Showing results by narrator "Cathy Dobson" in All Categories

William Wilkie Collins (1824-1889) is one of the greatest of the Victorian mystery writers. For several years he was on the editorial staff of Dickens' magazine All Year Round and became Dickens' close friend and collaborator. Alongside his great novels, Collins was the author of a great many superb short stories, mostly concerned with either the supernatural or crime.

A thrilling murder mystery. When the narrator bumps into an old friend of his at Olympia, who has recently remarried, he is invited to dinner at Chislehurst to meet the new wife. When they arrive however, it appears that the lady has gone to visit her mother in Worthing, and due to problems with the motor car, she will not return until the next day. The two men enjoy a good dinner, with whisky afterward, and the host also takes three aspirin for his cold.The narrator catches the last train back to London. Next morning he is surprised by an early morning visit from the police....

Five brilliant classic short stories which feature tigers. These stories range from the creepy horror stories of Hugh Walpole and Eleanor Smith to the gentle humour of Saki and W. W. Jacobs and the deep complexity of Frank Stockton. 'The Tiger' by Hugh Walpole. 'Mrs. Packletide's Tiger' by Saki. 'A Tiger's Skin' by W. W. Jacobs. 'Satan's Circus' by Eleanor Smith. 'The Lady or the Tiger' by Frank Stockton.

A gripping collection of Victorian supernatural stories from the greatest ghost story writers of the age. 'Room Number Ten' by Bessie Kyffin-Taylor, 'Kerfol' by Edith Wharton, 'A Child of the Rain' by Elia W. Peattie, 'The Cold Embrace' by Mary E. Braddon, 'The Mummy of Thompson-Pratt' by Charles John Cutcliffe Hyne, 'When I Was Dead' by Vincent O'Sullivan, 'The Everlasting Club' by Arthur Gray, 'The Story of the Spaniards' by E & H Heron, 'The Staircase' by Hugh Walpole....

Sir Hugh Seymour Walpole (1884-1941) was a New Zealand-born English novelist famous for his skill at scene setting and vivid plots. He was a best-selling author in the 1920s and 1930s and remains popular to this day. 'The Last Trump' is an engaging and tense story about a man who believes he has calculated the exact date and time of the end of the world. It will occur at 11:45 p.m. on January 20, 1929.

A winning streak at a downmarket gambling den in Paris leads to a lavish drinking spree. The offer of coffee to help sober up is not all that it first seems. Our protagonist finds himself in a strange bed for the night in a house of thieves and murderers. And it turns out to be a very strange bed indeed... a bed cunningly designed with murder in mind. A spine-chilling tale... especially if you listen at bedtime.

When Gustavus Pulvertoft finds himself saddled with a horse with the power of human speech, he little imagines how quickly he will come a cropper. His courtship of the horse-loving Diana Chetwynd goes swimmingly so long as his talking horse is on good terms with Miss Chetwynd's grey mare... but when their trusty mounts fall out, a series of terrible events ensues which Pulvertoft is powerless to prevent. His determination to get revenge on the horse leads to his ultimate downfall.

Herbert George Wells (1866-1946) was a prolific English writer, now best remembered for his science fiction novels and often credited as being the father of science fiction. 'Under the Knife' is an eerie firsthand account by a patient of a surgical operation he experiences, which he already knows he will not survive.

Bithia Mary Croker (1848-1920) was an Irish-born novelist and a notable writer of ghost stories; most of her work concerns life and society in British India. This collection contains six of B. M. Croker's best ghost stories, including four of her iconic tales set in British India: 'Number Ninety', 'To Let', 'The Former Passengers', 'If You See Her Face', 'The Khitmatgar', 'The Dâk Bungalow at Dakor'.

Robert Browning's classic tale about a magical rat catcher. When Hamelin is overrun by rats, only the magical music of the Pied Piper can solve the problem. The town council tries to trick the piper out of his agreed reward, and he wreaks terrible revenge.

When the young bank clerk Charlie Mears comes up with an innovative idea for a new story, he has no notion just how amazing his tale is. Inspired by dreams which are memories of former lives, he takes us back to the vivid and brutal world of ancient Greece. But Charlie’s own literary skill is not equal to the task of writing his novel. His friend must take on the challenge of extracting the finest tale in the world from the reluctant and ever-distracted brain of the young clerk. But just as there seems to be some progress, something most unexpected occurs….

Katharine Pyle's masterly retelling of well-loved folk tales from around the world. •The Meester Stoorworm – A Story from Scotland •Jean Malin and the Bull Man – A Louisiana Tale •The Widow’s Son – A Scandinavian Tale •The Wise Girl – A Serbian Story •The History of Ali Cogia – From the Arabian Nights •Oh! – A Cossack Story •The Talking Eggs – A Story from Louisiana •The Frog Princess – A Russian Story •The Magic Turban, the Magic Sword and the Magic Carpet – A Persian Story

When an avid pipe collector receives an unexpected gift from a rival, he suspects an ulterior motive. Inside the box is the most unusual and uncanny pipe he has ever set eyes upon. But when he tries to smoke it, a chain of events is unleashed which even the most credulous ghost hunter could not foresee...A macabre mystery of unsurpassed suspense and horror. Not for the faint hearted!

Clemens Brentano (1778-1842) was one of the giants of German Literary Romanticism. The Story of Brave Kasper and Fair Annie (published in 1817) is a novella outlining the sad tale of two star-crossed lovers, whose fates are determined by their determination to retain their own honour against all odds. Their story is mainly recounted by Kasper's 88-year-old grandmother, who is also Annie's guardian. As each episode of the tale unfolds, a new twist casts a different light on the previous episodes.

Sherwood Anderson (1876-1941) was an American novelist and short story writer, famous for his highly subjective and self-revealing works. Self-educated, he became a successful copywriter and business owner in Cleveland and Elyria, Ohio. In 1912, Anderson had a nervous breakdown that led him to abandon his business and family to become a writer. This collection contains seven of his most haunting tales.

A fascinating ghost story set in the Australian outback. While travelling across a remote area of the outback, three travellers chance upon an abandoned goldfield, where all the occupants have fled or died of typhus. Travelling on, they meet an old man living wild on a diet of lizards. He takes them at night to meet his so-called friends... an experience that terrifies the three so much that they flee in horror....

A wonderful collection of short stories" by some of the all-time great American writers: 1. "The Diamond Lens" by Fitz James O’Brien; 2. "Titbottom’s Spectacles" by George William Curtis; 3. "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe; 4. "The Eyes of the Panther" by Ambrose Bierce; 5. "The Lightning Rod Man" by Hermann Melville; 6. "Seeds" by Sherwood Anderson; 7. "Who Was She?" by Bayard Taylor; 8. "The Man who stole a Meeting House" by John Townsend Trowbridge; 9. "Memoirs of a Yellow Dog" by O. Henry

Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (1799 – 1837) was a Russian author of the Romantic era who is considered by many to be the greatest Russian poet and the founder of modern Russian literature. He was notoriously sensitive about his own personal honour and is believed to have fought as many as twenty-nine duels... the last of which proved fatal for him.A duel is the crux of his masterful short story "The Pistol-Shot" - but it is a duel with a difference.

Margaretha Geertruida Zelle (1876 – 1917), better known by the stage name Mata Hari, was a Dutch exotic dancer who was convicted of being a spy and executed by firing squad in France during the first World War. Sir Basil Home Thomson, KCB (1861 – 1939) was a British intelligence officer, police officer, prison governor, colonial administrator, and writer.

Kipling’s classic tale taken from the Just So Stories. The camel who lives in the howling desert is reluctant to join the other animals in working for man. He gets his comeuppance when he is magically given a hump, so that he can work three days in a row without stopping to eat.