Showing results by narrator "Cathy Dobson" in All Categories

John Buchan (1875-1940) was a Scottish writer, barrister, and member of Parliament and later become Baron Tweedsmuir and governor-general of Canada. While he was most famous for adventure stories, such as "The Thirty-Nine Steps", he was also popular for his supernatural horror stories, of which "The Watcher by the Threshold" and "The Wind in the Portico" are prime examples.

This anthology brings together five very different examples of Buchan's best work.

When Darcy, recuperating from a serious illness, goes to stay with an old friend of his, Frank, in the New Forest, he discovers a puzzling change in the man. He appears to have become significantly younger and is also filled with exuberance and joy. Frank explains that he has spent the last six years studying Nature and has discovered a new philosophy of life around the joy of nature.

Edgar Wallace (1875 - 1932) had no equal in the realm of the pure "thriller." The Man of the Night is a classic example of Wallace's genius. Stepping purposefully out of the dark shop, with a large sharp knife hidden under his coat, the wanted man met a stranger. But it was quite a different kind of stranger than he could have imagined... and what happens next is incomprehensible and inspiring.

A captivating anthology of some of the more unusual short stories written by well-known classic writers. 1. "A Witch in the Peak" by R. Murray Gilchrist. 2. "War" by Sherwood Anderson. 3. "Self-Help" by W. W. Jacobs. 4. "The Wolf" by Guy de Maupassant. 5. "Makes the Whole World Kin" by O. Henry. 6. "The Stone Dragon" by R. Murray Gilchrist. 7. "The New Englander" by Sherwood Anderson. 8. "Berenice" by Edgar Allan Poe. 9. "The Man with the Watches" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. 10. "The Adventure of the Diamond Necklace" by G. F. Forest.

A delightful collection of 10 of Guy de Maupassant's most famous tales: "The Parrot", "The Love of Long Ago", "Mademoiselle Fifi", "Miss Harriet", "An Uncomfortable Bed", "A Queer Night in Paris", "My Uncle Jules", "The Piece of String", "The Necklace", and "Found on a Drowned Man".

When Deesa the mahout wants to go on a drinking spree for ten days, he entrusts his beloved elephant Moti Guj to another mahout for the period. The elephant is well aware of the number of days that he is to serve under his temporary master. When Deesa loses track of time and fails to show up on the eleventh morning, Moti Guj enacts his own very effective protest.

Be careful what you wish for. W.W.Jacob's famous horror story about the monkey's paw, a talisman which has had a spell cast on it, enabling three people each to have three wishes... which come true with devastating consequences.

In The Adventure of the Speckled Band, Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson are faced with a most unusual case. Two years earlier a young woman died under mysterious and unexplained circumstances while alone in her locked bedroom. Her last words to her sister referred to a 'speckled band'. She had previously complained of hearing a strange whistling sound in the night. Now the sister is sleeping in the same room, and she too has heard the mysterious whistling. But what can it be? And what is the 'speckled band'?

Peter Christen Asbjørnsen (1812-1885) was a Norwegian writer, scholar and collector of traditional folktales. The Cormorants of Udröst is one of the stories he collected. It tells of a fisherman who found the mythical island of Udröst and befriended its strange and wonderfully generous inhabitants.

The true crime story of Henri Désiré Landru, master of murder and the art of making love, captivated the whole of Europe for almost two years. Landru is known to have murdered at least a dozen women for their savings and their furniture. Moreover, the uncanny fascination which he held for his victims from the moment he fixed them with his strangely compelling eyes, has never been properly explained.

Joseph Smith Fletcher (1863-1935) was a British journalist and author. He wrote more than 230 books on a wide variety of subjects, both fiction and nonfiction. He was one of the leading writers of detective fiction in the Victorian golden age of the short story. In 'The Secret of the Strong Room', three young men of unimpeachable character are planning to commit the perfect heist on the safe of the Illysium Theatre. But they have planned without the greater cunning of the theatre's owner, Markenstein.

Dr Henry St Clair Whitehead ( 1882-1932) was an American clergyman and teacher who became famous for his creepy tales of magic and voodoo published in the magazine Weird Tales in the 1920s. 'The Shadows' is a tale from the West Indies about Mr. Stewart, an American who moves into an old house, locally known as Morris' House. Morris has been dead for several decades, but nobody seems keen to tell Mr. Stewart anything about the circumstances of Morris' death.

Jules Gabriel Verne (1828-1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright who is sometimes credited as the original 'Father of Science Fiction'. Written in 1851, 'A Drama in the Air' is one of Verne's earliest and most seminal stories, telling the dramatic adventure of a balloonist suddenly confronted with an unexpected and unpredictable passenger who climbs into his balloon at the point of take-off. Many of the themes from this tale were expanded by Verne in his later and better known works about aerial journeys around the world or to the moon.

William James Wintle (1861-1920) was already a recognised writer before he became an Oblate for the Abbey of Caldey Island in Wales. It was there that he wrote a series of horror stories for the entertainment of eight boys who attended the abbey. In the foreword of this collection, Wintle explains that the stories were originally told on Sunday nights while "crouching over a wood fire on a wind-swept island off the Western shore."

O. Henry was the pen name of William Sydney Porter (1862-1910), an American writer of outstanding short stories, known for their wit, wordplay, warm characterization, and surprise endings. This collection contains twelve of his best loved tales: 1. 'The Cactus' 2. 'The Gift of the Magi' 3. 'One Thousand Dollars' 4. 'The Marionettes' 5. 'The Furnished Room' 6. 'The Unknown Quantity' 7. 'Memoirs of a Yellow Dog' 8. 'The Venturers' 9. 'The Ransom of Red Chief '10. 'The Last Leaf '11. 'The Cop and the Anthem' 12. T'he Clarion Call'

Robert Ervin Howard (1906-1936) was an American author famous for his weird tales and horror stories. Sea Curse is the tale which starts with a village tragedy. A local girl who lives with her elderly aunt has been seduced and deflowered by a swaggering, drunk sailor. In despair she drowns herself in the ocean. The sailor mocks her aunt over the girl's washed-up body on the beach. The old aunt retaliates by putting an awful, terrible curse upon the sailor and his mate....

Barry Eric Odell Pain (1864-1928) was an English journalist, poet, and writer best known for his outstanding ghost and horror stories. This selection gives a marvellous insight into the strength and diversity of Pain's writing. The collection includes "The Missing Years", "Rose Rose", "Miracles", "The End of a Show", "The Giraffe Problem", "The Green Light", "The Tree of Death", "The Case of Vincent Pyrwhit" and "The Magnet".

Joseph Smith Fletcher (1863 – 1935) was a British journalist and author. He wrote more than 230 books on a wide variety of subjects, both fiction and non-fiction. He was one of the leading writers of detective fiction in the Victorian "Golden Age" of the short story. "The Earl, the Warder and the Wayward Heiress" is the story of a ten thousand pound bet between young gentlemen in their club.

In March 1873 Great Britain was rocked by the forgery case of the century, perpetrated against no less than the Bank of England. Four criminal brains took on the entire financial system... and would have got away with it too, had it not been for one tiny detail.

When Joseph Gibson, an oil and colourman from London, faces bankruptcy, he seizes the opportunity to take the bargain lease on Stape Hill near Poole in Dorsetshire. The deal turns out to be less a bargain than a swindle. The farm is worth nowhere near the price paid for it. The grasping owner, a retired lawyer, Arthur Blagden, had charged him more than twice the property's worth. Gibson and his delicate daughter face ruin next Michaelmas day when the next annual rent payment is due.