Jacques Heath Futrelle (1875-1912) was an American journalist and mystery writer. He is best known for writing short detective stories featuring the "Thinking Machine," Professor Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen. He worked for the Atlanta Journal, where he began their sports section; the New York Herald; the Boston Post; and the Boston American. In 1905, his Thinking Machine character first appeared in a serialized version of The Problem of Cell 13. In 1895, he married fellow writer Lily May Peel, with whom he had two children. While returning from Europe aboard the RMS Titanic, Futrelle, a first-cabin passenger, refused to board a lifeboat insisting his wife board instead. He perished in the Atlantic. His works include: The Chase of the Golden Plate (1906), The Simple Case of Susan (1908), The Thinking Machine on the Case (1908), The Diamond Master (1909), Elusive Isabel (1909), The High Hand (1911), My Lady's Garter (1912), Blind Man's Bluff (1914).

Jacques Futrelle is best known for writing short detective stories featuring Professor Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen, also known as "The Thinking Machine" for his application of logic to any and all situations. A curiosity is that this author was one of the victims of the Titanic disaster. The critic August Nemo presents seven short stories specially selected: - The Problem of Cell 13 - The Thinking Machine - Five Millions by Wireless - Kidnapped Baby Blake, Millionaire - The Problem of the Motor Boat - The Problem of the Opera Box - The Problem of the Vanishing man

This book contains 350 short stories from 50 classic, prize-winning and noteworthy authors. Wisely chosen by the literary critic August Nemo for the book series 7 Best Short Stories, this omnibus contains the stories of the following writers: - Sheridan Le Fanu - H. and E. Heron - Charlotte Riddell - Flora Annie Steel - Amelia B. Edwards - Margaret Oliphant - Edward Bellamy - Arnold Bennett - S. Baring-Gould - Daniil Kharms - E.F. Benson - John Buchan - Ella D'Arcy - Jacques Futrelle - Frank Richard Stockton - John Kendrick Bangs - Kenneth Grahame - Julian Hawthorne - A. E. W. Mason - Richard Middleton - Pierre Louÿs - Sir Hugh Seymour Walpole - Ethel Richardson - Gertrude Stein - E. Phillips Oppenheim - Arthur Quiller-Couch - Mór Jókai - Andy Adams - Bertha Sinclair - Fitz James O'Brien - Eleanor H. Porter - Valery Bryusov - John Ulrich Giesy - Otis Adelbert Kline - Paul Laurence Dunbar - Frank Lucius Packard - Barry Pain - Gertrude Bennett - Francis Marion Crawford - William Pett Ridge - Gilbert Parker - Harriet Elizabeth Prescott Spofford - Elizabeth Garver Jordan - Richard Austin Freeman - Alice Duer Miller - Leonard Merrick - Anthony Hope - Ethel Watts Mumford - Anne O'Hagan Shinn - B. M. Bower

Suppose you were locked into one of the most secure prisons in America at the turn of the twentieth century. You've been put into solitary confinement, with periodic inspections by the warden, whom you'd informed that you would escape in less than a week. How would you communicate with the outside, how would you smuggle in tools and weapons, and how would you finally break out? This was the situation confronting Professor Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen, aka The Thinking Machine, in "The Problem of Cell 13," one of the most famous "locked-room" mysteries ever written. Eventually The Thinking Machine did escape, and his method is known to generations of fans. Less well known, however, is the fact that Jacques Futrelle wrote many other stories about this unique detective. This volume presents twelve tales of The Thinking Machine, adventures that concern a perfect alibi and a perfect accusation, an impossible theft of a container of radium, a precise sealed room mystery, a flaming phantom, and other "impossible" situations. Rich in Edwardian period flavor, the realistic tales anticipate many of the major developments in modern crime fiction.

This entertaining short story collection features Professor Augustus S.F.X. Van Dusen, nicknamed "The Thinking Machine"—a brilliant but abrasive scientist who proves time and again that any puzzle can be solved by the application of logic. Could you beat the world chess master in one try if you'd never played or studied the game? Or plot and execute a successful escape from an inescapable prison cell? And could you do it at the turn of the twentieth century, without benefit of modern technology? Sound impossible? Never use that word in the presence of The Thinking Machine—it angers him greatly and does not give him a favorable impression of the user. Professor Augustus S.F.X. Van Dusen knows that both feats are indeed possible, having accomplished them himself. But he also applies his superior intellect and deductive reasoning to more official ends—namely helping the police solve "impossible" crimes. With assistance from reporter Hutchinson Hatch, who is only too happy to suggest potential cases and then write about the outcome, The Thinking Machine proves that no puzzle is unsolvable—not corporate espionage, nor a kidnapped baby, nor a pilfered necklace, And certainly not a "perfect murder."

This book contains 25 short stories from 5 classic, prize-winning and noteworthy authors. The stories were carefully selected by the critic August Nemo, in a collection that will please the literature lovers.The theme of this edition is: Mystery and Detective. For more exciting titles, be sure to check out our 7 Best Short Stories and Essential Novelists collections. This book contains: - Jacques Futrelle. - H. and E. Heron. - Arthur Morrison. - John Ulrich Giesy. - Frank L. Packard.

This book contains70 short storiesfrom 10 classic, prize-winning and noteworthy authors. The stories were carefully selected by the criticAugust Nemo, in a collection that will please theliterature lovers. For more exciting titles, be sure to check out our 7 Best Short Stories and Essential Novelists collections. This book contains: - A. E. W. Mason:The Affair At The Semiramis Hotel The Clock Green Paint Ensign Knightley The Man Of Wheels The Coward Keeper Of The Bishop - Julian Hawthorne:David Poindexter's Disappearance. Ken's Mystery. When Half-gods Go, the Gods Arrive. Set Not Thy Foot on Graves. My Friend Paton. The Christmas Guest. The Laughing Mill - Kenneth Grahame:The Twenty-First of October Dies Irae Mutabile Semper The Magic Ring Its Walls Were as of Jasper A Saga of the Seas The Reluctant Dragon - John Kendrick Bangs:The Water Ghost Of Harrowby Hall The Spectre Cook Of Bangletop A Midnight Visitor The Speck On The Lens A Quicksilver Cassandra The Ghost Club A Psychical Prank - Frank R. Stockton:The Bee-Man Of Orn. The Griffin And The Minor Canon. Old Pipes And The Dryad. The Queen's Museum. Prince Hassak's March. The Battle Of The Third Cousins. The Banished King. - Jacques Futrelle:The Problem of Cell 13 The Thinking Machine Five Millions by Wireless Kidnapped Baby Blake, Millionaire The Problem of the Motor Boat The Problem of the Opera Box The Problem of the Vanishing man - Ella D'Arcy:Irremediable White Magic A Marriage In Normandy The Pleasure-Pilgrim The Web of Maya An Engagement - John Buchan:Politics and the Mayfly The Keeper of Cademuir The Wife of Flanders The Watcher by the Threshold Comedy in the Full Moon The Herd of Standlan - E. F. Benson:The Room in the Tower Caterpillars Mrs. Amworth Mr. Tilly's Séance Negotium Perambulans How Fear Departed from the Long Gallery The Horror-Horn - Daniil Kharms:Symphony no. 2 On phenomena and existences - No. 1 The thing Andrey Semyonovich An unexpected drinking bout The destiny of a professor's wife The memoirs of a wise old man