Showing results by narrator "John Rayburn" in All Categories

The description “consulting detective” was often a reference to Sherlock Holmes, but that was inadequate to tell about his unusual characteristics. He was a loner who preferred to keep to himself and kept many secrets from others, including the few friends he had. Holmes did have a constant professional relationship with Dr. Watson, and it was the faithful Watson who once said, “I had no idea that such personalities exist outside of stories.”  

Originally published in 1875, this story is about the birth of a prince. He was actually in line to be the next king replacing his father. However, he was accidentally injured at his christening, was crippled, and couldn’t walk. He was banished by an evil uncle who usurped the throne. The little prince became unhappy and worried, but his discomfort was eased by his magical fairy godmother, and he eventually took over the monarchy he had been born to govern. 

Just who was Edgar Allan Poe? Of course he was an author, but there were parts of his life that were shrouded in mystery, like many of his stories. The differences between fact and fiction were intermingled and became even more so after his death. Readers around the world had their imaginations stimulated by his tales of mystery and sometimes horror. This book features two of his horror variety tales, “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “The Tell-Tale Heart”, as well as two of his more famous poems, “The Raven” and “Annabel Lee”. 

Back in 1900 author L. Frank Baum says he wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz to please children of his time. He called it a modernized fairy tale, totally unlike older stories often filled with blood-curdling events. He left out the heartaches and nightmares. He pointed out youngsters have long had a love of fantastic stories, but times change and they look forward more to entertainment that still has the wonderment and joy of time gone by. His fantastic creation of Oz provides exactly that. 

One of America’s best-known stories in all of literature began with the imagination-stretching tale of probably the most famous little girl in English literature. Alice was a character surrounded by exotic caricatures with “nonsense” seeming to be a reasonable description. But, even the...

The words of Kahlil Gibran give his book The Prophet a broad range of inspiration and philosophy. They provide exceptional insight into human desires and understanding. The vivid observations are vibrant with feeling and acceptance of life’s many questions and hopes. One review saluted the story as being untouched by the harshness of life. Gibran’s other two books, The Forerunner and The Madman, are of deep assistance in the same manner. 

The materials of the following collection have been carefully chosen from more than a hundred volumes of the fairy lore of all nations; and none of them, so far as the editor was aware, had been previously translated into English.  

This is a whodunit that neatly fits into the history of detective fiction. It features artist Philip Trent as he unexpectedly becomes an amateur detective. Some of his carefully collected information often proved erroneous. It begins when a wealthy American plutocrat, Bigsbee Manderson, uses his...

There were times when Bertie Wooster, the fictional narrator of these stories, was thought of as being at least a trifle feather-brained. However, he had a valet who seemed to know everything about everything. These are among more than three hundred short stories written by a man who began a...