Showing results by narrator "David McCran" in All Categories

"Little Red Riding Hood" is a fairy tale by Charles Perrault about a young girl and a Big Bad Wolf. Its origins can be traced back to several pre-17th-century European folk tales. It was later retold in the 19th-century by the Brothers Grimm. The story has varied considerably in different versions over the centuries, translations, and as the subject of numerous modern adaptations. Other names for the story are "Little Red Cap" or simply "Red Riding Hood". The story centers around a girl named Little Red Riding Hood, named after her red hooded cape that she wears.

The Sign of the Four (1890), also called The Sign of Four, is the second novel featuring Sherlock Holmes written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Doyle wrote four novels and 56 short stories featuring the fictional detective. The story is set in 1888. The Sign of the Four has a complex plot involving service in India, the Indian Rebellion of 1857, a stolen treasure, and a secret pact among four convicts ("the Four" of the title) and two corrupt prison guards. It presents the detective's drug habit and humanizes him in a way that had not been done in the preceding novel, A Study in Scarlet (1887).

The Valley of Fear is the fourth and final Sherlock Holmes novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It is loosely based on the Molly Maguires and Pinkerton agent James McParland. The story was first published in the Strand Magazine between September 1914 and May 1915. The first book edition was copyrighted in 1914, and it was first published by George H. Doran Company in New York on 27 February 1915, and illustrated by Arthur I. Keller. The novel starts with Sherlock Holmes receiving a cipher message from Fred Porlock, a pseudonymous agent of Professor Moriarty.

The Valley of Fear is the fourth and final Sherlock Holmes novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It is loosely based on the Molly Maguires and Pinkerton agent James McParland. The story was first published in the Strand Magazine between September 1914 and May 1915. The first book edition was copyrighted in 1914, and it was first published by George H. Doran Company in New York on 27 February 1915, and illustrated by Arthur I. Keller. The novel starts with Sherlock Holmes receiving a cipher message from Fred Porlock, a pseudonymous agent of Professor Moriarty.

"A Study in Scarlet" is an 1887 detective novel by Scottish author Arthur Conan Doyle. The story marks the first appearance of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, who would become the most famous detective duo in popular fiction. The book's title derives from a speech given by Holmes, a consulting detective, to his friend and chronicler Watson on the nature of his work, in which he describes the story's murder investigation as his "study in scarlet.

"A Study in Scarlet" is an 1887 detective novel by Scottish author Arthur Conan Doyle. The story marks the first appearance of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, who would become the most famous detective duo in popular fiction. The book's title derives from a speech given by Holmes, a consulting detective, to his friend and chronicler Watson on the nature of his work, in which he describes the story's murder investigation as his "study in scarlet".

"His Last Bow: Some Reminiscences of Sherlock Holmes" is a collection of previously published Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, including the titular short story, "His Last Bow. The War Service of Sherlock Holmes" (1917). The collection's first US edition adjusts the anthology's subtitle to "Some Later Reminiscences of Sherlock Holmes".

"The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax" is one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It is one of the eight stories in the cycle collected as "His Last Bow", and one of the few stories in which for much of the plot Watson must act alone and try his best with Holmes left in the background. Holmes sends Dr. Watson to Lausanne to investigate Lady Frances Carfax's disappearance since he himself is too busy in London. Lady Frances is a lone, unwed woman denied a rich inheritance on account of her sex.

"The Adventure of the Dying Detective", in some editions simply titled "The Dying Detective" (first published 1913), is one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Together with seven other stories, it is collected as "His Last Bow" (published 1917). Dr. Watson is called to tend Holmes, who is apparently dying of a rare tropical disease, Tapanuli fever, contracted while he was on a case. Watson is shocked, not having heard about his friend's illness. Mrs. Hudson says that Holmes has neither eaten nor drunk anything in three days.

"The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans" is one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It is one of eight stories in the cycle collected as "His Last Bow", and is the second and final appearance of Mycroft Holmes. Doyle ranked "The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans" fourteenth in a list of his nineteen favourite Sherlock Holmes stories. The monotony of thick smog-shrouded London is broken by a sudden visit from Holmes' brother Mycroft. He has come about some missing, secret submarine plans.

"His Last Bow: The War Service of Sherlock Holmes", later titled "His Last Bow: An Epilogue of Sherlock Holmes", is one of 56 short stories about Sherlock Holmes written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It was first published in September 1917 in Strand Magazine, and, amongst six other stories, was collected in an anthology titled "His Last Bow: Some Reminiscences of Sherlock Holmes". The narration is in the third person, instead of the first person narration usually provided by the character of Dr. Watson, and it is a spy story, rather than a detective mystery.

"The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge" is one of the fifty-six Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle. One of eight stories in the volume "His Last Bow", it is a lengthy, two-part story consisting of "The Singular Experience of Mr. John Scott Eccles" and "The Tiger of San Pedro", which on original publication in The Strand bore the collective title of "A Reminiscence of Mr. Sherlock Holmes". Holmes is visited by a perturbed proper English gentleman, John Scott Eccles, who wishes to discuss something "grotesque".

"The Adventure of the Red Circle" is one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle. It is included in the anthology "His Last Bow". Mrs. Warren, a landlady, comes to 221B Baker Street with some questions about her lodger. A youngish, heavily bearded man, who spoke good but accented English who came to her and offered double her usual rent on the condition that he get the room on his own terms. He went out the first night that he was there, and came back after midnight when the rest of the household had gone to bed.

"The Adventure of the Devil's Foot" is one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle. It is one of eight stories in the cycle collected as "His Last Bow". Doyle ranked "The Adventure of the Devil's Foot" ninth in his list of his twelve favorite Holmes stories. Holmes and Dr. Watson find themselves at Poldhu in Cornwall one spring for the former's health, but the holiday ends with a bizarre event.

The Return of Sherlock Holmes is a collection of 13 Sherlock Holmes stories, originally published in 1903-1904, by Arthur Conan Doyle. The stories were published in the Strand Magazine in Great Britain, and Collier's in the United States.

The Uncommercial Traveller is a collection of literary sketches and reminiscences written by Charles Dickens, published in 1860-1861. In 1859 Dickens founded a new journal called All the Year Round, and the "Uncommercial Traveller" articles would be among his main contributions. He seems to have chosen the title and persona of the Uncommercial Traveller as a result of a speech he gave on 22 December 1859 to the Commercial Travellers' School London in his role as honorary chairman and treasurer.

As the second book starts, Knave, Altia and Jay are coming to terms with the enormous task that lies before them. Their spaceship is faster and has weaponry superior to any imperial craft, and it also has a teleportation system that enables transport to the surface of planets. A technology no other spaceship has; an alien technology far beyond what humanity is capable of. They are also aided by the fact that the empire has become bloated and corrupt. Rebellion is in the air, across the human quadrant of the galaxy.

Altia and Knave must now navigate being in a long-term relationship at the same time as being the leaders of a galactic rebellion. The empire continues to become ever more oppressive, in new and entertaining ways - entertaining that is for the listener, not the poor inhabitants of this dysfunctional superpower. Not to be left out, the rebellion also has new challenges: it is time to take their symbolic eleventh planet, a milestone that has become enshrined in the lore of the ancient Tarazet Star Empire as the point when a rebellion stops being one of many and starts to become serious.

In Blood Star, the heroes of the series, a man named Knave and a woman named Altia, face their greatest test yet. After taking a stand against a corrupt empire and battling alien robots, the pair have to face an invasion of creatures so powerful that it endangers not just the Tarazet Star Empire, not just the whole expanse of human space, but the entire galaxy. Knave and Altia only have any chance of fending off this alien invasion because Altia is the foremost mind of her epoch, and she is backed up by Knave, who was just born lucky.

"The Adventure of the Dancing Men", a Sherlock Holmes story written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 13 stories in the cycle published as "The Return of Sherlock Holmes" in 1905. Doyle ranked "The Adventure of the Dancing Men" third in his list of his twelve favorite Holmes stories. This is one of only two Sherlock Holmes short stories where Holmes' client dies after seeking his help. The other is "The Five Orange Pips", part of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. The original title was "The Dancing Men," when it was published as a short story in The Strand Magazine in December 1903.