A fascinating exploration of the contents of Agatha Christie's seventy-three private notebooks, including illustrations and two unpublished Poirot stories When Agatha Christie died in 1976, at age eighty-five, she had become the world's most popular author. With sales of more than two billion copies worldwide, in more than one hundred countries, she had achieved the impossible more than one book every year since the 1920s, every one a bestseller.So prolific was Agatha Christie's output sixty-six crime novels, twenty plays, six romance novels under a pseudonym and more than one hundred and fifty short stories it was often claimed that she had a photographic memory. Was this trueOr did she resort over those fifty-five years to more mundane methods of working out her ingenious crimesFollowing the death of Agatha's daughter, Rosalind, at the end of 2004, a remarkable legacy was revealed. Unearthed among her affairs at the family home of Greenway were Agatha Christie's private notebooks, seventy-three handwritten volumes of notes, lists and drafts outlining all her plans for her many books, plays and stories. Buried in this treasure trove, all in her unmistakable handwriting, are revelations about her famous books that will fascinate anyone who has ever read or watched an Agatha Christie story.How did the infamous twist in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd really come aboutWhich very famous Poirot novel started life as an adventure for Miss MarpleWhich books were designed to have completely differ-ent endings, and what were theyWhat were the plot ideas that she considered but rejected?Full of details she was too modest to reveal in her own autobiography, this remarkable new book includes a wealth of excerpts and pages reproduced directly from the notebooks and her letters, plus, for the first time, two newly discovered complete Hercule Poirot short stories never before published.

The first of a new-look series of Hercule Poirot books for the 21st century ‘It’s been hushed up very nicely, hasn’t it? But he was murdered, wasn’t he?’ There are certain things that are best left unsaid. Though tragedy had touched the life of the wealthy Richard Abernethie, his sudden death seemed pretty unremarkable for a man of his age. So why would his sister wait until his funeral to say he had been murdered? When she is savagely killed with a hatchet the next day, her extraordinary remark suddenly takes on a chilling significance. In desperation, the family solicitor turns to Hercule Poirot to unravel the mystery…

A perplexed girl thinks she might have killed someone… Three single girls shared the same London flat. The first worked as a secretary; the second was an artist; the third who came to Poirot for help, disappeared convinced she was a murderer. Now there were rumours of revolvers, flick-knives and blood stains. But, without hard evidence, it would take all Poirot’s tenacity to establish whether the third girl was guilty innocent or insane…

When a man plunges down a cliff, two adventurous young friends decide to find his killer… While playing an erratic round of golf, Bobby Jones slices his ball over the edge of a cliff. His ball is lost, but on the rocks below he finds the crumpled body of a dying man. With his final breath the man opens his eyes and says, ‘Why didn’t they ask Evans?’ Haunted by these words, Bobby and his vivacious companion, Frankie, set out to solve a mystery that will bring them into mortal danger…

随着中俄两国文化交流的日益加深，更多的人想去了解俄罗斯，想要学习俄语的人也日益增多。大家都知道，学习外语是一个漫长而艰难的过程，只有在不断的练习之后才会有所提高。对于那些亟需外语交流的人来说语言障碍更是一道无法逾越的鸿沟。

本書精選小學生8種常用修辭法，包括：比喻、擬人、排比、反復、設問、反問、誇張、對偶等，提供3百多條測試題目，輔以淺白的文字加以解說，幫助學生讀者把握運用有關修辭的用法。為增添閱讀趣味，本書加入了生動的故事，幽默的漫畫和形式豐富的遊戲，務求做到「學」與「樂」統一。

本書運用現代語言學方法，將粵語作為一個完整的語言系統，從詞彙、詞法、句法等方面，全面論述粵語語法上的種種表現，兼論粵語音系和各種拼音系統的異同。一方面可作為研究和學習粵語的教材，讓讀者對粵語的語言特點有較為完整的認識，；另一方面，以讀者熟悉的具體語言事實來說明比較抽象的理論，做到既能介紹粵語特色，又能普及語言學基本概念，亦適合所有對粵語有興趣的普通讀者閱讀。

　　《旅游法语》已列我社“新世纪高等学校法语专业本科生系列教材”，系高校法语专业学生使用的泛读教材。《旅游法语》能较快提高学习者旅游知识水平和旅游实务能力。

本书是专门为意大利语刚门或基础较弱、急于口说意大利语的读者量身定制的一本实用意大利语速成工具书，能帮助他们轻轻松松快速掌握简单意大利语。 全书分为四大部分，将日常必需单词、日常生活用语、情景应急口语全部覆盖，第四部分附录对意大利国情、节日和习俗做了介绍。这是一本即翻即用型的便携工具书，是赴意大利语国家学习、生活、工作、旅游和物的好帮手。

Mr. Hungerton, her father, really was the most tactless person upon earth,—a fluffy, feathery, untidy cockatoo of a man, perfectly good-natured, but absolutely centered upon his own silly self. If anything could have driven me from Gladys, it would have been the thought of such a father-in-law. I am convinced that he really believed in his heart that I came round to the Chestnuts three days a week for the pleasure of his company, and very especially to hear his views upon bimetallism, a subject upon which he was by way of being an authority. For an hour or more that evening I listened to his monotonous chirrup about bad money driving out good, the token value of silver, the depreciation of the rupee, and the true standards of exchange. "Suppose," he cried with feeble violence, "that all the debts in the world were called up simultaneously, and immediate payment insisted upon,—what under our present conditions would happen then?" I gave the self-evident answer that I should be a ruined man, upon which he jumped from his chair, reproved me for my habitual levity, which made it impossible for him to discuss any reasonable subject in my presence, and bounced off out of the room to dress for a Masonic meeting. At last I was alone with Gladys, and the moment of Fate had come! All that evening I had felt like the soldier who awaits the signal which will send him on a forlorn hope; hope of victory and fear of repulse alternating in his mind. She sat with that proud, delicate profile of hers outlined against the red curtain. How beautiful she was! And yet how aloof! We had been friends, quite good friends; but never could I get beyond the same comradeship which I might have established with one of my fellow-reporters upon the Gazette,—perfectly frank, perfectly kindly, and perfectly unsexual. My instincts are all against a woman being too frank and at her ease with me. It is no compliment to a man. Where the real sex feeling begins, timidity and distrust are its companions, heritage from old wicked days when love and violence went often hand in hand. The bent head, the averted eye, the faltering voice, the wincing figure—these, and not the unshrinking gaze and frank reply, are the true signals of passion. Even in my short life I had learned as much as that—or had inherited it in that race memory which we call instinct. Gladys was full of every womanly quality. Some judged her to be cold and hard; but such a thought was treason. That delicately bronzed skin, almost oriental in its coloring, that raven hair, the large liquid eyes, the full but exquisite lips,—all the stigmata of passion were there. But I was sadly conscious that up to now I had never found the secret of drawing it forth. However, come what might, I should have done with suspense and bring matters to a head to-night. She could but refuse me, and better be a repulsed lover than an accepted brother. So far my thoughts had carried me, and I was about to break the long and uneasy silence, when two critical, dark eyes looked round at me, and the proud head was shaken in smiling reproof. "I have a presentiment that you are going to propose, Ned. I do wish you wouldn't; for things are so much nicer as they are." I drew my chair a little nearer. "Now, how did you know that I was going to propose?" I asked in genuine wonder."Don't women always know? Do you suppose any woman in the world was ever taken unawares? But—oh, Ned, our friendship has been so good and so pleasant! What a pity to spoil it! Don't you feel how splendid it is that a young man and a young woman should be able to talk face to face as we have talked?" "I don't know, Gladys. You see, I can talk face to face with—with the station-master." I can't imagine how that official came into the matter; but in he trotted, and set us both laughing. "That does not satisfy me in the least. I want my arms round you, and your head on my breast, and—oh, Gladys, I want——"

Les Amours de Village

Le talon de fer

Das Dschungelbuch

Les Exilés dans la foret

The Nigger of the 'Narcissus'

The prequel to the hilarious Barney Conroy Trilogy, this collection of short stories will make you laugh, cringe, and face-palm all at the same time! Barney's an average guy in his mid-thirties with questionable social skills and progressive germophobia. He likes routine. He likes to keep his head down. He's trying to live an average life. He's just not as good at it as the rest of us. Laugh along with (or at!) Barney as he struggles with everyday social conventions in this collection of hilarious, bite-sized short stories. Download now if you're ready for plenty of awkward laughter!????

Pride and Prejudice

Are you the world's biggest Rihanna Fan? Do you know everything there is to know about the Good Girl Gone Bad? Then this is the book for you! In this easy-to-digest eBook are 101 facts about your favourite singer - do you know all of them?Test yourself and your friends with these handily-packaged facts easily organised into categories for maximum enjoyment. Sections include her music, friends and family, and some crazy facts about her life! Show everyone that you are the master of Rihanna knowledge!

Are you a fan of 90s movies? Do you think you could recognise a film just from a single quote?If so, you'll love this fantastic quiz featuring 120 of the greatest movies from the decade that gave us masterpieces such as Fargo, Schindler's List and The Silence of the Lambs. With classic lines from all of these and many more, the questions - sorted into easy, medium and hard categories - are sure to keep the whole family entertained.

How well do you know your nineties music? Do you think you can recognize a song from a single line of lyrics? If so, then this is the book for you! This eBook features 120 questions ranging from basic ones (to get you into the swing of things) all the way through to those that will have you scratching your head saying 'I KNOW this one!'. Perfect for all the family, this book is great fun for any occasion.

This incredibly useful book will appeal to writers, public speakers and anyone else who would like to improve their vocabulary. It contains a huge number of phrases which you can use in everyday speech and at special occasions, which will help you express your thoughts, ideas and feelings in a brand new way. A classic reference work, this edition has been specially formatted for today's e-readers.