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The Clocks
''The Clocks'' is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 7 November 1963 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company the following year. It features the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. The UK edition retailed at sixteen shillings (16/-) and the US edition at $4.50. In the novel Poirot never visits any of the crime scenes or speaks to any of the witnesses or suspects. He is challenged to prove his claim that a crime can be solved by the exercise of the intellect alone. The novel marks the return of partial first-person narrative, a technique that Christie had largely abandoned earlier in the Poirot sequence but which she had employed in the previous Ariadne Oliver novel, ''The Pale Horse (novel), The Pale Horse'' (1961). There are two interwoven plots: the mystery Poirot works on from his armchair while the police work on the spot, and a Cold War spy story told in the first person narrative. Reviews at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dust Jacket
The dust jacket (sometimes book jacket, dust wrapper or dust cover) of a book is the detachable outer cover, usually made of paper and printed with text and illustrations. This outer cover has folded flaps that hold it to the front and back book covers; these flaps may also double as bookmarks. Dust jackets originally displayed cover information on top of a simple binding, at a time when it was not feasible to print directly onto the binding. The role of a dust jacket has been largely supplanted by modern hardcover printing technologies, which print such information directly onto the binding. Modern dust covers still serve to display promotional material and shield the book from damage. The back panel or flaps of the dust cover are printed with Biography, biographical information about the author, a summary of the book from the publisher (known as a blurb) or critical praise from Celebrity, celebrities or authorities in the book's subject area. The back of a dust jacket often has ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to the east, and the Black Sea to the southeast. It has a mainly continental climate, and an area of with a population of 19 million people. Romania is the List of European countries by area, twelfth-largest country in Europe and the List of European Union member states by population, sixth-most populous member state of the European Union. Europe's second-longest river, the Danube, empties into the Danube Delta in the southeast of the country. The Carpathian Mountains cross Romania from the north to the southwest and include Moldoveanu Peak, at an altitude of . Bucharest is the country's Bucharest metropolitan area, largest urban area and Economy of Romania, financial centre. Other major urban centers, urban areas include Cluj-Napoca, Timiș ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Suchet
Sir David Courtney Suchet ( ; born 2 May 1946) is an English actor. He is known for his work on stage and in television. He portrayed Edward Teller in the television serial '' Oppenheimer'' (1980) and received the RTS and BPG awards for his performance as Augustus Melmotte in the British serial '' The Way We Live Now'' (2001). International acclaim and recognition followed his performance as Agatha Christie's detective Hercule Poirot in ''Agatha Christie's Poirot'' (1989–2013), for which he received a 1991 British Academy Television Award for Best Actor nomination."The Actor Behind Popular 'Poirot" '''', 25 March 1992. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Agatha Christie's Poirot
''Agatha Christie's Poirot'', or simply ''Poirot'' (), is a British mystery drama television programme that aired on ITV from 8 January 1989 to 13 November 2020. The ITV show is based on many of Agatha Christie's famous crime fiction series, which revolves around the fictional private investigator Hercule Poirot. David Suchet stars as the title character. Initially produced by LWT, the series was later produced by ITV Studios. The series also aired on VisionTV in Canada, and on PBS and A&E in the US. The programme ran for 13 series and 70 episodes in total. Each episode was adapted from a novel or short story by Christie that featured Poirot. In each episode Poirot is both the main detective in charge of the investigation of a crime (usually murder) and the protagonist at the centre of most of the episode's action. At the programme's conclusion, which finished with " Curtain: Poirot's Last Case", based on the 1975 novel of the same name, every major literary work by Christi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dead Man's Folly
''Dead Man's Folly'' is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie, first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in October 1956 and in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 5 November of the same year. The US edition retailed at $2.95 and the UK edition at twelve shillings and sixpence (12/6). It features Hercule Poirot and Ariadne Oliver. Plot summary Poirot is invited to Nasse House in Devon by crime-mystery writer Ariadne Oliver, who is staging a Murder Hunt as part of a summer fête the next day. At Nasse House, Mrs Oliver explains that small aspects of her plans for the Murder Hunt have been changed by requests from people in the house rather deviously, until a real murder would not surprise her. The wealthy Sir George Stubbs owns Nasse House. His much younger wife is the beautiful Hattie, Lady Stubbs. She shows interest in fine clothes and jewellery only, appearing simple to all but her husband's secretary, Miss Brewis, who sees through Hattie's outward app ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Labours Of Hercules
''The Labours of Hercules'' is a short story collection written by Agatha Christie and first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1947 and in the UK by Collins Crime Club in September of the same year.Chris Peers, Ralph Spurrier and Jamie Sturgeon. ''Collins Crime Club – A checklist of First Editions''. Dragonby Press (Second Edition) March 1999 (p 15) The US edition retailed at $2.50 and the UK edition at eight shillings and sixpence (8/6, 42½p). It features the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot and gives an account of twelve cases with which he intends to close his career as a private detective. His regular associates (his secretary, Miss Felicity Lemon, and valet, George/Georges) make cameo appearances, as does Chief Inspector Japp. The stories were all first published in periodicals between 1939 and 1947. In the foreword, Poirot declares that he will carefully choose the cases to conform to the mythological sequence of the Twelve Labours of Hercules. In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Barnard
Robert Barnard (23 November 1936 – 19 September 2013) was an English crime writer, critic and lecturer. In addition to over 40 books published under his own name, he also published four books under the pseudonym Bernard Bastable. Life and work Robert Barnard was born on 23 November 1936 at Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex. He was educated at the Colchester Royal Grammar School and at Balliol College, Oxford. He spent five years (1961-1965) as an academic in the English Department at the University of New England, at Armidale, New South Wales, in Australia. His first crime novel, ''Death of an Old Goat'', was published in 1974. The novel was written while he was a lecturer at the University of Tromsø in Norway. He went on to write more than 40 other books and numerous short stories. As "Bernard Bastable", he published two standalone novels and two alternate history books, featuring Wolfgang Mozart – who had here survived to old age – as a detective. Barnard was inducted into ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly''. In December 2024, Tortoise Media acquired the paper from the Scott Trust Limited, with the transition taking place on 22 April 2025. History Origins The first issue was published on 4 December 1791 by W.S. Bourne, making ''The Observer'' the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. Believing that the paper would be a means of wealth, Bourne instead soon found himself facing debts of nearly £1,600. Though early editions purported editorial independence, Bourne attempted to cut his losses and sell the title to the government. When this failed, Bourne's brother (a wealthy businessman) made an offer to the government, which also refused to buy the paper but agreed to subsidise it in return for influence over its editori ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maurice Richardson
Maurice Lane Richardson (1907–1978) was an English journalist and short story writer. Early life and education Richardson was born to a wealthy family; his father, a successful stockjobber, "after retirement and some financial ups and downs" moved from "a large house in Essex to another large house in Budleigh Salterton", Devon."Odd Man Out", Mary Manning,''Irish Times'', 4 August 1978 (p.11) Review of ''Fits and Starts''. As a child, Richardson was sent to prep school, which he disliked, then Oundle School; he later recalled his education in his 1968 book ''Little Victims''. He studied at Oxford in the 1920s, initially reading zoology but subsequently changing to English; he did not take a degree. There he befriended the poet Brian Howard. Career After leaving Oxford, he spent some time as an amateur boxer, and wrote his first novel, ''A Strong Man Needed'', a humorous story about a female boxer. Richardson began his journalistic career in the 1930s. After joining the Com ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Guardian Media Group, owned by the Scott Trust Limited. The trust was created in 1936 to "secure the financial and editorial independence of ''The Guardian'' in perpetuity and to safeguard the journalistic freedom and liberal values of ''The Guardian'' free from commercial or political interference". The trust was converted into a limited company in 2008, with a constitution written so as to maintain for ''The Guardian'' the same protections as were built into the structure of the Scott Trust by its creators. Profits are reinvested in its journalism rather than distributed to owners or shareholders. It is considered a newspaper of record in the UK. The editor-in-chief Katharine Viner succeeded Alan Rusbridger in 2015. S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anthony Berkeley Cox
Anthony Berkeley Cox (5 July 1893 – 9 March 1971) was an English crime writer. He wrote under several pen-names, including Francis Iles, Anthony Berkeley and A. Monmouth Platts. Early life and education Anthony Berkeley Cox was born 5 July 1893 at Watford, son of medical practitioner Dr Alfred Edward Cox (1861–1936), of Monmouth House and The Platts, two adjoining properties on Watford High Street, and Sybil Maud (died 1924), née Iles, who ran a school at Monmouth House. His paternal grandfather was a Derby wine merchant. Cox had two younger siblings: Stephen Henry Johnson Cox (1899–1960), who became a schoolmaster, and Cynthia Cicely Cox (born 1897). With his brother, Cox was educated at Rose Hill School, Banstead, Surrey, and from the age of 14 was educated at Sherborne School and then University College, Oxford. Career As an ex-cadet of the Officer Training Corps, Cox was commissioned as a temporary rank, temporary second lieutenant in the British Army on 19 Septem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Superintendent Battle
Superintendent Battle is a fictional character created by Agatha Christie who appeared in five of her novels. Overview Battle is notable for his stolid good sense and careful management of information as a case proceeds. He relies in part on the public notion that police detectives are stupid or unimaginative, when he has a good idea of just what is happening. His moustache is impressive, even to Hercule Poirot. Until ''Towards Zero'' the reader knows nothing of his domestic arrangements (with the exception of a comment in ''The Secret of Chimneys'', when he mentions that he is "very attached of Mrs Battle"), but this novel reveals that he also has five children, the youngest of whom (Sylvia) unwittingly provides a key clue to the mystery. In the Hercule Poirot novel ''The Clocks'', the pseudonymous secret agent Colin Lamb is heavily implied to be the son of the now-retired Battle. Battle also has a secret professional life that is revealed in the Detective dénouement, d� ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
