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Detective Philip Marlowe is looking for Derace Kingsley’s wife, Crystal. Is she dead or not? Marlowe finds more than one dead body and learns about women, drugs, men in love, and a police cover-up. Who killed The Lady in the Lake and why?

A man fell from a very tall building. Why didn’t he die? Why did a dead woman have a frozen chicken under her hat? What fell out of an old man’s ear, and why did everybody laugh? And how did a cow fly? Find the answers in these strange stories.

This is the story of four friends – Toad, Rat, Mole and Badger. Rat loves the river. Mole is often afraid. Badger likes to stay at home. But Toad is always looking for new adventures – and some of his ideas are dangerous.

One of Hollywood’s most successful actors, Tom Cruise has starred in numerous films since his début in Risky Business. Read about his life and career, his major film roles, his involvement with Scientology and his marriages.

These stories paint colourful pictures of life in Britain and America in the past. We meet some unusual people. There’s the dreamy boy who wakes up one day to find a bird making a nest in his hair! And there’s the man who tries to catch a ghost.

The War of the Worlds is one of the most frightening science fiction novels ever written. When a spaceship falls from the sky and lands in southern England, few people are worried. But when strange creatures climb out and start killing, nobody is safe.

Has Mrs Brown killed Granny on the beach? Why does Mrs Hill want to leave her husband? Who wants to steal the Professor’s invention? And what is little Johnny trying to say? Discover the answers when you read the plays in this book. They are plays about ordinary people and the unusual, often funny, things that happen to them.

Mark Twain is one of America’s most famous and best-loved writers. He wrote about every important subject of his time. Twain’s stories are usually amusing but with a serious message too. You will read about people’s hopes and fears, happiness and terrible sadness—and wonderful practical jokes!

Most people around the world today know something about American life. The United States is a big country. Not all Americans are the same! In this book you will see the many faces of American life.

Jim Hawkins and his parents have a quiet inn by the sea. Then one day, an old sailor arrives at the inn. What is he afraid of? Dangerous men come to the inn. Jim’s quiet life changes, and he goes across the sea by ship to Treasure Island.