Lina, White, Ethel – The Bell Bookshop

The spiral staircase

Emma — Thu, 27 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

A chilling classic thriller from the 1930s in which a young woman is stalked about an isolated country house by a murderer

“Astonishing and diabolical shock. . . Required reading” – New York Herald Tribune

The Summit-a mansion buried deep in the countryside, on the Welsh Borders. Somewhere outside, a murderer lurks in the darkness. Four young women have already been killed, and each murder has been closer to the house than the last. . .

Now a storm is coming. Professor Warren decides to batten down the hatches for the night-no one may come in or go out until morning. But what if the killer is already inside?

This atmospheric classic brought Ethel Lina White to the attention of the world and went on to be adapted for the screen three times (1946, 1961, 1975).

A creepy, gothic thriller, this is another sensational rediscovery of the classic crime genre. The author, Ethel Lina White, was one of the best-known crime writers of the 1930s and 40s, ranking alongside greats of the Golden Age such as Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers. Many of her thrillers were adapted for film, most famously The Lady Vanishes (originally titled The Wheel Spins) which became one of Alfred Hitchcock’s greatest triumphs as a director.

The lady vanishes

Emma — Thu, 20 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The ingenious classic thriller behind Hitchcock’s famous film, set on a steam train travelling across 1930s Europe and boasting “intrigue, mystery, and spine-chilling horror” (Saturday Review)

First published as The Wheel Spins in 1936 and adapted for the screen by Alfred Hitchcock in 1938, Ethel Lina White’s The Lady Vanishes established the author as one of the greatest crime writers of the Golden Age.

After a summer holiday in a remote corner of Europe, the glamorous socialite Iris Carr is looking forward to returning to the comforts of home. But having stayed on at the resort after her friends’ departure, Iris now faces the journey home alone. On the train to Trieste, she is pleased to meet a kindly governness, Miss Froy, and strikes up a conversation. Iris warms to her companion, and is alarmed when she wakes from a sleep to find that Miss Froy has suddenly disappeared from the train without a trace. Worse still, she is horrified to discover that none of the other passengers on the train will admit to having ever seen such a woman.

Doubting her sanity and fearing for her life, Iris is determined to find Miss Froy before the train journey is over. Only one of her fellow passengers seems to believe her story. With his help, Iris begins to search the train for clues to the mystery of the vanished lady at the center of this ingenious classic thriller.

Fear stalks the village

Emma — Sat, 10 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Joan works as companion to Lady d'Arcy, living in at the huge mansion with its surrounding park. However, the village is not too small for Joan to have found a man whom she can love. Suddenly the peaceful surface of life is shattered as a poisonous letter is received by the town's most saintly citizen. It is followed by others; no-one is safe from the anonymous letter writer. With the letters comes death. In the anguished days that follow, Joan realises that she too is in danger. For to receive one of these letters could mean the end of her love - and her life.

The wheel spins

Emma — Mon, 10 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Iris Carr's holiday in the mountains of a remote corner of Europe has come to an end, and since her friends left two days before, she faces the journey home alone. Stricken by sunstroke at the station, Iris catches the express train to Trieste by the skin of her teeth and finds a companion in Miss Froy, an affable English governess. But when Iris passes out and reawakens, Miss Froy is nowhere to be found. The other passengers deny any knowledge of her existence and as the train speeds across Europe, Iris spirals deeper and deeper into a strange and dangerous conspiracy.