AustLit

Atmospheric account of a murder in an Australian bush but after a night of cards and gambling; the murderer's flight into a terrible storm, and his resultant madness and death. Heavily mood-filled piece. (PB)

Set in London, a tale of a daring gentlemanly thief's effrontery in returning a lost purse and robbing a drawing room. Light and humourous. (PB)

A child comes to a wharf daily with her grandfather to watch for the return of her dead sailor father. Tender. (PB)

Murder tale of a London solicitor in 1852. His unknown hypnotic power over his litigious clients led to the settlement of many cases. But one day his unconscious influence over a retired colonel subject to daily shame and dishonour from his coarse gambling wife results in a dreadful crime and sensational trial. Interesting style; begins with a description of the horse-drawn merchants' omnibus. (PB)

American tale of an enterprising secretary's decision to take his employer's theories and put them into action. His employer was an author of books on the equal distribution of wages to all classes ... Humour. (PB)

Honour among British soldiers in romance. Tale of a callous ungentlemanly English officer who proposes to a trusting girl for a bet at a Scottish hydropathic (health spa) - and then breaks off the engagement. His dishonourable actions are discovered by his regiment and he is obliged to resign his commission. (PB)

An impoverished London artist paints the portrait of a beautiful merchant's daughter - and finds himself painting also her twin sister, dead for 3 years but visible to him. The sittings are interrupted by the girl's illness and she dies soon after. Interesting blend of the everyday merchant and the visionary daughter. (PB)

A young doctor's unthinking remark helps a blind baby's parents adjust to her condition. Slight; parental love. (PB)

Narrative of attempted robbery of the Catholic church at Santa Cruz, Mexico by a band of robbers using an early morning funeral and a living corpse as their instrument ... Basic. (PB)

Daring jewel thief in English theatre in 1887, completed by impersonation of a Scotland Yard detective. One of Mrs Dewsbury's spectacular diamond bracelets is stolen at the theatre through a man impersonating a foreign ambassador, and its pair stolen from her house by a second impersonation. Light, parvenu status of the victims stressed. (PB)

Father's view of the tortures of sleeping with an infant - and its rewards. Domestic warmth. (PB)

The funeral procession for a baby brushes those on the streets it follows. Slight. (PB)

The murder of a prominent local doctor given to wearing diamonds and philandering throws suspicion on his latest mistress. She proves to be innocent and the apparition of the doctor's ghost at the door of his dissection room helps locate his body and identify the murderer ... Narrated by another doctor. (PB)

Account of Samuel Morse's exacting lesson in drawing from Benjamin West. Slight. (PB)

Dialogue of Blossom and a gentleman on a train over closing a window. Humour; thin. (PB)