Most Popular Books by Michael Bond

A wonderful Latin edition of the classic story of Paddington, the bear from Darkest Peru, who was found lost on Paddington Station. "A bear on Paddington Station?" said Mrs Brown in amazement. "Don''t be silly - there can''t be." Paddington Bear had travelled all the way from Darkest Peru when the Brown family first met him on Paddington station. Since then their lives have never been quite the same... for ordinary things become quite extraordinary when a bear called Paddington is involved. For nearly sixty years, Paddington Bear has touched the hearts of adults and children worldwide with his earnest good intentions and humorous misadventures.

The annual launch of Le Guide, France''s most prestigious restaurant companion, is always a red-letter day for its publishers. The year the Director has a particularly momentous announcement to make: the inauguration of the Golden Shock Pot Lid, a unique commendation to the best restaurant in France, awarded not according to the vagaries of mere human inspectors such as Monsieur Pamplemousse, but by the immaculate calculations of Le Guide''s latest acquisition - a Poulanc DB23 mainframe computer. However, there is many a slip ''twixt Stock Pot and Lid and when the ceremonial ''Entry'' button is pressed the resultant print-out is a travesty of everything Le Guide stands for. All too clearly, someone has nobbled the programme. With only days to go before publication, it falls to Monsieur Pamplemousse to investigate the mystery. Accompanied by his ever-faithful hound Pommes Frites, he is soon up to his ears in a bizarre world of bytes, rams and nibbles, and pitted against a foe who has but one aim in life: to heap disgrace on Le Guide, and in so doing bring about the downfall of Monsieur le Directeur himself...

A funny story about Paddington, the beloved, classic bear from darkest Peru – now a major movie star!

When one of five restaurant-owning brothers vanishes into thin air, Monsieur Pamplemousse''s detective skills are called into play. A delicious blend of gastronomic delight, teasing mystery, and pure comedy.

There''s been no end to the chaos at 32 Windsor Gardens since Paddington, that irresistible bear from Darkest Peru, joined the Brown family. Even Mrs. Bird, the housekeeper, has learned that there''s no knowing what''s likely to happen when he''s around. Well meaning as ever, Paddington''s at it again, and this time he really goes to town. If a boulder rolls down the aisle of a bus, sending the entire carload careening; if a visitor to the hospital leaves even the staff psychiatrist baffled; or if a hostess discovers her surprise dessert is "baked elastic," you can be sure that Paddington is somewhere close at hand. Paddington fans will be delighted as, once more, that bear turns things merrily, unpredictably topsy-turvy in this revised edition of Paddington Goes to Town.

The classic bear from Darkest Peru, who was found on Paddington Station, returns for a day of London sightseeing in this hilarious picture book!

A play about Paddington Bear for children.

The garlic-laden winds of change are blowing through the vineyards of Burgundy. Under threat from the increasing use of pesticides is the helix pomotia: the humble snail, the main ingredient for escargot Bourgignon. Meanwhile, on the Canal de Bourgogne, Monsieur Pamplemousse is lecturing a group of international wine buffs on the fruits of the region, a task from which he is distracted by a Marilyn Monroe look-alike. It turns out that skulduggery among the vines will be the least of Monsieur Pamplemousse''s worries.

When he hears members of the Brown household singing "The Twelve Days of Christmas," Paddington gets confused and thinks they are receiving unusual presents that keep disappearing before he can see them.

When Monsieur Pamplemousse got an urgent summons from the Director of Le Guide, he knew that there was trouble at the top. His faithful canine companion, Pommes Frites, noticed it too. But neither of them expected that the trouble would involve a nun who was in the habit of joining the Mile High Club or a full-scale smear campaign targeting Le Guide''s credibility as France''s première restaurant and hotel guide. Someone has been spreading worrying rumours among the staff and infiltrating the company files - awarding hotels prizes for bedbugs and praising egg and chips signature dishes. Even Pommes Frites has become a victim of the assault. It could all spell the ruin for Le Guide, but Pamplemousse is on the case.

Ever eager to expand the influence of France''s leading gastronomic guidebook beyond her native shores, the Director of Le Guide has been cultivating a useful transatlantic connection in the form of a certain Mrs Van Dorman. Ex-parfumier, presently a publishing magnate and, in her spare time,a fan of private-eye novels, Mrs Van Dorman has deserted the relative safety of La Grande Pomme to accompany a group of crime writers to a recreation in Vichy of a banquet given by Alexandre Dumas before he started work on yet another sequel to The Three Musketeers. And who better to escort her than Monsieur Pamplemousse, Surete sleuth turned top-rank gourmet? Monsieur Pamplemousse himself could think of a number of more suitable candidates, especially when it becomes apparent that the assignment involves a grand entry dressed as d''Artagnan, mounted on an uncomfortably rampant black charger. But when cyanide turns out to be a surprise ingredient of the murder tour it is soon clear that Monsieur Pamplemousse - aided by the unerring nose of bloodhound Pommes Frites - is the only man for the job...

When the Director suggests Le Guide''s food inspector Monsieur Pamplemousse take a brief jaunt to sample the gastronomy of Rome, Pamplemousse knows the offer is too good to be true. But when the only string attached seems to be that on the return journey he escort the Director''s schoolgirl niece Caterina from her convent school to her uncle''s Paris home, Monsieur Pamplemousse begins to relax. Until, that is, he sees the schoolgirl in question ...and spots her ever-present shadow, an Al Capone-lookalike whose hostility Pamplemousse senses even across a crowded restaurant car.However, it is when the Rome-Paris Express pulls into the Gare de Lyon and his charge apparently disappears into thin air that Pamplemousse really begins to worry. Especially when he discovers the lustrous Caterina is the daughter of one of Sicily''s most powerful Mafiosi, a man who will not take the loss of his cherished daughter at all kindly ...

Called to a Provencal film set to vouch for the gastronomic authenticity of director Von Strudel''s latest Biblical advertising extravaganza (what was on the menu at the Last Supper?) restaurant inspector Monsieur Pamplemousse is surprised to find his sleuthing skills, acquired during a stint at the Surete, considerably more in demand. Exploding strawberries, adulterated cast food and sundry other mysterious occurrences all point to a saboteur or, at best, an infuriating prankster on the set. But when the star of the sequence of perfume adverts, Brother Angelo, a heavy-metal heart-throb who has been cast against type as Jesus Christ, seemingly vanishes into thin air, it is clear matters have gone beyond a joke.

Le Guide, France''s premier gastronomic guide, is failing to whet the appetite of its audience in America. Bribed by the Director with offers of some time off, Monsieur Pamplemousse agrees to flex his literary muscles in a bid to address the problem by writing a play. The result is the ex-detective''s directorial debut, complete with walk-on part for faithful bloodhound Pommes Frites. Everything rests on their special guest, Jay Corby, the acclaimed American food-critic, whose good opinion could change their transatlantic fortunes. But disaster strikes on opening night when a manoeuvre with a trapdoor causes Corby to storm out in a rage. Monsieur Pamplemousse must find him before he ruins everything for Le Guide. Once again he can rely on star sniffer dog Pommes Frites, who is hot on the trail of their only lead: a flimsy undergarment belonging to an exotic dancer they came across in a state of undress before the start of the show.

The further adventures of Olga as she matches wits with Boris, another guinea pig, who tells stories even taller than her own.

A funny story about the irresistible, classic bear from Darkest Peru – soon to be a major movie star!

''A celebration of human idiosyncrasy and of our talent for building shared meaning and solidarity out of the strangest material'' – TLS Fans takes the reader on a journey through a constellation of fandoms, and along the way demonstrates some fundamental truths about the human condition. Fascinating and thought-provoking, Fans is a story of communities, of what happens to us when we interact with people who share our passions. The human brain is wired to reach out, and while our groupish tendencies can bring much strife (religious intolerance, racism, war, etc.), they are also the source of some of our greatest satisfactions. Fandoms offer much of the pleasure of tribalism with little of the harm: a feeling of belonging and of shared culture, a sense of meaning and purpose, improved mental well-being, reassurance that our most outlandish convictions will be taken seriously, and the freedom to try to emulate (and dress like) our hero. But acclaimed science writer Michael Bond shows that despite these benefits, the world of fandoms is not without its dark underside, from the “copycat effect” fuelling mass shootings to the delusions that can accompany the parasocial relationships that fans feel they have with their heroes. In Fans, Michael Bond draws on the work of social psychologists and anthropologists to understand how people behave in groups and why such groups have such a profound effect on human culture.

Monsieur Pamplemousse is looking forward to a well-earned break in the South of France courtesy of his employer - all he has to do is collect a piece of artwork for Le Guide''s Director. But when his contact fails to show and a dismembered body is washed up outside the hotel, the holiday mood evaporates. As Pamplemousse struggles with the case (and with modern technology) his ever-faithful bloodhound Pommes Frites is on hand offering proof why, during his time with the Paris Sûreté, he was one of their top sniffer dogs.

The Channel Tunnel is all very well as a mundane means of crossing La Manche but there are those who still believe in airships as the luxury transport of the future. In a rare spirit of entente cordiale, the governments of France and Britain agree to a trial run, and plan a grand inaugural flight involving their heads of state. But - quelle horreur! - the organisers have overlooked the most important part of every French occasion - the food and the wine. Honour is at stake and a desperate call for help goes out to Le Guide, France''s most distinguished gastronomic publication. Monsieur Pamplemousse, ex Surete sleuth turned food inspector, is called on to rectify matters.The assignment gets off to an inauspicious start. As he nears the launch site in Brittany, Monsieur Pamplemousse''s 2CV is run off the road by a carful of decidedly ungodly nuns. And the lady trapeze artist who rescues him clearly has something other than the evening''s acrobatics preying on her mind. When an old friend cuts him dead, he suspects the worst...