Books published by publisher House of Stratus

The year is 1623, the place Haarlem in the Netherlands. Diogenes – the first Sir Percy Blakeney, the Scarlet Pimpernel’s ancestor – and his friends Pythagoras and Socrates defend justice and the royalist cause. The famous artist Frans Hals also makes an appearance in this historical adventure. Orczy maintains that Hal’s celebrated portrait of ‘The Laughing Cavalier’ is actually a portrayal of the Scarlet Pimpernel’s ancestor.

When the Foreign Secretary Sir Philip Ramon receives a threatening, greenish-grey letter signed FOUR JUST MEN, he remains determined to see his Aliens Extradition Bill made law. A device in the members' smokeroom and a sudden magnesium flash that could easily have been nitro-glycerine leave Scotland Yard baffled. Even Fleet Street cannot identify the illusive Manfred, Gonsalez, Pioccart and Thery - FOUR JUST MEN dedicated to punishing by death those whom conventional justice can not touch.

These twelve stories are told by the old soldiers of the Runagates Club as they reminisce. Richard Hanny, hero of ‘The Thirty-nine Steps’, reappears recounting a trek into the bush in ‘The Green Wildebeest’. In ‘Dr Lartius’, John Palliser-Yeates describes an ingenious Secret Service operation during the First World War. A German code is finally broken in ‘The Loathly Opposite’.

London 1665 is no place for Randal Holles, a former soldier in Cromwell’s army, now that the monarchy has been restored and the exploits of the Republicans are being condemned in the highest degree. Holles, desperate for an escape from his hopeless situation and almost certain execution, sees no option but to accept the Duke of Wellington’s rather dubious commission – to abduct a famous actress and bring her before him. However, as events take an unexpected turn, Holles is presented with the opportunity to be reinstated to his former glory.

Dick Martin is leaving Scotland Yard. His final job, investigating a stolen book, takes him via a conversation with the librarian Sybil Lansdown to Gallows Cottage and a meeting with Doctor Stalletti. Tommy Crawler, Bertram Cody's chauffeur is also there. Arriving home, Martin finds Lew Pheeney being followed by a man for whom he recently worked. 'Doing what?' demands Martin. Lew finally confesses. 'I was trying to open a dead man's tomb!' The telephone rings. It is Mr Havelock.

The legendary Professor Challenger hits the headlines once again. In a letter to 'The Times', he asserts that a change in the earth’s cosmic surroundings is resulting in the poisoning of the planet. He claims that seemingly unconnected worldwide disasters prove that the earth has swum into a poison belt of ether – and towards inevitable destruction. Ed Malone, the dynamic young journalist, is then invited to visit the Professor with the strange request to ‘bring oxygen’. The four members of 'The Lost World' expedition reunited, they settle down to a hearty lunch, with the Professor determined to enjoy his final few hours. Is this all a strange ruse of the Professor’s, or is total annihilation really only hours away?

Set amid the Himalayan mountain passes, 'The Broken Road' brings to life a tale of adventure, daring rescue and the underlying menace of British political manoeuvres. Along the way, news from Mecca and a gift misunderstood cause mayhem from all concerned.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. He began his writing career with historical fiction and then moved into the arena of politics, becoming a Liberal Member of Parliament for Coventry in 1906. But his love of writing carried on and Mason developed his style to incorporate detective fiction, introducing one of the earliest fictional detectives, Inspector Hanaud, the Gallic counterpart to Sherlock Holmes. His detective fiction contains material clues and spontaneity. Throughout the course of his life he produced over thirty titles. A E W Mason died in 1948.

The Honourable Richard Rollison (aka ‘The Toff’) receives a telephone call from a seemingly charming and very enticing girl late at night, and as a result sets off to rescue her. He takes her back to his apartment where, to his great surprise he meets an identical person. The following morning there is a knock on the door, and there she is again! What is going on and why is ‘The Toff’ involved, and was the first girl, or any other quite as charming as she sounded? This question is only the start of what turns out to be a hair-raising adventure worthy of ‘The Toff’s’ undoubted talents and attention.

Further adventures from the much-loved Captain Blood, the ‘Robin Hood’ of the Spanish Seas. In his latest exploits, 'The Chronicles of Captain Blood' takes him to new adventures with as much excitement and swashbuckling adventure as ever before. Winning invaluable treasures, rescuing his crew from almost certain death and saving an English settlement are all in a day’s work for this remarkable hero of land and sea.