The most popular books in English.
What books are currently the most popular and which are the all time classics? Here we present you with a mixture of those two criteria. We update this list once a month.

John Gardner
The Sunlight Dialogues is a 1972 novel by the American author John Gardner.

Michael J. Sandel
Justice: What's the right thing to do? is a 2009 book on political philosophy by Michael J. Sandel.

Whitley Strieber
The Hunger is a novel by Whitley Strieber. The plot involves a beautiful and wealthy vampire named Miriam Blaylock who takes human lovers and transforms them into vampire-human hybrids. The novel is unusual in that it deals with the practical considerations of vampirism, such as …

Joe R. Lansdale
The Two-Bear Mambo is a suspense\crime novel written by American author Joe R. Lansdale. It is the third book in the Hap and Leonard series of novels by Lansdale.

Winston Groom
Gump & Co. is a 1995 novel by Winston Groom. It is the sequel to his novel Forrest Gump, and the Academy Award-winning film Forrest Gump, with Tom Hanks. It was written to chronicle Forrest's life throughout the 1980s.

Spike Milligan
Spike Milligan's fourth volume of war memoirs, Mussolini: His Part in My Downfall, spans the landing in Salerno, Italy, September 23, 1943, to his being invalided. While this is only four months, the text is nearly as long as the three earlier volumes together. Although the …

J. G. Ballard
Running Wild is a novella by J. G. Ballard, first published in 1988. The novel takes the form of a detective novel, recounting the investigation of a mysterious massacre in suburbia through the diary of a forensic psychiatrist.

Carol Kendall
The Gammage Cup is a children's book by Carol Kendall. It was first published in 1959 in the United Kingdom as The Minnipins and in the United States as The Gammage Cup. It was later republished by Scholastic in November 1991 and by Harcourt in 2000. It tells the story of a race …

Jane Yolen
Wizard's Hall is a 1991 fantasy novel by Jane Yolen. The Harry Potter series, which began publishing eight years later, has many similarities. However, Yolen believes the similarities are coincidental.

Dennis Cooper
Frisk is a 1991 novel by Dennis Cooper. In 1995, the book was made into a film of the same name directed by Todd Verow.

Frank M. Robinson
The Dark Beyond the Stars is a 1991 science fiction novel by Frank M. Robinson. It is a Lambda Literary Award winner, published by Orb Books. It tells the story of a generational ship and its crew on a long mission to search for extraterrestrial life in the galaxy and the …

Martin Handford
Where's Wally?, published in the United States and Canada as Where's Waldo?, is the title of the first book in the Where's Wally? series, published in 1987. In the book, Wally travels to everyday places, where he sends postcards to the reader, and the reader must locate Wally in …

N. Scott Momaday
The Way to Rainy Mountain is a book by Pulitzer Prize winning author N. Scott Momaday. It is about the journey of Momaday's Kiowa ancestors from their ancient beginnings in the Montana area to their final war and surrender to the United States Cavalry at Fort Sill, and …

Emma Clayton
The Roar is a 2009 novel by British author Emma Clayton. It was published by Chicken House Publishing.

Brian Keene
They came to the deserted island to compete on a popular reality television show. Each one hoped to be the last to leave. Now they're just hoping to stay alive, because the island isn't deserted after all. Contestants are disappearing, but they aren't being eliminated by the …

Greg Keyes
The Final Prophecy is a novel in the New Jedi Order series, written by Greg Keyes. Published and released in 2003, it is the eighteenth installment of the series, which is set in the Star Wars universe.

James Patterson
Cool and glamorous, they appear to be a successful couple on a holiday. Yet Damian and Carrie Rose are psychopathic murderers for hire. On this picture-perfect vacation island, their target is Peter Macdonald, a dashing young American who forsakes a life of leisure to confront …

John D. MacDonald
The Dreadful Lemon Sky is the sixteenth novel in the Travis McGee series by John D. MacDonald. It is the 87th novel in The Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time as compiled by the Mystery Writers of America.

David Lipsky
Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself: A Road Trip with David Foster Wallace is a 2010 book by David Lipsky, about a five day road trip with the author David Foster Wallace. Lipsky, a novelist and contributing editor at Rolling Stone magazine, recounts his time spent …

Greg Keyes
Babylon 5: Deadly Relations – Bester Ascendant is a Babylon 5 novel by J. Gregory Keyes.

Philip Christian Stead
A Sick Day for Amos McGee is a children's picture book written by Philip C. Stead and illustrated by Erin E. Stead. The book was published in 2010 by Roaring Brook Press and depicts a loving relationship between a man and his friends, who happen to be animals. It shares a simple …

David Weber
The Shiva Option, published by Baen Books, is the sequel to David Weber and Steve White's military science fiction novel In Death Ground.

Suzanne Weyn
Reincarnation is a 2008 fantasy novel by American author Suzanne Weyn. The novel was released on January 1, 2008. It tells the story of a two lovers who attempt to find each other through the centuries. The narrative follows the action through time. The individuals are followed …

Kevin Boyle
An electrifying story of the sensational murder trial that divided a city and ignited the civil rights struggleIn 1925, Detroit was a smoky swirl of jazz and speakeasies, assembly lines and fistfights. The advent of automobiles had brought workers from around the globe to …

Yochai Benkler
With the radical changes in information production that the Internet has introduced, we stand at an important moment of transition, says Yochai Benkler in this thought-provoking book. The phenomenon he describes as social production is reshaping markets, while at the same time …

Sally Beauman
The Landscape of Love is the most recent novel published, since the critically acclaimed Rebecca's Tale, by British author Sally Beauman. It tells the tale of the Mortland girls – beautiful, but cold, Julia; remote and aloof Finn; and young ‘different’ Maisie – who come with …

Ngaio Marsh
Light Thickens is a detective novel by Ngaio Marsh; it is the thirty-second, and final, novel to feature Roderick Alleyn, and was first published in 1982. The plot concerns the murder of the lead actor in a production of Macbeth in London, and the novel takes its title from a …

Philip Pullman
The Scarecrow and his Servant is a children's novel by Philip Pullman, first published in 2004. It tells the story of a scarecrow who comes alive after being struck by lightning and sets out on a quest with Jack, an orphan he hires as his servant. As he goes on his quest he …

Joe Torre
The Yankee Years is a book written by Tom Verducci and Joe Torre. The book chronicles Torre's years as manager of Major League Baseball's New York Yankees from 1996 to 2007. It goes into great detail on Torre's relationship with the players, general manager Brian Cashman, team …

Bodie Thoene
Vienna Prelude is the first book of the Zion Covenant historical fiction series by Bodie and Brock Thoene. It won the ECPA Gold Medallion Award after being published in 2005.

Simon R. Green
Beyond the Blue Moon is a book published in 2000 that was written by Simon R. Green.

Stephen Hunter
Pale Horse Coming is a novel by Stephen Hunter published in 2001. It is his second book in the series featuring the character of Earl Swagger.

Nick Burd
The Vast Fields of Ordinary is a young adult gay novel by American author Nick Burd first published in 2009. The novel depicts the summer after high school graduation for a closeted suburban teenage boy, his openly lesbian new best friend, and the two boys he is interested in …

David Levien [director]
City of the Sun is a crime/suspense novel by David Levien, published by Random House Books. Levien is currently working on a film script of the book.

Frances Hardinge
Verdigris Deep is a children's fantasy novel by Frances Hardinge. It concerns three children who fall into the power of a "well witch" after stealing coins from a wishing well. They are given various powers to grant the wishes of others. While many of the wishes seem harmless …

Kate Constable
The Waterless Sea is the second book in The Chanters of Tremaris Trilogy by Kate Constable.

Kelly Gay
The Better Part of Darkness is a book published in 2009 that was written by Kelly Gay.

William Nicholson
Seeker is the first book in the Noble Warriors trilogy, written by William Nicholson.

Karin Slaughter
Fallen is a novel by bestselling author Karin Slaughter that combines characters from her Will Trent series and Grant County series. It is her eleventh full length novel. It was originally released in hardback in June 2011. Her other novels that combine the Will Trent and Grant …

Daphne du Maurier
'Like its heroine the book is possessed of such unforgettably vivid charm that one is seduced' L. S. Hilton, author of MaestraIn Regency London, the only way for a woman to succeed is to beat men at their own game. So when Mary Anne Clarke seeks an escape from her squalid …

John Jakes
The Warriors is a historical novel written by John Jakes and originally published in 1977. It is book six in a series known as The Kent Family Chronicles or the American Bicentennial Series. The novel mixes fictional characters with historical events and figures, to narrate the …

Charles G. Finney
The Circus of Dr. Lao is a novel written by Arizona newspaperman Charles G. Finney and illustrated by Boris Artzybasheff. It won one of the inaugural National Book Awards: the Most Original Book of 1935. Many later editions omit the illustrations.

R. M. Ballantyne
The Coral Island: A Tale of the Pacific Ocean is a novel written by Scottish author R. M. Ballantyne. One of the first works of juvenile fiction to feature exclusively juvenile heroes, the story relates the adventures of three boys marooned on a South Pacific island, the only …

Shelby Foote
Shiloh: A Novel is an historical novel about the American Civil War battle of that name, written in 1952 by Shelby Foote. It employs the first-person perspectives of several protagonists, Union and Confederate, to give a moment-by-moment depiction of the battle.

Donald Trump
Trump: The Art of the Deal is a 1987 book by business magnate Donald Trump, that is part memoir and part a business advice book. It reached #1 on the New York Times Bestseller list and held a position in the list for 51 weeks. It was the first book by Donald Trump. Trump was …

A. J. P. Taylor
The Origins of the Second World War is a non-fiction book by the English historian A. J. P. Taylor, examining the causes of World War II. It was first published in 1961 by Hamish Hamilton.

Christopher Hitchens
Love, Poverty, and War: Journeys and Essays is a collection of essays and reportage by author, journalist and literary critic Christopher Hitchens. The title of the book is explained in the introduction, which informs the reader that "an antique saying has it that a man's life …

Scott Westerfeld
The Killing of Worlds is a science fiction novel by Scott Westerfeld. The events detailed below immediately follow those of the novel The Risen Empire. Imperial Captain Laurent Zai is sent on a suicide mission to defeat an incursion by the Rix, a space-faring nation who worship …

Danielle Steel
Passion's Promise is a 1977 novel by Danielle Steel also published under the title Golden Moments.

Shashi Tharoor
The Great Indian Novel is a satirical novel by Shashi Tharoor. It is a fictional work that takes the story of the Mahabharata, the epic of Hindu mythology, and recasts and resets it in the context of the Indian Independence Movement and the first three decades post-independence. …

Rael Dornfest
Google Hacks: Tips & Tools for Smarter Searching is a book of tips about Google, a popular Web search engine, by Tara Calishain and Rael Dornfest. It was listed in the New York Times top ten business paperbacks in May 2003, considered at the time to be "unprecedented" for a …

Michael Dibdin
Blood Rain is a novel by Michael Dibdin, and is the seventh entry in the popular Aurelio Zen series.

E. C. Bentley
Trent's Last Case is a detective novel written by E.C. Bentley and first published in 1913. Its central character reappeared subsequently in the novel Trent's Own Case and the short-story collection Trent Intervenes.

Pat Barker
Double Vision is a novel by Pat Barker, published in 2003. The Observer described the book as a "strongly written, oddly constructed new novel".

Hugh Brogan
The Penguin History of the United States of America is a non-fiction book about the history of the United States written by Hugh Brogan and published by Penguin Books. It was originally titled The Longman History of the United States of America, published by the Longman company …

Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Land That Time Forgot is a fantasy novel by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, the first of his Caspak trilogy. His working title for the story was "The Lost U-Boat." The sequence was first published in Blue Book Magazine as a three-part serial in the issues for …

Barry Hughart
When I got out of Andover in the 1950s I suffered from fairly severe depression, but this was back when the only such term recognized by the medical profession was “depressive” following “manic” which was one bad gig until some genius renamed it “bipolar disorder” and after that …

Sarah Ash
Children of the Serpent Gate is a book published in 2005 that was written by Sarah Ash.

Greg Keyes
A Calculus of Angels is the second book in Gregory Keyes' The Age of Unreason series. It was initially published by Del Rey on March 30, 1999. A follow up to Newton's Cannon, the book is set in 1722 and continues the alternate history where Isaac Newton discovers that alchemy …

Dominick Dunne
Jules Mendelson is wealthy. Astronomically so. He and his wife lead the kind of charity-giving, art-filled, high-society life for which each has been carefully groomed. Until Jules falls in love with Flo March, a beautiful actress/waitress. What Flo discovers about the superrich …

Greg Bear
A starship hurtles through the emptiness of space. Its destination-unknown. Its purpose-a mystery. Now, one man wakes up. Ripped from a dream of a new home-a new planet and the woman he was meant to love in his arms-he finds himself wet, naked, and freezing to death. The dark …

Jaan Kross
Timo von Bock's release by the Czar from nine years' incarceration does not spell the end of the Baron's troubles: he is confined to his Livonian estate to live under the constant eye of police informers planted among his own household, and is subjected to endless humiliations. …

E. L. Doctorow
Loon Lake is a 1980 novel by E. L. Doctorow. The plot of the novel is mostly set on Loon Lake in the Adirondacks during the Depression. The novel is one of the more experimental works of Doctorow, incorporating a great variety of different techniques, many of which are used for …

Peter David
Babylon 5: Legions of Fire – The Long Night of Centauri Prime is a Babylon 5 novel by Peter David.

Upamanyu Chatterjee
English, August: An Indian Story is a novel by Indian author Upamanyu Chatterjee written in English, first published in 1988. It was adapted into a film of the same name in 1994.

John le Carré
The Naïve and Sentimental Lover is John le Carré's sixth novel and his only non-genre novel. The story has autobiographical elements, as it is based on the author's relationship with James and Susan Kennaway following the breakdown of le Carré's first marriage. The novel was …

Sid Fleischman
By The Great Horn Spoon! is a children's novel by Sid Fleischman, published in 1963. The story takes place in the California Gold Rush. A twelve-year-old boy named Jack, who has lived with his Aunt Arabella since his parents died, heads to California to search for gold after …

Philip Kerr
Gridiron is a science fiction novel written by British author Philip Kerr. It is a story about a highly technical building, which becomes self-aware and tries to kill everyone inside, confusing real life with a video game.

Ann Rinaldi
An Acquaintance with Darkness is a historical fiction novel by Ann Rinaldi. It is part of the Great Episodes series. It is told in first-person narration.

Michelle de Kretser
The Lost Dog is a 2007 novel by Australian writer Michelle de Kretser.

F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Crack-Up is a collection of essays by American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. It consists of previously unpublished letters, notes and also three essays originally written for and published first in the Esquire magazine during 1936. It was compiled and edited by Edmund Wilson …

Joyce Carol Oates
Sexy is a novel by Joyce Carol Oates. First published in 2005, it is her fourth book written for young adults. The book's themes of pedophilia, homosexuality, and pre-marital sex as well as its adult language have caused it to be the source of attempts to ban the book from …

John Barnes
A Million Open Doors is a science fiction novel, the first book of the Thousand Cultures series, by John Barnes. The story is told from the perspective of a maturing adult from a parochial culture who encounters many obstacles in a different and even more parochial culture which …

Lawrence Durrell
Bitter Lemons is an autobiographical work by writer Lawrence Durrell, describing the three years he spent on the island of Cyprus. The book was awarded the Duff Cooper Prize for 1957, the second year the prize was awarded.

Enid Blyton
Five Run Away Together is the third book in the Famous Five series by the British author Enid Blyton.

Lemmy Kilmister
White Line Fever is the 2002 autobiography of Lemmy, the founder of Motörhead.

Michael Moorcock
The War Hound and the World's Pain is a 1981 fantasy novel by Michael Moorcock, the first of the "von Bek" series of novels. The book is set in Europe ravaged by the Thirty Years' War. Its hero Ulrich von Bek is a mercenary and freethinker, who finds himself a damned soul in a …

Oscar Wilde
A Woman of No Importance is a play by Irish playwright Oscar Wilde. The play premièred on 19 April 1893 at London's Haymarket Theatre. Like Wilde's other society plays, it satirizes English upper class society. It has been performed on stages in Europe and North America since …

Julian Barnes
Cross Channel is a collection of short stories by Julian Barnes, first published in 1996 by Jonathan Cape. As the title suggests, all stories focus on the connection between England and France.

Gore Vidal
Kalki is an 1978 pre/post-apocalyptic novel by American author Gore Vidal. It was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1978.

James Baldwin
Going to Meet the Man, published in 1965, is a short story collection by American writer James Baldwin. The book, dedicated "for Beauford Delaney", covers many topics related to anti-Black racism in American society, as well as African-American–Jewish relations, childhood, the …

Dino Buzzati
Sessanta racconti is a 1958 short story collection by the Italian writer Dino Buzzati. The first 36 stories had been published previously, while the rest were new. Subjects covered include the horror and surreality of life in a modern city, the existential aspects of advanced …

Harry Turtledove
Drive to the East is the second book in Harry Turtledove's Settling Accounts series of alternate history novels. It is set in an analog of World War II known as the Second Great War in North America, fought between the United States and Confederate States. It was released in …

John Holt
How Children Fail is a non-fiction book by John Holt, published in 1964 and republished in 1982 in a revised edition. It has sold over a million copies. In this book he cites personal teaching and research experiences that led him to the belief that traditional schooling does …

Don DeLillo
Running Dog is a 1978 novel by Don DeLillo. At its center is a rumored pornographic film of Adolf Hitler, purportedly filmed in his bunker in the climactic days of Berlin's fall. The novel follows a journalist as she tries to penetrate a murky black market of wealthy erotic-art …

Elisabeth Freeman
Head First HTML with CSS XHTML is a book written by Elisabeth Freeman and Eric Freeman.

Lyman Frank Baum
The Tin Woodman of Oz: A Faithful Story of the Astonishing Adventure Undertaken by the Tin Woodman, Assisted by Woot the Wanderer, the Scarecrow of Oz, and Polychrome, the Rainbow's Daughter is the twelfth Land of Oz book written by L. Frank Baum and was originally published on …

David McCullough
Brave Companions: Portraits in History is a 1991 book by American historian David McCullough. The book consists of previously published essays, most of which are biographical portraits of a specific historical figure or group of figures. It is divided into five sections.

Rosemary Sutcliff
The Silver Branch is a historical adventure novel for children written by Rosemary Sutcliff and published in 1957, with illustrations by Charles Keeping. Set in Britain in the last decade of the 3rd century, it is the story of Justin and Flavius, two cousins in the Roman legions …

E. E. "Doc" Smith
The Skylark of Space by Edward E. "Doc" Smith was written between 1915 and 1921 while Smith was working on his doctorate. Though the original idea for the novel was Smith's, he co-wrote the first part of the novel with Lee Hawkins Garby, the wife of his college classmate and …

George V. Higgins
The Friends of Eddie Coyle, published in 1972, was the debut novel of George V. Higgins, then an Assistant United States Attorney in Boston. The novel is a realistic depiction of the Irish-American underworld in Boston. Its central character is the title character Eddie Coyle, a …

Dan Rhodes
Anthropology: And a Hundred Other Stories is a book by British author Dan Rhodes published in 2000 by Fourth Estate. It has since been republished by Canongate who have made it available as an ebook. It consists of 101 tales; each of 101 words, all about girlfriends and has been …

Nancy Kress
Probability Moon is a 2000 science fiction novel by Nancy Kress. The novel concerns a xenological expedition to the planet World, where aliens live who have developed a strange form of telepathy or collective unconscious, "shared reality", which causes piercing "head-pain" …

William S. Burroughs
Interzone is a collection of short stories and other early works by William S. Burroughs. The collection was first published by Viking Penguin in 1989, although several of the stories had already been printed elsewhere, including an earlier publication titled Early Routines. The …

Gene Wolfe
Soldier of Sidon is a 2006 fantasy novel by Gene Wolfe. It forms the third part of the Soldier series of books, with two preceding novels, Soldier of the Mist and Soldier of Arete. Soldier of Sidon continues the adventures of the Soldier series's protagonist, Latro, in Egypt at …

Ian MacDonald
The Dervish House is a 2010 science fiction novel by Ian McDonald. The novel was shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award in 2011, and won the BSFA Award and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award in the same year. It was a nominee for the 2011 Hugo Award for Best Novel.

Alister McGrath
The Dawkins Delusion? Atheist Fundamentalism and the denial of the divine is a book by Christian theologian Alister McGrath and psychologist Joanna Collicutt McGrath. It is written from a Christian perspective as a response to arguments put forth in The God Delusion by Richard …

John D. MacDonald
A Tan and Sandy Silence is the thirteenth novel in the Travis McGee series by John D. MacDonald. The plot begins with Harry Broll, husband of McGee's longtime friend Mary, shows up at his houseboat The Busted Flush with a gun, threatening McGee and accusing him of hiding Mary …

Richard Dreyfuss
The Two Georges is an alternate history novel co-written by science fiction author Harry Turtledove and Oscar-winning actor Richard Dreyfuss. It was originally published in 1995 by Hodder & Stoughton in the United Kingdom, and in 1996 by Tor Books in the United States, and …

Elaine Cunningham
Dark Journey is the tenth installment of the New Jedi Order series set in the Star Wars universe. The novel, written by Elaine Cunningham, was published in 2002.

Aaron Allston
Exile is the fourth book in the Legacy of the Force series, and is written by Aaron Allston. It was released on February 27, 2007 in paperback form. The story takes place in the Star Wars Expanded Universe, 40 years after the Battle of Yavin.

Sean Williams
Force Heretic: Remnant is the first novel in a three-part story by Sean Williams and Shane Dix. Published and released in 2003, it is the fifteenth installment of the New Jedi Order series set in the Star Wars galaxy.

Stephen Jay Gould
The Lying Stones of Marrakech is the ninth volume of collected essays by the Harvard paleontologist, Stephen Jay Gould. The essays were culled from his monthly column "The View of Life" in Natural History magazine, to which Gould contributed for 27 years. The book deals, in …

Danielle Steel
On Sarah Whitfield's seventy-fifth birthday, memories take her back to New York in the 1930s. To a marriage that ends after a year, leaving Sarah shattered. A trip to Europe with her parents does little to raise her spirits, until she meets William, Duke of Whitfield. In time, …

Andrew Holleran
Grief is a novel by American author Andrew Holleran, published in 2006. The novel takes place in Washington D.C., following the personal journey of a middle-aged, gay man dealing with the death of his mother. The novel received the 2007 Stonewall Book Award.

Alistair MacLean
The Golden Rendezvous is a novel written by Scottish author Alistair MacLean, and was first published in 1962. One of MacLean's most popular works, it combines mystery, suspense, action, clever bluffs and double bluffs, with MacLean's trademark self-deprecating wit.

Rosemary Sutcliff
Sword at Sunset is a best-selling 1963 novel by Rosemary Sutcliff. One of her few historical novels written specifically for adults, it is her interpretation of the legend of King Arthur. This is the first novel that Sutcliff wrote using a first-person singular point of view for …

Karen Traviss
The World Before was written by Karen Traviss and was published in October 2005. It is the third book in the Wess'Har Series.

Frank De Felitta
Audrey Rose is a novel written by Frank De Felitta, published in 1975. about a couple confronted with the idea that their young daughter might be the reincarnation of another man's child. The book was inspired by an incident in which De Felitta's young son began displaying …

Rex Stout
Three Doors to Death is a collection of Nero Wolfe mystery novellas by Rex Stout, published by the Viking Press in 1950 — itself collected in the omnibus volume Five of a Kind. The book comprises three stories that first appeared in The American Magazine: "Man Alive" "Omit …

Glen Cook
Old Tin Sorrows is the fourth novel in Glen Cook's ongoing Garrett P.I. series. The series combines elements of mystery and fantasy as it follows the adventures of private investigator Garrett.

Andrew Clements
Things Hoped For is a young adult book by Andrew Clements. Released in 2006 by Philomel Books, the book is a sequel to Things Not Seen and is followed by Things That Are.

Elena Ferrante
A modern masterpiece from one of Italy’s most acclaimed authors, My Brilliant Friend is a rich, intense, and generous-hearted story about two friends, Elena and Lila. Ferrante’s inimitable style lends itself perfectly to a meticulous portrait of these two women that is also the …

Stephen Hunter
The 47th Samurai is a 2007 thriller novel, and the fourth in the Bob Lee Swagger series by Stephen Hunter. In narrative sequence it is preceded by Point of Impact, Black Light, and Time to Hunt.

Eva Ibbotson
Dial-a-Ghost is a 1996 children's novel written by Eva Ibbotson and illustrated by Kevin Hawkes. It is centered on an orphan named Oliver, who inherits Helton Hall, and whose cousins Frieda and Fulton Snodde-Brittle want to kill him because he is the rightful owner of Helton …