Heath and Inspector Poole has both witnesses and a suspect – but no proof. To unravel the mystery, he must piece together the secrets of the victim’s life.

‘Vedanta’, writes Brian Hodgkinson, ‘hinges upon this truly remarkable idea, that everything, without any exception whatsoever, is the one spirit’. In this book he first discusses the ancient historical and literary origins of Vedanta, then turns to the central tenets of Vedic philosophy and their social dimension.

Bernard Simon looks at elements of Gnosticism that are common to ancient pagan and occult religions; he compares its teachings with the Judeo-Christian faiths, and in particular with the writings of Paul; and considers the spiritual and cosmic principles and iconography that have endured to the present day.

John Baldock begins this introduction with chapters on the life of the Prophet Mohammad, the Qur’an, the principal tenets of Islam and the emergence of Sufism, before discussing the Sufis themselves, their literature, and the path of transformation and fulfilment that frees the individual from the dictates of ego.

German cartoonists mocked Hitler when he came to prominence in the 1920s, but such satire was not possible once the Nazis were in power and the job was left to foreign illustrators. This book follows the career of the Führer through a collection of political cartoons, demonstrating how artists such as Herb Block, EH Shepard and Ding Darling were able to show Hitler as he was – in contrast to the German propaganda image of god-like superman.

If the alphabet goes from A to Z, what goes from Z to A? Here are more than 300 clever, funny and sometimes quite tricky riddles and brain teasers to work out. The answers are at the back. Age 7+

Physics is the science that ties together all others, aiming to explain the nature of the universe from the smallest subatomic particles to vast galaxies, and the nature of space-time. Profiling the most important figures in the history of science and covering topics such as light and optics, energy and the Big Bang, this well-illustrated book traces the development of physics from the natural philosophers of the ancient world to cutting-edge experiments in quantum mechanics.

In an age when monarchies are little more than tourist pageantry, it is easy to forget that sovereigns once wielded absolute power. This book examines the reigns of more than 70 European autocrats, from Caligula to Nicholas II via 'Bloody Mary' and Ivan the Terrible. All were to some degree mad, bad or dangerous to live under, but the stronger connection is that they failed to fulfil the extravagant hopes placed in them.

The 20th century saw massive social and technological change, two world wars, and empires won and lost. Throughout these epochal events, cartoonists cast an irreverent eye on human folly. Selected by the award-winning cartoonist Tony Husband, the 230 satirical and at times savage images in this book chart the events of the century, decade by decade, from the Boer War to the fall of the Iron Curtain, and the suffragette movement to the Poll Tax.

Dante's great poem, the first book written in Italian, begins with his descent through nine circles of Hell to the lake of ice where Lucifer is trapped for all eternity. In this edition of Longfellow's verse translation, the Inferno's 34 cantos are each preceded by a brief introduction and illustrated with a selection of artists' representations of the Last Judgement, the landscape of Hell and scenes from Dante's infernal voyage of self-discovery.

Starting 'on top of the world' amid icebergs and igloos, this colourful puzzle book covers the continents, oceans and cities of the world, finding mazes everywhere. You can pick your way along the struts and girders of the Eiffel Tower, climb the Great Pyramid or navigate your way out of the Bermuda Triangle - and if you get completely lost, the answers are at the back. Age 8+