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An old legend says that a monstrous hound haunts the Baskerville family on the Devon moor. One evening, Sir Charles Baskerville is found dead, his face frozen in terror. Near him are the footprints of a gigantic hound. Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson are called in to protect his heir. It is Sherlock Holmes's most famous case, amid fog, bogs and fear of the supernatural. Full of suspense, it is easy to read in the language you are learning.

One evening in London, a terrified neighbour takes refuge in Richard Hannay's flat and reveals a plot against England. A few days later the neighbour is found dead, and Hannay, accused of the murder, has to flee across the Scottish moors, pursued by both the police and the spies. A breathless short spy novel: an ordinary man, hunted by everyone, can count only on his courage and his wits. Its fast pace and direct sentences make it easy to follow in the language you are learning.

Arsène Lupin, the gentleman thief, steals jewels and paintings from the very rich with elegance and humour, and makes fools of the police. He even warns his victims before he strikes, and constantly escapes those who hunt him. Tricks, disguises and dramatic twists: you never know where he will turn up, or with what face. Its lively, light tone makes it a delightful read in the language you are learning.

In his rooms at 221B Baker Street, Sherlock Holmes receives visitors with strange stories: a league open only to red-headed men, a precious stone hidden in a goose, a mysterious speckled band… With his friend Dr Watson, who tells of their cases, he solves every puzzle thanks to extraordinary powers of observation. Twelve short cases, each of which can be read in one sitting, in which the smallest detail becomes a clue. The lively dialogue and clear sentences make them an ideal read in the language you are learning.

Just back from the war, Dr Watson is looking for lodgings in London and shares rooms with a strange companion: Sherlock Holmes. Soon a man is found dead in an empty house, without a single wound, and a word is written in letters of blood on the wall. It is Sherlock Holmes's very first case, the one in which the most famous pair of detectives is born. This short novel is easy to read in the language you are learning.

For six years, Mary Morstan has received a magnificent pearl by post every year, without knowing who sends it. Her father disappeared ten years ago. When a letter invites her to a meeting, she asks Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson to go with her. A treasure from India, a room locked from the inside, a man with a wooden leg, a chase on the Thames: this second case for Holmes is one of the most thrilling, and it is also the one in which Watson falls in love. Fast-paced, this short novel is easy to read in the language you are learning.

This collection brings together the last cases of Sherlock Holmes and his friend Dr Watson. An old professor starts climbing walls at night. A man dies on a beach, his back covered in red marks, as if he had been whipped. And a mother is caught bending over her baby, with blood on her lips: it is up to Holmes to find the explanation. Twelve short cases, each with its own puzzle. In two of them, Holmes tells the story himself, something rare in the whole series. You can read each one in one sitting in the language you are learning.

One morning, Sherlock Holmes deciphers a coded message warning of danger to a certain Douglas, at Birlstone Manor. Too late: news comes that a man has been shot dead there, in an old house surrounded by a moat and reached only by a drawbridge. With Dr Watson, Holmes notices a detail that nobody understands: one of the two dumb-bells in the house has disappeared. Behind the crime lie the shadow of Professor Moriarty, Holmes's worst enemy, and a past from a distant mining valley in America. Full of suspense and twists, the investigation is easy to read in the language you are learning.

One morning in London, a modest architect finds in his bath the body of a stranger, wearing nothing but a gold pince-nez. On the same day, a rich financier vanishes without a trace. Lord Peter Wimsey, an elegant aristocrat and amateur detective, takes up the case with the help of Bunter, his faithful manservant. It is the first case for Lord Peter, a hero as funny as he is brilliant, whose light-hearted manner hides a formidable nose for the truth. With its humorous dialogue, this novel is easy to read in the language you are learning.

Two days before Christmas, Katherine arrives in Oakwood to spend the holidays with her friends at Carver House, the old mansion where their Guardian, Nyoda, lives. Lost on the way, she goes into an abandoned house and finds Sylvia, an eighteen-year-old girl who has not been able to walk since a fall, alone there with no fire and no food. At Carver House, a boarded-up window, footprints and a secret passage soon pose a puzzle. Taken from a series about the Camp Fire Girls, an American movement for girls, this children's novel is a warm-hearted story in which the mystery goes hand in hand with friendship and helping others. Simply written, it is easy to read in the language you are learning.

In St Petersburg, Hermann, a young officer, watches his fellow officers play cards every night without ever placing a bet himself. He learns that an old countess is said to know the secret of three cards that always win. To get close to her, he courts Lizaveta, the poor young woman who lives with the countess, and one night he slips into the house. This short story by Pushkin builds the tension right to the end, and leaves a doubt hanging: chance, madness or the supernatural? You can read it in one sitting in the language you are learning.

In London, Gabriel Syme, a poet who has secretly become a policeman, manages to get himself elected to the supreme council of Europe's anarchists. Its seven members are each named after a day of the week, and Syme becomes Thursday. There he uncovers a plot, and a huge, terrifying leader whom everyone calls Sunday. Chases, masks falling, reversals: nothing is ever what it seems. It is a spy novel full of humour, which Chesterton himself subtitled “A Nightmare”. Fast-paced from start to finish, the novel is easy to read in the language you are learning.

Father Brown is a small, clumsy Catholic priest, always weighed down by a big umbrella, and no one suspects him. Yet he is the one who unmasks criminals where the police fail: a disguised master thief, a murderer no one saw come in, a crime committed at the foot of a church. His secret: from listening to so many confessions, he knows evil better than anyone. These twelve short cases have made him one of the most endearing detectives in literature. You can read each case in one sitting in the language you are learning.

In the little town of Cloisterham, in the shadow of its cathedral, young Edwin Drood is to marry Rosa Bud, a bride chosen for him since childhood. His uncle, John Jasper, the choirmaster, seems to love him dearly, but he secretly smokes opium and hides a passion for Rosa. One Christmas night, Edwin disappears. Dickens died before finishing this novel, without leaving the solution. For more than a hundred and fifty years, readers have been trying to guess what happened to Edwin. Full of suspense, this novel is a pleasure to read in the language you are learning.

Twelve new cases of Sherlock Holmes, told by his friend Dr Watson. Holmes finds a famous missing racehorse, tells Watson about his very first case, and introduces him to his brother Mycroft, who is even better at observation than he is. The collection ends with his confrontation with Professor Moriarty, “the Napoleon of crime”, one of the most famous episodes in detective fiction. You can read each case in one sitting, and the lively dialogue makes them an ideal read in the language you are learning.

In the autumn of 1918, the Heredith family are entertaining guests in their old moated manor house in Sussex. During dinner, a scream and then a shot ring out upstairs. In her room they find Violet, the young wife of the son of the house, shot dead. There is no weapon and no trace, and the open window is six metres above the ground. A Scotland Yard detective, then a famous private investigator, try to work out how the killer got in and out. A true English country-house puzzle, carefully built right up to the last page. Full of suspense, this detective novel is easy to read in the language you are learning.

Laura lives alone with her father in a lonely castle in Styria, far from any neighbours. One evening, a carriage accident leaves a young stranger under their roof: Carmilla, beautiful, languid and full of tenderness for Laura. Soon young women start dying in the surrounding villages, and Laura herself grows weaker, troubled by strange dreams. Carmilla gets up late and refuses to say where she comes from: that is her whole mystery. This short novel, published a quarter of a century before “Dracula”, long shaped the figure of the female vampire. Told by Laura, like a confidence, it can be read in one sitting in the language you are learning.

Everyone believed Sherlock Holmes was dead. Yet he reappears in London, before Dr Watson's eyes, and takes up his cases again: drawings of little dancing men that hide a secret message, busts of Napoleon smashed one after another, a marksman lying in wait for him in an empty house. Thirteen cases in which the smallest detail becomes a clue. With their lively dialogue and clear sentences, they can each be read in one sitting in the language you are learning.

One June evening in London, the American millionaire Theodore Racksole dines with his daughter Nella at the Grand Babylon, the smartest hotel in town. The head waiter refuses to serve them steak and beer, which he thinks unworthy of the house: Racksole buys the hotel that very evening. He soon discovers that its corridors hide a disappearance and a plot involving European princes. A humorous adventure novel in which a businessman leads the investigation himself, helped by his daughter Nella, who is as bold as he is. Fast-paced and full of twists, the novel is a pleasure to read in the language you are learning.

An airman climbs higher than any record to find out whether creatures live in the sky. A doctor resting on a farm in Derbyshire grows worried about sheep that disappear near a cave. A special train hired in Liverpool vanishes in broad daylight between two stations. These twelve stories, six of terror and six of mystery, are by Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes. Here there is no detective: reasonable people face what they cannot explain. Short and tense, each one can be read in one sitting in the language you are learning.

Father Brown, a small priest with an absent-minded air, solves the crimes the police cannot understand. One day, an American visitor finally asks him for his secret. The priest's answer is surprising: to find the culprit, he puts himself in his shoes, to the point of imagining that he committed the crime himself. This collection brings together eight short cases, such as “The Mirror of the Magistrate” and “The Man with Two Beards”. In Chesterton's stories, cleverness counts for less than knowledge of the human heart. You can read each case in one sitting in the language you are learning.

One summer afternoon, in an English country house, the wealthy Mark Ablett is expecting his brother Robert, back from Australia after fifteen years away. Shortly after his arrival, a shot rings out in the locked study. Robert is found dead inside, and Mark has disappeared. The police suspect Mark. Antony Gillingham, a visitor passing through, carries out his own investigation with his friend Bill, like Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson. This detective novel is by A. A. Milne, the creator of Winnie-the-Pooh. Logically built and told with humour, this puzzle is a pleasure to read in the language you are learning.

Father Brown, a small Catholic priest with an absent-minded air, solves cases that baffle the police and the experts, often with his friend Flambeau, a former thief turned detective. A scientist accused of treason in Paris, travellers held up by brigands in the mountains of Italy, an old Cornish family: each puzzle is solved thanks to a detail no one else noticed. Twelve detective stories full of humour and paradox, in which this quiet priest, who knows the human heart well, guesses the truth before anyone else. You can read each story in one sitting in the language you are learning.

In London at the end of the nineteenth century, Adolf Verloc keeps a shady little shop in Soho, where he lives with his wife Winnie and Winnie's simple-minded young brother, Stevie. Secretly, he spies on anarchists for a foreign embassy. One day, his employer demands that he carry out a bomb attack on the Greenwich Observatory. Inspired by a real failed bombing, it is one of the first great novels about terrorism, and still strikingly relevant. With the translation always in front of you, you can read this dark, ironic novel in the language you are learning.