Books published by publisher House of Stratus

A beautiful girl is found dead with her face slashed and an old man suffers a similar fate. These similar crimes bring together West of the Yard and Lieutenant Goodison of New York's Homicide Branch in a race to find the killer and deal with the twists and turns along the way.The Author: Born in Surrey, England, into a poor family as seventh of nine children John Creasey attended a primary school in Fulham, London, followed by The Sloane School. He did not follow his father as a coach maker, but pursued various low-level careers as a clerk, in factories, and sales. His ambition was to write full time and by 1935 he achieved this, some three years after the appearance of his first crime novel ‘Seven Times Seven’.From the outset, he was an astonishingly prolific and fast writer, and it was not unusual for him to have a score, or more, novels published in any one year. Because of this, he ended up using twenty eight pseudonyms, both male and female, once explaining that booksellers otherwise complained about him totally dominating the ‘C’ section in bookstores. They included:Gordon Ashe, M E Cooke, Norman Deane, Robert Caine Frazer, Patrick Gill, Michael Halliday, Charles Hogarth, Brian Hope, Colin Hughes, Kyle Hunt, Abel Mann, Peter Manton, JJ Marric, Richard Martin, Rodney Mattheson, Anthony Morton and Jeremy York.As well as crime, he wrote westerns, fantasy, historical fiction and standalone novels in many other genres. It is for crime, though, that he is best known, particularly the various detective ‘series’, including Gideon of Scotland Yard, The Baron, The Toff, and Inspector Roger West, although his other characters and series should not be dismissed as secondary, as the likes of Department ‘Z’ and Dr. Palfrey have considerable followings amongst readers, as do many of the ‘one off’ titles, such as the historical novel ‘Masters of Bow Street’ about the founding of the modern police force. With over five hundred books to his credit and worldwide sales approaching one hundred million, and translations into over twenty-five languages, Creasey grew to be an international sensation.He travelled widely, promoting his books in places as far apart as Russia and Australia, and virtually commuted between the UK and USA, visiting in all some forty seven states.As if this were not enough, he also stood for Parliament several times as a Liberal in the 1940’s and 50’s, and an Independent throughout the 1960’s. In 1966, he founded the ‘All Party Alliance’, which promoted the idea of government by a coalition of the best minds from across the political spectrum, and was also involved with the National Savings movement; United Europe; various road safety campaigns, and famine relief.In 1953 Creasey founded the British Crime Writers’ Association, which to this day celebrates outstanding crime writing. He won the Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for his novel ‘Gideon’s Fire’ and in 1969 was given the ultimate Grand Master Award. There have been many TV and big screen adaptations of his work, including major series centred upon Gideon, The Baron, Roger West and others. His stories are as compelling today as ever, with one of the major factors in his success being the ability to portray characters as living – his undoubted talent being to understand and observe accurately human behaviour.John Creasey died at Salisbury, Wiltshire in 1973.

Hah-ooh cinosrepus! ‘Selbanev, Nosnikta, Senoj-Nitram,’ said Jennings. ‘They’re the names of people, I bet you can’t guess who!?’ ‘Russian agents, Zulu tribesmen, Ancient kings of Egypt’ hazarded Darbishire. ‘No, no, no,’ Jennings flipped his fingers in delight and danced ungainly ballet steps round the tuck-boxes. ‘Oh, wacko! If you can’t guess, neither will anybody else, so we can use it for the code.’ Jennings is suffering from beginning-of-term-itis, but things soon return to the normal state of mayhem and confusion when his new diary is made public property! Alarmed at the thought of his most private thoughts being made public, Jennings decides to invent a secret language. Will anyone be able to decode Selbanev si a llopdolc? Drazo Hsivips! Inspired by a visit to the Natural History Museum, Jennings and Darbishire establish their own collection of ancient relics, but they are not out of trouble for long and when the precious diary goes missing, Jennings finds himself on the wrong side of the law! Relggowsnroh emoseurg!

Commander Kelly Maguire, leader of men in the British Navy, finds himself plunged into blistering attacks at the battle of Dunkirk. From bitter fighting in the Mediterranean, to the landings at Normandy, this action-packed saga takes Maguire through trial to triumph. Against a background of personal tragedy, this is a compelling story of love and adventure.

Arnold Bennett’s masterpiece, chronicles the lives of sisters Constance and Sophia Baines, daughters of a Bursley draper. Constance, a conventional and sombre young woman, marries the shop’s chief assistant, whilst the spirited and adventurous Sophia elopes to Paris with Gerald Scales, an irresistible but unprincipled cad. This is the utterly compelling story of their lives and loves, their triumphs and despair from early teens to old age, told with Arnold Bennett’s characteristic insight and truthfulness.

Supersonic hoo-hah! Jennings and Darbishire watched with mounting horror. Earthquakes and landslides seemed to be happening before their eyes. The little hut was heaving like a thing possessed. ‘Oh, fish-hooks!’ breathed Jennings in dismay. ‘He’s smashing up the place like a bulldozer!’ The woodland at Linbury Court becomes squatters’ territory when Jennings comes up with the idea of building huts out of reeds and branches. Jennings and Darbishire are thrilled with their construction, which even includes a patented prefabricated ventilating shaft, a special irrigation drainage canal and a pontoon suspension bridge! Gruesome hornswoggler! But things can only go horribly wrong for Jennings when he is put in charge of Elmer, the treasured goldfish, and even worse when the Headmaster pays the squatters a visit. And if Jennings thinks that a game of cricket will be far less trouble, he’s going to be knocked for six! Rotten chizzler!

‘I’ve seen some bat-witted wheezes in my time but this one takes the certificate of merit’ When Jennings and Darbishire discover a hibernating hedgehog they are instantly intrigued. Then, when Venables tells him that foxes eat hedgehogs, Jennings decides to rescue it. But things rarely go to plan for poor Jennings, and after a series of mishaps involving Miss Thorpe’s puppy and a bottle of Ants and Anti-Escaping Fluid, Jennings is left wondering whether Old Sleepy will make it through the winter. ‘Clueless clodpoll!’

‘Dear Miss Thorpe, We hope you are quite well. We are very sorry we did not do your leaflets very well owing to strong winds. Darbishire has some new laces so we will give you your elastic band back when we come, but it has got stretched a bit owing to Darbishire’s shoe?’ When Linbury goes green, Jennings and Darbishire offer to do their bit for the environment and are given the task of distributing leaflets. Unfortunately, Darbishire’s shoelace refuses to stay tied and, using his initiative, Jennings removes the rubber band holding the leaflets together and performs an emergency shoelace repair. All seems fine, until a gust of wind hurls the leaflets over Marina Gardens. The residents are none too pleased, and it’s poor Mr Wilkins who’s going to get the blame? ‘Addle-pated eyewash!’

It all begins with a simple errand - a package to deliver. But for Alan Stewart, standing on a deserted road in Iceland with a murdered man at his feet, the mission looks far from simple. Set amongst some of the most dramatic scenery in the world, Stewart and his girlfriend, Erin, are faced with treacherous natural obstacles and deadly threats, as they battle to carry out the mission. The contents of the package are a surprise for the reader as much as for Stewart in a finale of formidable energy.

‘Right! Stand by for orders to lower away. I’m going to take charge at the reception base. And don’t worry – this is one of my guaranteed foolproof plans. It can’t possibly go wrong!’ Term is over and, after a short camping expedition that leaves poor Mr Wilkins determined never to go through such an horrific experience again, Jennings is off to stay with his Aunt Angela. There, he meets Emma Sparrow who needs to hide her collection of stray animals from the exasperated caretaker. When Jennings comes up with a seemingly flawless plan, he congratulates himself on his quick thinking. But with Jennings at large, things can always be expected to go disastrously wrong! ‘Fossilised fish-hooks!’