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A special edition of Agatha Christie’s early Poirot adventure novel containing the original 12-part short story version “The Man Who Was Number Four”, unseen since 1924. The Big Four is the most formidable crime syndicate of all time. A sinister Chinaman, a multi-millionaire, a beautiful Frenchwoman and ‘The Destroyer’ are terrorising the world with their fiendish genius. Only Hercule Poirot’s sensational methods of deduction stand in their way of world domination, and after adventures as strange as the Arabian nights, Poirot runs them to earth at last in a cave in the Dolomites. The astonishing success of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd put Agatha Christie under enormous pressure to deliver another Poirot book at a time of intense personal turmoil for the author. Suffering from writer’s block, and with the help of her brother-in-law, Campbell Christie, she reluctantly dug out The Man Who Was Number Four, a 12-week serial she had written for The Sketch three years before – long before Ackroyd – and began adapting it into a full-length novel. . . This Detective Story Club classic is introduced by Agatha Christie historian Karl Pike, who has unearthed the 12 magazine stories from the British Library archives and presents here the original version of The Big Four, an adventurous serial novel full of incident and cliffhangers, unseen since 1924.

The latest in a new series of classic detective stories from the vaults of HarperCollins involves the murder of a notorious criminal in the home of a famous millionaire. But there are no clues, no evidence. The police are convinced that someone may have just committed the perfect crime. "The Detective Story Club", launched by Collins in 1929, was a clearing house for the best and most ingenious crime stories of the age, chosen by a select committee of experts. Now, almost 90 years later, these books are the classics of the Golden Age, republished at last with the same popular cover designs that appealed to their original readers. The Grell Mystery was first published in 1913 and selected as one of the launch titles for the Detective Club in 1929. It was written by former Scotland Yard Chief Inspector Frank Froest, who had turned in retirement to writing successful and authentic crime novels. "If you like a thriller with plenty of exciting incident and a clever plot you will like this first-rate detective novel by Frank Froest. Chief Inspector Foyle was confronted with the most bewildering case of his career when Goldenburg, the crook, was found foully murdered in the flat of Robert Grell, millionaire. Here was what appeared to be a perfect crime without a clue that led anywhere. But Foyle was more than a match for the arch-criminal and his masterly deduction and determination brought him a splendid triumph."

Books included: The Alchemist, Veronika Decides To Die, The Zahir, The Valkyries, The Witch Of Portobello, The Pilgrimage, By The River Piedra, Eleven Minutes, Devil And Miss Prym and Fifth Mountain

Condemned for a murder he had not committed, Henri Charriere (nicknamed Papillon) was sent to the penal colony of French Guiana. Forty-two days after his arrival he made his first break, travelling a thousand gruelling miles in an open boat. Recaptured, he suffered a solitary confinement and was sent eventually to Devil's Island, a hell-hole of disease and brutality. No one had ever escaped from this notorious prison - no one until Papillon took to the shark-infested sea supported only by a makeshift coconut-sack raft. In thirteen years he made nine daring escapes, living through many fantastic adventures while on the run - including a sojourn with South American Indians whose women Papillon found welcomely free of European restraints... Papillon is filled with tension, adventure and high excitement. It is also one of the most vivid stories of human endurance ever written. Henri Charriere died in 1973 at the age of 66. Author Biography: Patrick O'Brian was one of our greatest contemporary novelists. He is the author of the acclaimed Aubrey-Maturin tales and the biographer of Joseph Banks and Picasso. He lived for many years in south west France and he died in Dublin in January 2000.