After the Civil War sweeps away the genteel life to which she has been accustomed, Scarlett O'Hara sets about to salvage her plantation home.

The villagers of Chipping Cleghorn are agog with curiosity when the Gazette advertises "A murder is announced and will take place on Friday, October 29th, at Little Paddocks at 6.30 p.m." A childish practical joke? Or a spiteful hoax? Unable to resist the mysterious invitation, the locals arrive at Little Paddocks at the appointed time. Without warning, the lights go out and a door swings open revealing a man with a gun who demands "Stick 'em up."...

"A lawyer's advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of Harper Lee's classic novel -- a black man charged with the rape of a white girl. Through the young eyes of Scout and Jem Finch, Harper Lee explores with rich humor and unswerving honesty and irrationality of adult attitudes toward race and class in the Deep South of the 1930s. The conscience of a town steeped in prejudice, violence, and hypocrisy is pricked by the stamina and...

Set in 1177 B.C. on the day an irritated and penniless Ulysses returns home to a beautiful but resentful Penelope.

Novel is set in a restored London hotel which continues to court a pre-World War II clientele to mix with guests who exhibit changing contemporary values. The plot centers on the efforts of Miss Jane Marple to uncover a gang of criminals who are using Bertram's as their home base and endangering the lives of innocent guests.

In the year 1912, nineteen-year-old Christy Huddleston leaves home to teach school in the Smoky Mountains -- and comes to know and love the resilient people of the region, with their fierce pride, their dark superstitions, their terrible poverty, and their yearning for beauty and truth. But her faith will be severely challenged by trial and tragedy, by the needs and unique strengths of two remarkable young men, and by a heart torn between true love...

Emily Pollifax is one of a precious few gray-haired female sleuths who solve their cases through unflagging determination, moral courage and wisdom that comes with age. In The Amazing Mrs. Pollifax, Emily answers the call of that "nice Mr. Carstairs" to go to Istanbul as a courier and search for a missing agent.

While waiting for a view of her night-blooming cereus, the mild-seeming Mrs. Pollifax received urgent orders for a daring mission to aid an escape. Soon, the unlikely-looking international spy was sporting a beautiful new hat that hid eight forged passports...

Following a twisting path of evil, Hercule Poirot--the only one who could have saved two young lovers from a legacy of horror--finds the link between a grisly double death that occurred long ago and a present-day murderous menace.

This story of a young woman's confrontation with death and her past is a poetic study of human relations. "The Optimist's Daughter" is the story of Laurel McKelva Hand, a young woman who has left the South and returns, years later, to New Orleans, where her father is dying. After his death, she and her silly young stepmother go back still farther, to the small Mississippi town where she grew up. Alone in the old house, Laurel finally comes to an understanding...