Books published by publisher Samuel French Ltd

Comedy Drama / 13m, 4f / Int. w. inset. Kirk Douglas played on Broadway as a charming rogue who contrives to serve a short sentence in an airy mental institution rather in a prison. This, he learns, was a mistake. He clashes with the head nurse, a fierce artinet. Quickly, he takes over the yard and accomplishes what the medical profession has been unable to do for twelve years; he makes a presumed deaf and dumb Indian talk. He leads others out of introversion, stages a revolt so that they can s

Comedy / All Groups / 4m, 6f, plus 8 boys and 9 girls In this hilarious Christmas tale, a couple struggling to put on a church Christmas pageant is faced with casting the Herdman kids - probably the most inventively awful kids in history. You won't believe the mayhem - and the fun - when the Herdmans collide with the Christmas story head on! This delightful comedy is adapted from the best selling book and the only story ever to run twice in McCall's Magazine. "An American classic." -McCall's

Comedy / 6m, 2f / Int. This classic comedy opens as a group of the guys assembled for cards in the apartment of divorced Oscar Madison. And if the mess is any indication, it's no wonder that his wife left him. Late to arrive is Felix Unger who has just been separated from his wife. Fastidious, depressed and none too tense, Felix seems suicidal, but as the action unfolds Oscar becomes the one with murder on his mind when the clean-freak and the slob ultimately decide to room together with hilarious results as The Odd Couple is born. "His skill is not only great but constantly growing...There is scarcely a moment that is not hilarious." - The New York Times "Fresh, richly hilarious and remarkably original. Wildly, irresistibly, incredibly and continuously funny." - New York Daily News

It’s the half term holiday and George Kranky is looking forward to a break from school when a letter from Grandma arrives announcing that she is coming to visit — that very day! Soon she has taken over George’s bedroom and is making his life miserable with spiteful comments and demands for cups of tea and doses of medicine. George tries to make Grandma better by mixing a new type of medicine for her. Shaving foam, shampoo, lipstick, chilli powder and even brown paint all go into the mixture. The magic medicine makes Grandma grow and grow into a giant until she crashes through the farmhouse roof. Mum and Dad are flabbergasted, but before long Dad comes up with a plan to use the medicine to make giant farm animals — and a fortune for the Kranky family. It’s up to George to try to recreate his marvellous medicine, but first he needs to remember the ingredients, with a little help from the audience.“Nasty, naughty fun.” The Times“As evenings at the theatre go, you’ll be hard-pushed to find anything more entertaining than a night in the company of George Kranky and his eccentric farmer family. It’s fabulous family fun!” Cambridge News“You’ll love this excellent production that had us hooked from the minute we took our seats. Never have I seen so many children so enthralled!” Hull Daily Mail“David Wood’s sparkling new adaptation of the Roald Dahl classic gets the ear-splitting, roof-raising response it deserves … absolutely wicked and not just for the children.” Stage“ ... with a dollop of well-placed humour, a splash of obligatory audience participation and a drizzle of pure magic, George’s Marvellous Medicine forms the perfect concoction.” The Oxford Times

Journey into the Wild West, 1890 in this classic story of good versus evil, law versus the gun, one man versus Liberty Valance. A tale of love, hope and revenge set against the vicious backdrop of a lawless society.When a young scholar from New York city travels west in search of a new life he arrives beaten and half-dead on the dusty streets of Twotrees. Rescued from the plains, the town soon becomes his home. A local girl gives him purpose in a broken land, but is it enough to save him from the vicious outlaw who wants him dead? He must make the choice: to turn and run or to stand for what he believes, to live or to fight; to become the man who shot Liberty Valance.

Ten strangers are summoned to a remote island. All that the guests have in common is a wicked past they’re unwilling to reveal and a secret that will seal their fate. For each has been marked for murder. As the weather turns and the group is cut off from the mainland, the bloodbath begins and one by one they are brutally murdered in accordance with the lines of a sinister nursery rhyme.In writing the stage version of her most successful and darkest novels during the Second World War, Agatha Christie responded to the mood of the times by introducing a more positive ending. The play was a smash hit in the West End and on Broadway. The alternate version of the play’s ending, drawn from the novel and using entirely Agatha Christie’s own words, is now available in this updated edition

A newly-jacketed edition published to coincide with the 50th anniversary year of the longest-running play in history. THE MOUSETRAP, the longest-running play in the history of London's West End, begins its 50th Year run on 25 November 2001. This new edition of four works show how Agatha Christie's plays are as compulsive as her novels, their colourful characters and ingenious plots providing yet more evidence of her mastery of the detective thriller. The Mousetrap A homicidal maniac terrorizes a group of snowbound guests to the refrain of 'Three Blind Mice'! And Then There Were None Ten guilty people, brought together on an island in mysterious circumstances, await their sentence! Appointment With Death The suffocating heat of an exotic Middle-Eastern setting provides a backdrop for murder! The Hollow A set of friends convene at a country home where their convoluted relationships mean that any one of them could be a murderer!

Mr. Shaitana is a strange and wealthy collector of snuff boxes and other objets d'art. One evening he invites two specialists, Superintendent Battle of Scotland Yard and crime novelist Ariadne Oliver, to a dinner party to view his special collection: four people who have committed murder and gotten away with it. As they play bridge after dinner, Shaitana is daringly murdered by someone at the party. Battle sets out to solve the crime aided, of course, by the eager Mrs. Oliver who begins with psychological deductions from the bridge score cards. After many red herrings, skeletons in the cupboard and two more deaths, Battle lays his cards on the table.