Kirjahaku

The Minerva Club might look like any other London gentlemen's club but behind its respectable and discreet facade, some of the most ambitious schemes for heists, money-making and evasion of the law are being worked out. It's an exclusive club for criminals. Entry qualification: members must have served a prison sentence of two years minimum. Though the club's criminal ventures don't always go as planned...From trying to break into an old prison cell and stealing a stash of jewels hidden during a previous incarceration, love getting in the way during a hideout from the police, a cleverly planned break-in being interrupted by an unexpected guest, to figuring out where to steal a last-minute wedding cake - the club's amiable criminals somehow always achieve their goal in the most surprising ways. This collection of five short stories follows the Minerva Club's (mis)adventures and evokes the very best of humorous classic crime fiction.

The setting is "Wearemouth", a fictional blend of Plymouth and Dartmouth. We are introduced to five children who, on a walk to the cinema, pass a local landmark, the Wooden Angel, made from a ship's figurehead and stand holding hands, making a wish. The rest of the book follows their careers to see how far the wishes come true. This was the only book written by Victor Canning under the pen name Julian Forest. The time is during and immediately after the Great War, and the book tells us a great deal about social attitudes and class in a west country city of that era. It is one of the best of Victor Canning's early novels.

A classic travelogue that brilliantly conjures 1930s Britain. In this series of pen-portraits of England from the 1930s, Victor Canning ‘evocatively captures the pattern and colour of English life’ (The Bookseller), from Cumbria to Cornwall. Canning’s heart-warming and humorous observations of sleepy villages, pastoral scenes and busy industries are a delightful time capsule into life in England during the interwar years. ‘What does the word England mean to you? To all of us England means something different, and yet I think there is for every man and woman some little corner which is more England than anywhere else…’ ***PRAISE FOR EVERYMAN'S ENGLAND*** 'Wonderful... elegant, humorous, exuberant essays.' Guardian 'Evocatively captures the pattern and colour of English life.’ The Bookseller ‘Canning finds beauty everywhere, but never sentimentalises, and is consistently honest enough to highlight poverty and social inequality... Canning, at his very best when waxing lyrical about landscapes, offers vivid images of the English countryside...' The Daily Mail

Romantic comedy in three acts, first performed in April 1940, concerning a group of beggars who are forced to change their ways.

HOW TO STOP GAMBLING AND FEEL LIKE A TOTAL BADASS will show you how to stop gambling easily, immediately, and permanently. It expels the myth that gambling is an addiction and provides proof that it's nothing more than a bad habit. However, Society tells us we're hopelessly addicted to gambling, it's near impossible to quit, and if we do quit, we'll likely have to fight the urge to gamble every day for the rest of our lives. That's complete and utter B.S. Gambling isn't an addiction and you're not an addict You don't need Gambler's Anonymous, or any other program to quit gambling, and if that's what you're looking for you're in the wrong place. Victor Canning is author of How to Stop Smoking Without Withdrawals, How to Stop Drinking Without AA, and How To Stop Smoking Marijuana. Canning's innovative approach to breaking the habit of Gambling allows people (not addicts) to take back control of their lives. By explaining why you feel the need to gamble, it outlines a simple process that doesn't require willpower and removes the desire to gamble forever.

Mr Edgar Finchley, unmarried clerk, aged 45, is told to take a holiday for the first time in his life. He decides to go to the seaside. But Fate has other plans in store… From his abduction by a cheerful crook, to his smuggling escapade off the south coast, the timid but plucky Mr Finchley is plunged into a series of the most astonishing and extraordinary adventures. His rural adventure takes him gradually westward through the English countryside and back, via a smuggling yacht, to London. This gentle comedy trilogy was a runaway bestseller on first publication in the 1930s and retains a timeless appeal today. It has been dramatized twice for BBC Radio, with the 1990 series regularly repeated.

An ebullient Mr Finchley is about to propose marriage to a lady he had rescued from mishap, when he is sent to Paris by his firm. There he manages to upset a boat, adopt a stray orphan and get himself kidnapped. The fine tangle he gets into takes some unravelling! Only when eventually back in London does he complete the proposal of marriage that was interrupted at the start. This gentle comedy trilogy was a runaway bestseller on first publication in the 1930s and retains a timeless appeal today. It has been dramatized twice for BBC Radio, with the 1990 series regularly repeated.

Mr Finchley takes a fancy to a horse-drawn caravan that he sees for sale, but his new wife does not relish the prospect of a caravan journey so she goes to visit her brother, while he sets out to explore the countryside and go house-hunting. While learning to handle the horse and the caravan, he encounters a variety of eccentrics and country characters, and several unsuitable houses. It gradually emerges that the caravan contains a secret, and Mr Finchley finds himself in real trouble – until his wife comes to the rescue. This gentle comedy trilogy was a runaway bestseller on first publication in the 1930s and retains a timeless appeal today. It has been dramatized twice for BBC Radio, with the 1990 series regularly repeated.

An exuberant, life-affirming novel of taking your chances After a spur-of-the-moment day out with his boss’ daughter in celebration of his 21st birthday, Polycarp Jarvis decides to quit his Bristol-based junior government worker job. Newly emboldened, he embarks on an erratic, engaging and not always strictly legal course through life. Going from bus driver for the Red Dragon Motor Company to co-owner of a flying company, to seller of quack medicines, and eventually to media tycoon, Polycarp makes much of his luck along the way. Through ups and downs, his exuberance and charm carry him through. But what kind of person will he be by the end? This gentle coming-of-age story was hugely popular on first publication in the 1930s and retains a timeless appeal today.

How far could you go living in another’s shoes? In a mid-life moment, Paul Morison travels from America to England to discover his mother’s roots. A chance encounter and uncanny resemblance leads him to agree to assume the identity of a famous singer for a while. But it’s not just the unnerving attentions of the adoring public that he must deal with. Seeking to regain his freedom, Paul flees the length of Britain from Southampton to the Scottish Isles. On the run, he discovers he has let himself in for much more than he bargained. This gentle comic caper and love story was hugely popular on first publication in the 1930s and retains a timeless appeal today.

A life-affirming story of family and personal self-discovery When George, the eldest son of Matthew Silverman, announces he won’t follow his father’s footsteps as editor of the family-owned local newspaper, the family finds itself on a course for change. The newspaper has been going for nearly 100 years. With younger brother Alexander and sisters Loraine and Alison growing up fast too, and gradual progress in the world around them, can Matthew do what’s best for them all? This beautifully observed story of a loving family navigating generational change retains a timeless appeal today.

What’s going on behind the doors of Fountain Inn? When her employer suddenly disappears, young Grace Kirkstall finds herself accepting a new job at a new company in the same building – an oasis of tranquillity off the streets of London. Ben and Helen Brown’s startup company’s pitch is that, for a small consideration, they will help people out of their major and minor fixes. Their first big commission initiates Ben into the gentle art of house-breaking, and Helen into the mysteries of the Society for Progressive Rehabilitation… But for Grace, it will plunge her into more danger than she could ever have imagined. This leisurely, beautifully observed thriller marked Victor Canning’s entrée into crime fiction, and rewards with a thrilling finale - sure to delight fans of Agatha Christie’s Tommy and Tuppence.

Young Paul Ashcroft has travelled to the beautiful French Riviera. His goal: to make a lot of money. His methods: more than questionable. Following his motto ‘the world owes me a living’, he steals and swindles – using what he needs for himself and passing on the rest to those less fortunate. After coming across the beautiful Villa Triton, he disguises himself as M. Durobat, a middle-aged Frenchman, to inspect the villa and to pawn the owner’s ornaments and paintings. At the local Casino, he becomes acquainted with the rich ladies of the resort. As he steals their jewellery, he blames the robberies on 'Gringo the Greek', a small crook he knew a long time ago. But just as Paul's schemes and tricks start to be fruitful and he falls in love with the intriguing Elise Benoit, the real Gringo the Greek appears on the scene, ready to take on the cunning thief who has been blaming him all this time…

One is a 15-year-old boy, Samuel Miles, a.k.a. ‘Smiler’, wrongly convicted of theft and sent to a young offenders institution. The other is a cheetah, Yarra, a restless resident of Longleat Wildlife Park. Both are in danger from the outside world – and each other – but somehow their lives become inextricably bound up as they fight for survival on the edge of Salisbury Plain. A fast-moving and compassionate adventure story, The Runaways is the first book in Victor Canning's classic children's trilogy.

Fifteen-year-old Smiler is still on the run. Smiler is aiming to evade the police until his father, a ship’s cook, comes home to clear him of a crime he hasn't committed. Hitching a train to Scotland, he finds work as an animal caretaker within the grounds of a castle occupied by ‘the Laird’, Sir Alec Elphinstone. When the Laird leaves on a trip to London, Smiler discovers that thieves are planning to invade his employer's castle. Dare he go to the police for help?

Freckled fugitive Smiler is never far from trouble. After hitching a ride south, Smiler finds his way to North Devon and the estate of the 'The Duchess' – a former fairground fortune-teller who now runs a farm. Here, he stays and tends to circus animals housed for the winter. When a peregrine falcon, Fria, escapes, Smiler must search for ways of helping and recapturing the bird. In doing so, can he solve the problem that has kept him in hiding for so long? Or does more trouble await?

For many of us, drinking has become a destructive force in our lives, affecting our health, marriages, relationships, and careers. We desperately want to quit, but the thought of support groups, AA meetings, and lifestyle changes keeps us from taking action. To make matters worse, society labels us alcoholic, and we immediately feel a sense of hopelessness and impending doom. We imagine, or at least I did, a lifelong struggle, a daily fight, a constant vigilance to not take that first drink. If you want to free yourself to live life as you see fit, with passion, freedom, and excitement, free from thoughts and desires to drink forever, this book offers the solution.How To Stop Drinking Without AA was written to help people like you stop drinking without Alcoholic Anonymous. The solution is simple and the only one of its kind. It exposes the myth that quitting has to be difficult, painful, time consuming, or impossible. By explaining why you feel the need to drink, it outlines a simple step-by-step process that doesn't require willpower and removes the desire to drink forever. The process allows you to stop easily, immediately, painlessly, and permanently. I hope you read this book. It truly is the only book you'll need to get sober.

Millions of people worry that smoking marijuana is affecting their health, marriages, relationships, and careers. We desperately want to quit, but fear of withdrawals, boredom, lifestyle changes, and failure keep us from taking action. This book asks you to forget everything you've heard, everything you've read, and everything you've been told about how difficult it is to quit smoking pot. All your past failures, all your past attempts to stop smoking, put them aside; you only failed because you didn't have the right solution. This book gives you that solution. How To Stop Smoking Marijuana is an innovative step-by-step process, backed by science, that allows you to stop smoking weed forever. It exposes the myth that quitting has to be difficult, painful, time consuming, or impossible. By explaining why you feel the need to smoke marijuana, it outlines a simple process that doesn't require willpower and removes the desire to smoke weed forever. The process allows you to stop smoking marijuana easily, immediately, painlessly, and permanently. This book, without scare tactics, pain or rules, give you permanent freedom from marijuana. I hope you read this book. It truly is the only book you'll need to stop smoking marijuana.