Posted on March 29, 2026 by - 1DBKE, 1DDU-GB-E, 3JJG, 3MPBGJ, FA, FBC, FC, FIC002000, FIC004000, FIC014000, FIC016000, FIC043000, FIC051000, FIC058000, FIC066000, FJH, FU, FV, FXB, SOC026020, Social comedy, TRV026100, WEBFICTION, WND
Classic Canning 1
Mr Finchley Discovers His England
Victor Canning
Mr Edgar Finchley, unmarried clerk, aged 45, is told to take a holiday for the first time in his life. He decides to go to the seaside. But Fate has other plans in store…
From his abduction by a cheerful crook, to his smuggling escapade off the south coast, the timid but plucky Mr Finchley is plunged into a series of the most astonishing and extraordinary adventures.
His rural adventure takes him gradually westward through the English countryside and back, via a smuggling yacht, to London.
This gentle comedy trilogy was a runaway bestseller on first publication in the 1930s and retains a timeless appeal today. It has been dramatized twice for BBC Radio, with the 1990 series regularly repeated.
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Posted on March 29, 2026 by - 1.2.2.0.0.1.0, 1DBKE, 1DDF-FR-LAA, 1DDU-GB-E, 3JJG, 3MPBGJ, FA, FBC, FC, FIC000000, FIC002000, FIC004000, FIC014000, FIC016000, FIC066000, FJH, FU, FV, FXB, FXR, NAT000000, SOC026020, Social comedy, WEBFICTION, WND
Classic Canning 2
Mr Finchley Goes to Paris
Victor Canning
An ebullient Mr Finchley is about to propose marriage to a lady he had rescued from mishap, when he is sent to Paris by his firm.
There he manages to upset a boat, adopt a stray orphan and get himself kidnapped. The fine tangle he gets into takes some unravelling! Only when eventually back in London does he complete the proposal of marriage that was interrupted at the start.
This gentle comedy trilogy was a runaway bestseller on first publication in the 1930s and retains a timeless appeal today. It has been dramatized twice for BBC Radio, with the 1990 series regularly repeated.
Other books in the series
Posted on March 29, 2026 by - 1DBKE, 1DDU-GB-E, 3JJG, 3MPBGJ, FA, FBC, FC, FIC002000, FIC004000, FIC014000, FIC016000, FIC066000, FJH, FU, FV, FXB, FXR, NAT000000, SOC026020, Social comedy, TRV026100, WEBFICTION, WND, YAF002010
Classic Canning 3
Mr Finchley Takes the Road
Victor Canning
Mr Finchley takes a fancy to a horse-drawn caravan that he sees for sale, but his new wife does not relish the prospect of a caravan journey so she goes to visit her brother, while he sets out to explore the countryside and go house-hunting.
While learning to handle the horse and the caravan, he encounters a variety of eccentrics and country characters, and several unsuitable houses. It gradually emerges that the caravan contains a secret, and Mr Finchley finds himself in real trouble – until his wife comes to the rescue.
This gentle comedy trilogy was a runaway bestseller on first publication in the 1930s and retains a timeless appeal today. It has been dramatized twice for BBC Radio, with the 1990 series regularly repeated.
Other books in the series
Posted on March 29, 2026 by - 1DBKE, 3JJG, FA, FBC, FC, FIC000000, FIC002000, FIC004000, FIC014000, FIC016000, FIC066000, FJH, FV, NAT000000, NAT016000, PET006000, SOC026020, Social comedy, TRA002000, TRV026100, WEBFICTION, WGM, WND, WNGH, YAF002010
Classic Canning 4
The Improvised Life of Polycarp Jarvis
Victor Canning
An exuberant, life-affirming novel of taking your chances
After a spur-of-the-moment day out with his boss’ daughter in celebration of his 21st birthday, Polycarp Jarvis decides to quit his Bristol-based junior government worker job. Newly emboldened, he embarks on an erratic, engaging and not always strictly legal course through life.
Going from bus driver for the Red Dragon Motor Company to co-owner of a flying company, to seller of quack medicines, and eventually to media tycoon, Polycarp makes much of his luck along the way. Through ups and downs, his exuberance and charm carry him through.
But what kind of person will he be by the end?
This gentle coming-of-age story was hugely popular on first publication in the 1930s and retains a timeless appeal today.
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Posted on March 29, 2026 by - ANF, ATDF, FA, FBA, FIC002000, FIC014000, FIC032000, FJH, FJMS, FU, FV, PER011010, Social comedy, WEBFICTION
The Company of Fools 2
Miss Harris in the New World
Peter Maughan
The Red Lion production of ‘Love and Miss Harris’ is booked to tour America, opening in Manhattan.
On arrival the group finds that it’s not the Manhattan with the Great White Way of Broadway at its glittering heart, but the part between the Bowery and the East River, on the Lower East Side, in a vaudeville venue owned by a local mobster. And when members of a rival gang decide to disrupt the play, the action shifts from the theatre’s state to its auditorium…
Determined to fulfil the rest of their tour dates, the company heads west from New York. Try as they might to shake it off, trouble seems to follow them wherever they go.
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Posted on March 29, 2026 by - 1DBKE, 3JJG, FA, FBC, FC, FIC000000, FIC002000, FIC004000, FIC014000, FIC016000, FIC066000, FJH, FV, NAT000000, NAT016000, PET006000, SOC026020, Social comedy, TRA002000, TRV026100, WEBFICTION, WGM, WND, WNGH, YAF002010
Classic Canning 5
Fly Away Paul
Victor Canning
How far could you go living in another’s shoes?
In a mid-life moment, Paul Morison travels from America to England to discover his mother’s roots. A chance encounter and uncanny resemblance leads him to agree to assume the identity of a famous singer for a while. But it’s not just the unnerving attentions of the adoring public that he must deal with.
Seeking to regain his freedom, Paul flees the length of Britain from Southampton to the Scottish Isles. On the run, he discovers he has let himself in for much more than he bargained.
This gentle comic caper and love story was hugely popular on first publication in the 1930s and retains a timeless appeal today.
Other books in the series
Posted on March 29, 2026 by - FA, FF, FFD, FFJ, FFK, FFS, FIC000000, FIC022000, FIC050000, FU, Humorous Mystery and Crime, PET003000, Social comedy, WEBFICTION, WNGC
The No. 2 Feline Detective Agency 10
The Cat and the Pendulum
Mandy Morton
When the celebrated crime writer Agatha Crispy engages Hettie and Tilly in the search for a stolen manuscript, our feline detective duo is plunged into a world of Dickensian thieves and murderers.
Does the ghost of Jake the Nipper prowl the London Streets of Kitzrovia? Will Madame Two Paws’s exhibition wax or wane? And will the secrets in the crypt of the church of St Mavis and Cucumber finally be revealed?
Join Hettie and Tilly as they attempt to unravel yet another darkly humorous case for The No. 2 Feline Detective Agency.
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Posted on March 29, 2026 by - 1DBKE, 1DDU-GB-E, 3JJG, 3MPBGJ, FBC, FC, FFC, FFD, FIC004000, FIC014000, FIC022000, FIC050000, FV, FXB, FXR, Social comedy, WEBFICTION
Classic Canning 7
Fountain Inn
Victor Canning
What’s going on behind the doors of Fountain Inn?
When her employer suddenly disappears, young Grace Kirkstall finds herself accepting a new job at a new company in the same building – an oasis of tranquillity off the streets of London.
Ben and Helen Brown’s startup company’s pitch is that, for a small consideration, they will help people out of their major and minor fixes. Their first big commission initiates Ben into the gentle art of house-breaking, and Helen into the mysteries of the Society for Progressive Rehabilitation…
But for Grace, it will plunge her into more danger than she could ever have imagined.
This leisurely, beautifully observed thriller marked Victor Canning’s entrée into crime fiction, and rewards with a thrilling finale – sure to delight fans of Agatha Christie’s Tommy and Tuppence.
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Posted on March 29, 2026 by - 1DBKE, 1DDU-GB-E, FBC, FC, FF, FFC, FFJ, FFK, FIC004000, FIC014000, FIC022000, FIC029000, FIC050000, FV, FYB, Humorous Mystery and Crime, WEBFICTION
Classic Canning 8
The Minerva Club
Victor Canning
The Minerva Club might look like any other London gentlemen’s club but behind its respectable and discreet façade, some of the most ambitious schemes for heists, money-making and evasion of the law are being worked out. It’s an exclusive club for criminals. Entry qualification: members must have served a prison sentence of two years minimum. Though the club’s criminal ventures don’t always go as planned…
From trying to break into an old prison cell and stealing a stash of jewels hidden during a previous incarceration, love getting in the way during a hideout from the police, a cleverly planned break-in being interrupted by an unexpected guest, to figuring out where to steal a last-minute wedding cake – the club’s amiable criminals somehow always achieve their goal in the most surprising ways.
This collection of five short stories follows the Minerva Club’s (mis)adventures and evokes the very best of humorous classic crime fiction.
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The Rooks 2
Out of Service
Gabby Hutchinson Crouch
After the events in Coldbay where they sealed the hell hole, Lucy is trying to learn more about it and how to save Murzzzz from eternal damnation. Yes, he’s a demon and all, but he’s also a part of the family. Lucy’s turned to her diocese for guidance but they’ve gone strangely quiet so she persuades the Rooks to drive there so they can sort this out.
On the way, they realise something is incredibly wrong with a motorway service station – it’s empty except for lingering, sad ghosts and… oh no, another hell hole has opened up and sucked in a load of people. They know they need to stay until they can rescue them and close it down, but not before they’ve done everything in their collective power to rescue Murzzzz. After all, one man’s hellhole is a family of ghost-hunter’s opportunity to save their demon friend. That’s the expression, right?
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