Showing results by author "A. E. W. Mason" in All Categories

A collection of thrilling tales from the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, including six full-cast dramas and a short story read by Benedict Cumberbatch In the first half of the 20th century, the detective story exploded in popularity. Innovative authors penned whodunits, whydunits and...

Just before his regiment sails off to war in the Sudan, British officer Harry Feversham quits the military. He is immediately given four white feathers as symbols of cowardice, one by each of his three best friends and one by his fiancée. To disprove this grave dishonor, Harry dons an Arabian disguise and leaves for the Sudan, where he anonymously comes to the aid of his three friends, saving each of their lives. Having proven his bravery, Harry returns to England, hoping to regain the love and respect of his fiancée.

When Feversham’s regiment was called to service in the Soudan, he resigned his commission. His fellow officers sent him one white feather each as a sign that they recognised his cowardice. What follows is an exciting adventure of redemption and a heart-aching love story....

The brilliant creation of British author A.E.W. Mason, Inspector Hanaud has been hailed as ‘the first major fiction police detective of the Twentieth Century’, and was one of the inspirations for Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot. In these engaging whodunits, France’s cleverest investigator is tasked with proving the innocence of two young women, both accused of murder.

This audiobook contains the first three adventures of A. E. W Mason’s enigmatic and mercurial Sûreté detective, Inspector Hanaud—a key inspiration for Agatha Christie’s celebrated sleuth Hercule Poirot. First, Hanaud investigates the murder of wealthy Mme Dauvray at the fashionable French resort of Aix-les-Bains. Then, during a visit to London, Hanaud unravels a case of theft and murder following a costume party at a prestigious hotel.

The Four Feathers is a 1902 adventure novel by British writer A.E.W. Mason that has inspired many films of the same title. The novel tells the story of British officer, Harry Feversham, who resigns his commission in the East Surrey Regiment just prior to Sir Garnet Wolseley's 1882 expedition to Egypt to suppress the rising of Urabi Pasha. He is faced with censure from three of his comrades for cowardice, signified by the delivery of three white feathers to him, from Captain Trench and Lieutenants Castleton and Willoughby, and the loss of the support of his Irish fiancée, Ethne Eustace, who ...

A Romance of Wastdale, published in 1895, is a novel by the British writer A.E.W Mason. In 1921, it was turned into a film of the same name directed by Maurice Elvey and made by Stoll Pictures, Britain’s biggest studio of the silent era. The novel is set in the scenic area of Wastdale, Cumbria, situated in the Lake District National Park and surrounded by some of England’s highest mountains. Wastdale Head has been a starting point for walks and climbing trips into the mountains, in this context, this story of mountains, mountaineers, romance, and treachery unfolds.

A short story from the British Library Crime Classic collection Final Acts. The Affair at the Semiramis Hotel sees A .E. W. Mason's famous detective, Inspector Hanaud, and amateur detective Ricardo investigate the theft of a pearl necklace and the murder of its owner, set within the world of opera.

Las cuatro plumas mete el dedo en la herida de una de las mayores derrotas del Imprerio británico, cuando en 1885 un desierto implacable y una población orgullosa y fiera le dio una lección en Sudán. Las tropas coloniales fueron arrasadas y su máximo oficial, Gordon, decapitado para humillación de Londres.

The treacherous kingdom that lies between India and the Hindu Khush was marred by raids, blood feuds and a trade in slaves. When the Khan of Tokot invites the British Government to send a small mission to the region, Captain Frank Carruthers is considered the ideal candidate. Carruthers is made aware of the volatile atmosphere along the Kingdom’s borders. But he becomes intrigued by the legend of the Yudeni drum. According to local myth, the drum lies on the tower of the Khan’s fort and a phantom drummer can be heard beating a haunting rhythm. Disaster befalls all who see the ghostly ...

An Englishwoman is brutally murdered in the South of France and an American goes missing. With the discovery of a body, a severed hand and an opal bracelet, Inspector Hanaud of the Sureté is called in to investigate. It’s not long until allegations of devil worship begin to arise. Inspector Hanaud must race against time before a second violent murder is committed. ‘One of the best by a detective ace’ – Herald Tribune The Author: Alfred Edward Wooley Mason was born in 1865. He was educated at Dulwich College before being sent up to Oxford University. Once his formal education was ...

At the fashionable French resort of Aix-les-Bains a murder is discovered: wealthy but naïve Mme Dauvray is found strangled in the salon of her villa, apparently for her famously expensive jewels. Her young English companion, Celia Harland, is missing, and her maid is bound and chloroformed upstairs. A young English inventor who has been courting Miss Harland adamantly protests her innocence, and begs the famous Sûreté detective Inspector Hanaud to investigate.

While Sûreté inspector Gabriel Hanaud visits the London home of his friend Mr. Ricardo, they receive a visit from Carradine, a young socialite with a disturbing story. A beautiful young woman he met at a costume party has appealed to him for help. Obsessed with a rich American woman’s pearls, this young woman went to steal them from the American’s hotel room … only to find a gang of thieves, who overpowered her. She woke up hours later, alone in the room except for a dead body. Can Hanaud prove her innocence, and bring the real murderers to justice?

Wealthy widow Mrs. Harlowe has died at her house in Dijon, apparently of natural causes. But then her brother-in-law accuses her niece Betty of poisoning the old woman; Jim Frobisher, junior partner in the office of Betty’s English solicitors, is dispatched to France to provide legal advice and support. In France, as Jim seeks to discover the truth and clear Betty, he enters into an uneasy alliance with the enigmatic and mercurial Sûreté detective, Inspector Hanaud.

Although A.E.W. Mason is perhaps best known for his adventure novel The Four Feathers, his literary prowess extends far beyond that single work. In Running Water, published in 1907, he crafts a captivating tale of romantic adventure set against the stunning backdrop of the high Alps, near Mont Blanc. Captain Hilary Chayne, fresh from four years of army service along the shores of the Red Sea, yearns for the exhilarating world of mountaineering—the ice, the rock, and the camaraderie that comes with it. His journey leads him to the enchanting Sylvia Thesiger, a young woman equally drawn to the...

Dive into this captivating novel that weaves a fictional tale around a true historical rescue mission. In 1719, 17-year-old Princess Maria Clementina Sobieska is en route to marry James Stuart, the Catholic pretender to the British throne, when she is abruptly kidnapped by Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI, with the backing of the Protestant king of England. Fearing that their union could spark a rebellion, the king takes drastic measures. Enter Charles Wogan, an Irish soldier of fortune and Stuarts most cunning spy, who devises a daring plan to rescue the princess. This gripping story brims with ...

This glittering three-part fantasy begins in Ancient Rome and tells an evocative tale of reincarnation up to the present day. A E W Mason brings to life the poignancies of the everyday through the characters of Attilus Scaurius, Anthony Scarr and Adrian Sharp. This unusual story is as much a reflection on the profound mysteries of life as it is a strange and beguiling work of fiction. The Author: Alfred Edward Wooley Mason was born in 1865. He was educated at Dulwich College before being sent up to Oxford University. Once his formal education was completed, Mason went on to become an actor....

A young English girl is accused in Dijon of murdering her French aunt. Hanaud to the rescue! Inspector Hanaud is a member of the French Sûreté. He is said to have been the model for Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot, as well as the opposite of Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes. In 1910, Mason undertook to create a fictional detective as different as possible from Sherlock Holmes, who had recently been resuscitated after his supposed death by Arthur Conan Doyle in 1903. Inspector Gabriel Hanaud was stout, not gaunt like Holmes; a professional policeman, not a gentleman amateur; from the French...

Part romance, part mystery, part courtroom and quasi-courtroom drama. Young love reignites itself after a hiatus of some years. Or does it? Much can change in that time -- both to the people themselves, and to the events that shape their lives. The action moves from England to India, and back again, confronting the protagonists with problems they never dreamed they’d have to face. ( Nicholas Clifford)

Harry Wethermill, the brilliant young scientist, a graduate of Oxford and Munich, has made a fortune from his inventions, and is taking a vacation at Aix-les-Bains. There he meets, and immediately falls in love with, the young and beautiful Celia Harland, who serves as companion to the aging but warm-hearted Madam Dauvray of Paris. All this is observed by Julius Ricardo, a retired financier from the City of London, who spends every August at Aix, expecting there to find a pleasant and peaceful life. Imagine his consternation when he learns that Mme. Dauvray has been brutally murdered, and ...