All Graded Readers

Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Ghosts International: Troll and Other Stories

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In Sweden, nobody wants a troll to come into their garden, but how do you stop them? On a lonely road at night in Oman, Abdul's car breaks down and he takes a ride with a stranger, but perhaps it is safer to walk. In England some young people play a scary game, and in Asia, a soldier returns home - at last.

Every country in the world has stories about ghosts and spirits and monsters of one kind or another. Some people believe in ghosts, and some don't - but everyone enjoys a good ghost story.

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Dominoes One Jake's Parrot

Paul Hearn and Yetis Ozkan
Retold by John Escott

When Jake Stevens goes to work for some months in Ireland, he feels happy. He loves travelling, and talking about his job - making computer games for BananaTech in America.

'Your new game's going to be the best thing at the Irish Computer Games Show!' people at BananaTech Ireland tell him.

But living with a noisy parrot isn't easy, and when Jake asks the most beautiful girl at work out to dinner, she says 'no'.

Then someone steals Jake's game the night before the show. Who - or what - can help him to get it back?

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Dominoes One Mystery in Muscat

Julie Till

'How long is she in Oman for?'

'Ten days. And then they want to take her back home.'

'Ah, yes. But she's not going back to London. They're never going to see her again!'

Jamie and Taymour overhear this strange conversation near their homes in Muscat. Two men want to kill an important visitor, it seems. But who is the woman in danger? And what can the boys do to save her?

Can they, their sisters Sarah and Nadine, and their Australian friend Ruth find the answer to the mystery?

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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 The Mysterious Death of Charles Bravo

Tim Vicary

STAGE 3 - True Stories

Charles Bravo died from the poison antimony. He took three days to die, and the doctors could do nothing to help him.

There were three people who had reasons for wanting Charles Bravo dead - Florence Bravo herself, Charles Bravo's new young wife; Dr James Gully, Florence's former lover; and Mrs Jane Cox, Florence's friend and companion.

But the enquiry into the death in 1876 could not decide who the murderer was, and for more than 130 years people have wondered who did kill Charles Bravo ...

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Oxford Bookworms Library Starter Dead Man's Money

John Escott

When Cal Dexter rents one of the Blue Lake Cabins, he finds $3000 - under the floor! He doesn't know it, but it is the money from a bank robbery. A dead man's money.

'Do I take it to the police?' he thinks. But three more people want the money, and two of them are dangerous.

Can Cal stop them?

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Dominoes Three Sherlock Holmes: The Sign of Four

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Text adaptation by Jeremy Page

Miss Mary Morstan has a strange story to tell.

Since her father disappeared, she has received a large pearl through the post on the same day, every year, for six years. Who is sending them? And what about her father's paper with the words 'The Sign of Four' written on it?

Sherlock Holmes alone can solve these mysteries.

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Dominoes Three The Secret Agent

Joseph Conrad
Text adaptation by Lesley Thompson

Adolf Verloc is a double agent, working for both the British police and a foreign country. He pretends to live a normal life, with his wife, Winnie, and has a shop in London, which, at night, becomes a meeting place for anarchists. One day Verloc is told to plant a bomb - but the plan goes terribly wrong

Does Verloc really love Winnie, or is she just part of his cover? Can Winnie ever forgive him? Who is Verloc really working for?

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Dominoes One Sherlock Holmes: The Emerald Crown

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Text adaptation by Janet Hardy-Gould

A man from the British royal family leaves an expensive gold and emerald crown at Holder and Stevenson's - one of the best banks in London. When someone tries to take the crown from Mr Holder's desk, he asks Sherlock Holmes for help. Who wants the crown and why? Only Sherlock can find the answers.

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Dominoes Three The Count of Monte Cristo

Alexandre Dumas
Text adaptation by Clare West

Marseille, France, 1815. It is Edmond Dantès' wedding day. But his enemies have other plans, and Edmond is arrested and sent to the terrible island prison of Château d'If. For fourteen long years he waits for the right moment to escape.

And now Edmond is a rich man, with many disguises, and a new name. The Count of Monte Cristo begins his revenge...

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Dominoes Starter Kidnap!

John Escott

One cold winter morning, a famous movie star and her teenage daughter are driving along a country road...

A blue van is waiting for them. Tom is in the van, but he's not a kidnapper - he's an artist. He usually draws pictures for adventure stories. Now he's in a real life adventure.

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Dominoes Starter The Big Story

John Escott

'Bring me something new and exciting. Bring me a BIG story!' says Rosie's editor at The Record newspaper.

And, when she leaves the office, Rosie does find a story. A story that is bigger then she expects. A story that takes her across Europe, into a dangerous world of art and art thieves.

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Dominoes Three The Moonstone

Wilkie Collins
Text adaptation by Merinda Wilson

The Moonstone is a beautiful yellow diamond that was stolen from the statue of a Moon god in India. When Franklin Blake brings it to Rachel Verinder's house in Yorkshire for her birthday, it brings bad luck with it.

How many people will the Moonstone hurt? How many must die before the diamond's revenge is complete?

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Dominoes Two Sherlock Holmes: The Norwood Mystery

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Text adaptation by Jeremy Page

'For me, Watson, life is not so interesting,' says Holmes.
'I loved to read the newspaper, hoping to find some news of an interesting crime for me to investigate or a dangerous criminal for me to catch. Where are all those clever criminals these days?'

Then, suddenly, a wild, excited young man runs up the stairs to Holmes' room. He has a story to tell about a strange crime that took place in Norwood. But who is the criminal? And is he dangerous? Life, for Holmes, suddenly starts to get interesting.

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Dominoes One Deep Trouble

Lesley Thompson

Amy and Matt are bored. They don't want to study for their exams. They want to have a good time. So they drive to the marina at West Palm Beach, and Matt jumps onto one of the boats. 'We can go anywhere!' he jokes.

But when the owners of the boat come back and find them, Amy and Matt are in deep trouble. Matt is a good swimmer and enjoys scuba-diving, but now he must dive for their lives.

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Dominoes One The Curse of the Mummy

Joyce Hannam

For thousands of years the dead body of the young king Tutankhamun slept under the sands of Egypt. Then, in the autumn of 1922, Howard Carter and his friends find and open his tomb door. These are exciting times, and Carter's young helper Tariq tells the story in his diary.

But soon people begin to die. Who or what is the killer? Is Tutankhamun angry with them for opening his tomb? And who is the beautiful French girl with the face of Tutankhamun's long-dead wife?

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Dominoes One Sherlock Holmes: The Blue Diamond

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Text adaptation by Bill Bowler

'He's an intelligent man. He was once rich and is now poor. His wife loved him once, but she doesn't love him now. And he's thirty or forty years old.'

One look at an old hat, and Sherlock Holmes can tell you a lot about its owner. He sees - and thinks - a lot more than the people around him, and when a beautiful blue diamond disappears, Sherlock is the only man in London who can find it.

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Dominoes One The Real McCoy & Other Ghost Stories

Lesley Thompson

'Are you scared, Gordon?' asks Heather.

Four friends talk of ghosts in a hotel in Scotland. That night Gordon sees and hears something strange in his room. But is it really the ghost of Lord McCoy?

These six stories tell of ghosts - friendly, sad, and bad - from Britain, Australia, New Zealand, America - and Egypt!

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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 5 Bestseller Pack

Pack contains one copy of each of the following eight titles:

Brat Farrar
David Copperfield
Deadlock
Far from the Madding Crowd
Ghost Stories
Great Expectations
Sense and Sensibility
Wuthering Heights

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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 6 Bestseller Pack

Pack contains one copy of each of the following eight titles:

American Crime Stories
Cry Freedom
The Enemy
Jane Eyre
Night Without End
Oliver Twist
Pride and Prejudice
Tess of the d'Urbervilles

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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 Goldfish

Raymond Chandler
Retold by Christine Lindop

STAGE 3 - Crime & Mystery

The Leander pearls were stolen nineteen years ago. The thief was caught, but the pearls were never found, and there is still a $25,000 reward for anyone who finds them. Then somebody comes to private detective Carmady with a story about a guy who knows where the pearls are hidden.

Carmady agrees to talk to the guy who says he knows. But he finds him dead in his bed, with burned feet, and it seems there are quite a lot of people in Los Angeles who have heard the story, and who are out looking for the Leander pearls . . .

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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 5 King's Ransom

Ed McBain
Retold by Rosalie Kerr

STAGE 5 - Crime & Mystery

'Calling all cars, calling all cars. Here's the story on the Smoke Rise kidnapping. The missing boy is eight years old, fair hair, wearing a red sweater. His name is Jeffry Reynolds, son of Charles Reynolds, chauffeur to Douglas King.'

The police at the 87th Precinct hate kidnappers. And these kidnappers are stupid, too. They took the wrong boy - the chauffeur's son instead of the son of the rich tycoon, Douglas King. And they want a ransom of $500,000.

A lot of money. But it's not too much to pay for a little boy's life . . . is it?

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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 5 The Dead of Jericho

Colin Dexter
Retold by Clare West

STAGE 5 - Crime & Mystery

Chief Inspector Morse is drinking a pint of beer. He is thinking about an attractive woman who lives not far away. The woman he is thinking of is hanging, dead, from the ceiling of her kitchen. On the floor lies a chair, almost two metres away from the woman's feet.

Chief Inspector Morse finishes his pint, and orders another. Perhaps he will visit Anne, after all. But he is in no particular hurry.

Meanwhile, Anne is still hanging in her kitchen, waiting for the police to come and cut her down. She is in no hurry, either.

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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3 The Last Sherlock Holmes Story

Michael Dibdin
Retold by Rosalie Kerr

STAGE 3 - Crime & Mystery

For fifty years after Dr Watson's death, a packet of papers, written by the doctor himself, lay hidden in a locked box. The papers contained an extraordinary report of the case of Jack the Ripper and the horrible murders in the East End of London in 1888. The detective, of course, was the great Sherlock Holmes - but why was the report kept hidden for so long?

This is the story that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle never wrote. It is a strange and frightening tale . . .

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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 6 Deadheads

Reginald Hill
Retold by Rosalie Kerr

STAGE 6 - Crime & Mystery

An English rose garden on a summer's day. A small boy watches with interest as his great-aunt cuts the deadheads off the rosebushes with a sharp knife. What could be more peaceful, more harmless?

Young Patrick grows up to be a calm, pleasant man, with a good job, a wife and two children, and the best rose garden for miles around. When somebody tells the police that Patrick Aldermann is killing people, Chief Superintendent Dalziel thinks it's probably all nonsense. But Inspector Pascoe is not so sure . . .

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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 The Murders in the Rue Morgue

Edgar Allan Poe
Retold by Jennifer Bassett

STAGE 2 - Crime & Mystery

The room was on the fourth floor, and the door was locked - with the key on the inside. The windows were closed and fastened - on the inside. The chimney was too narrow for a cat to get through. So how did the murderer escape? And whose were the two angry voices heard by the neighbours as they ran up the stairs? Nobody in Paris could find any answers to this mystery.

Except Auguste Dupin, who could see further and think more clearly than other people. The answers to the mystery were all there, but only a clever man could see them.

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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 A Morbid Taste For Bones

Ellis Peters
Retold by John Escott

STAGE 4 - Crime & Mystery

Murder in the twelfth century is no different from murder today. There is still a dead body, though this time with an arrow through the heart instead of a bullet. There is still a need to bury the dead, to comfort the living - and to catch the murderer.

When Brother Cadfael comes to a village in the Welsh hills, he finds himself doing all three of those things. And there is nothing simple about this death. The murdered man's daughter needs Cadfael's help in more ways than one. There are questions about the arrow. And the burial is the strangest thing of all . . .

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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 The Big Sleep

Raymond Chandler
Retold by Rosalie Kerr

STAGE 4 - Crime & Mystery

General Sternwood has four million dollars, and two young daughters, both pretty and both wild. He's an old, sick man, close to death, but he doesn't like being blackmailed. So he asks private detective Philip Marlowe to get the blackmailer off his back.

Marlowe knows the dark side of life in Los Angeles well, and nothing much surprises him. But the Sternwood girls are a lot wilder than their old father realizes. They like men, drink, drugs - and it's not just a question of blackmail.

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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 Death of an Englishman

Magdalen Nabb
Retold by Diane Mowat

STAGE 4 - Crime & Mystery

It was a very inconvenient time for murder. Florence was full of Christmas shoppers and half the police force was already on holiday.

At first it seemed quite an ordinary murder. Of course, there are always a few mysteries. In this case, the dead man had been in the habit of moving his furniture at three o'clock in the morning. Naturally, the police wanted to know why. The case became more complicated. But all the time, the answer was right under their noses. They just couldn't see it. It was, after all, a very ordinary murder.

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Oxford Bookworms Library Starter Bestseller Pack

Pack contains one copy of each of the following ten titles:

Girl on a Motorcycle
New York Café
Drive into Danger
The Fifteenth Character
Mystery in London
Sally's Phone
Escape
Taxi of Terror
Robin Hood
Survive!

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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 Sherlock Holmes and the Sport of Kings

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Retold by Jennifer Bassett

STAGE 1 - Crime & Mystery

Horseracing is the sport of kings, perhaps because racehorses are very expensive animals. But when they win races, they can make a lot of money too - money for the owners, for the trainers, and for the people who put bets on them to win.

Silver Blaze is a young horse, but already the winner of many races. One night he disappears from his stables, and someone kills his trainer. The police want the killer, and the owner wants his horse, but they can't find them. So what do they do?

They write to 221B Baker Street, London, of course - to ask for the help of the great detective, Sherlock Holmes.

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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 Sherlock Holmes: Two Plays

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Retold by John Escott

STAGE 1 - Playscripts

Sherlock Holmes is the greatest detective the world has ever seen, and he knows it. As the famous bank-robber, John Clay, says to him, 'You think of everything, Mr Holmes. You're very clever.' People come to him with problems that no one, not even the police, can solve. Holmes sits, and thinks, and smokes his pipe, and in the end he finds the answer.

In these plays, based on two of his stories, Holmes, helped by his old friend, Dr Watson, uses his great intelligence to solve two unusual and interesting cases.

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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 Sister Love and Other Crime Stories

John Escott

STAGE 1 - Crime & Mystery

Some sisters are good friends, some are not. Sometimes there is more hate in a family than there is love. Karin is beautiful and has lots of men friends, but she can be very unkind to her sister Marcia. Perhaps when they were small, there was love between them, but that was a long time ago.

They say that everybody has one crime in them. Perhaps they only take an umbrella that does not belong to them. Perhaps they steal from a shop, perhaps they get angry and hit someone, perhaps they kill . . .

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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Death in the Freezer

Tim Vicary

STAGE 2 - Crime & Mystery

Ellen Shore's family is an ordinary American family, and Ellen is six years old when her brother Al is born. Her parents are very pleased to have a son, but Ellen is not pleased, because now baby Al comes first.

And when they are adults, Al still comes first. He begins a rock band and makes records. Soon he is rich and famous - very rich, but he gives nothing to his sister Ellen. She has a difficult life, with three young kids and very little money. And she learns to hate her rich, famous, unkind brother...

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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 5 Deadlock

Sara Paretsky
Retold by Rowena Akinyemi

STAGE 5 - Crime & Mystery

V. I. Warshawski, private investigator, Chicago, USA.

People imagine private detectives to be tired-looking men in raincoats, but Vic is female. She's tough, beautiful, carries a gun - and goes on asking questions until she gets answers.

When her cousin Boom Boom dies in an accident, Vic is naturally upset. She wants to know how and why the accident happened, and she isn't satisfied by the answers she gets. So she goes on asking questions . . . and more people start to die.

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Oxford Bookworms Library Starter Police TV

Tim Vicary

STARTER - Crime & Mystery

'Every day someone steals money from people near the shops. We must stop this,' says Dan, a police officer.

The police use TV cameras but it is not easy because there are so many suspects - who is the robber?

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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 Bestseller Pack

Pack contains one copy of each of the following ten titles:

Black Beauty
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Gulliver's Travels
The Hound of the Baskervilles
Little Women
Silas Marner
A Tale of Two Cities
The Thirty-Nine Steps
Three Men in a Boat
Treasure Island

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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 6 American Crime Stories

Retold by John Escott

STAGE 6 - Crime & Mystery

'Curtis Colt didn't kill that liquor store woman, and that's a fact. It's not right that he should have to ride the lightning - that's what prisoners call dying in the electric chair. Curtis doesn't belong in it, and I can prove it.' But can Curtis's girlfriend prove it? Murder has undoubtedly been done, and if Curtis doesn't ride the lightning for it, then who will?

These seven short stories, by well-known writers such as Dashiel Hammett, Patricia Highsmith, and Nancy Pickard, will keep you on the edge of your seat.

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Oxford Bookworms Library Starter Girl on a Motorcycle

John Escott

STARTER - Crime & Mystery

'Give me the money,' says the robber to the Los Angeles security guard. The guard looks at the gun and hands over the money. The robber has long blond hair and rides a motorcycle - and a girl with long blond hair arrives at Kenny's motel - on a motorcycle. Is she the robber?

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Oxford Bookworms Library Starter Give us the Money

Maeve Clarke

STARTER - Crime & Mystery

'Every day is the same. Nothing exciting ever happens to me,' thinks Adam one boring Monday morning.

But today is not the same. When he helps a beautiful young woman because some men want to take her bag, life gets exciting and very, very dangerous.

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Oxford Bookworms Library Starter Mystery in London

Helen Brooke

STARTER - Crime & Mystery

Six women are dead because of the Whitechapel Killer. Now another woman lies in a London street and there is blood everywhere. She is very ill.

You are the famous detective Mycroft Pound; can you catch the killer before he escapes?

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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Bestseller Pack

Pack contains one copy of each of the following ten titles:

Anne of Green Gables
The Canterville Ghost
The Death of Karen Silkwood
Dracula
Henry VIII and his Six Wives
Huckleberry Finn
New Yorkers
The Piano
Robinson Crusoe
Sherlock Holmes Short Stories

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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 2 Sherlock Holmes Short Stories

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Retold by Clare West

STAGE 2 - Crime & Mystery

Sherlock Holmes is the greatest detective of them all. He sits in his room, and smokes his pipe. He listens, and watches, and thinks. He listens to the steps coming up the stairs; he watches the door opening - and he knows what question the stranger will ask.

In these three of his best stories, Holmes has three visitors to the famous flat in Baker Street - visitors who bring their troubles to the only man in the world who can help them.

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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 A Tale of Two Cities

Charles Dickens
Retold by Ralph Mowat

STAGE 4 - Classics

'The Marquis lay there, like stone, with a knife pushed into his heart. On his chest lay a piece of paper, with the words: Drive him fast to the grave. This is from JACQUES.'

The French Revolution brings terror and death to many people. But even in these troubled times people can still love and be kind. They can be generous and true-hearted . . . and brave.

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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 4 The Hound of the Baskervilles

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Retold by Patrick Nobes

STAGE 4 - Crime & Mystery

Dartmoor. A wild, wet place in the south-west of England. A place where it is easy to get lost, and to fall into the soft green earth which can pull the strongest man down to his death.

A man is running for his life. Behind him comes an enormous dog - a dog from his worst dreams, a dog from hell. Between him and a terrible death stands only one person - the greatest detective of all time, Sherlock Holmes.

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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 Love or Money?

Rowena Akinyemi

STAGE 1 - Crime & Mystery

It is Molly Clarkson's fiftieth birthday. She is having a party. She is rich, but she is having a small party - only four people. Four people, however, who all need the same thing: they need her money. She will not give them the money, so they are waiting for her to die. And there are other people who are also waiting for her to die.

But one person can't wait. And so, on her fiftieth birthday, Molly Clarkson is going to die.

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Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 1 Sherlock Holmes and the Duke's Son

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Retold by Jennifer Bassett

STAGE 1 - Crime & Mystery

Dr Huxtable has a school for boys in the north of England. When the Duke of Holdernesse decides to send his young son there, that is good news for the school. The Duke is a very important person, and Dr Huxtable is happy to have his son in the school.

But two weeks later Dr Huxtable is the unhappiest man in England. Why? And why does he take the train down to London and go to Baker Street? Why does he need the help of the famous detective Sherlock Holmes?

Because someone has kidnapped the Duke's son . . .

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Oxford Bookworms Collection A Tangled Web

Edited by Christine Lindop and Alison Sykes-McNulty

Deception is usually frowned on as morally unacceptable, but is it always wrong? Can hiding or distorting the truth sometimes have good effects, adding to the sum of human happiness? These ten stories are full of secrets and lies, from a light-hearted bit of fun to dark and desperate deceit; but whether harmless or evil, deception can sometimes lead to quite unexpected complications.

This collection contains stories by Ray Bradbury, Roald Dahl, Maeve Binchy, V.S. Naipaul, Somerset Maugham, Frederick Forsyth, Clare Boylan, Paul Theroux, Oscar Wilde, and Joanna Trollope.

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