Showing results by publisher "Spoken Realms" in Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

The Green Mummy by Fergus Hume is a novel likely written during the late 19th century. The story revolves around a young couple, Archie Hope and Lucy Kendal, as they navigate romance against a backdrop filled with mystery and intrigue, particularly centering on a rare mummy that Lucy’s archaeologist stepfather, Professor Braddock, is eager to acquire.

"I have two proposals to make, sir, and either is fair. Take your choice. I will give you twenty-five thousand when you deliver the falcon, and another twenty-five thousand as soon as I get to New York; or I will give you one quarter—twenty-five percent—of what I realize on the falcon. There you are, sir: an almost immediate fifty thousand dollars or a vastly greater sum within, say, a couple of months."

Mistress of Satan's Hounds, by Frederick C. Davis, takes place in a small town next to a prison. There are very few escapes from this prison. It isn't because inmates can't escape, they fear being caught and mutilated by a particularly vicious pack of bloodhounds owned by a local and reclusive eccentric, Ira Clegg. Clegg seemed to gather a certain amount of perverse satisfaction when his "devil" dogs would maul another victim.

Eccentric collector Daniel Penrose fails to return home after being involved in a fatal car accident. In his absence, his house is burgled, apparently by someone possessing a key to the room in which he secretly stores a collection of valuable gemstones and coins; and then, as Penrose's wealthy father nears death, questions of inheritance arise. Dr John Thorndyke is asked to establish what has become of the missing man.

Cape May, 1947. Cole Harper thought he was taking a simple case—check on an aging vaudeville star for his worried son. But Marigold House, a crumbling seaside boarding house filled with retired vaudeville performers, has more secrets than applause lines.

A handsome TV Repairman's truck is often parked in front of the home of one of the hottest chicks in the neighborhood. It's parked there when her husband comes home unexpectedly for lunch. Then the police arrive, and the woman has been murdered. Who did the murder? You will be surprised.

This short story narrated as an audiobook by Mike Vendetti will not disappoint fans of mysteries and detective stories.

Prison inmates have a lot of time on their hands. Some use this time to plan an escape. Break-Out written by Donald E. Westlake is an audiobook narrated by Mike Vendetti that recounts the planning and eventual escape from some highly secure prisons such as Alcatraz. Unfortunately for the perpetrators, they didn't put enough planning into how to stay out of prison.

Two junior naval officers, Cosway and Stone, have led too indulgent a lifestyle while awaiting the recall to their ship, whose sailing has been delayed by the severe illness of the captain. When the orders to board finally come, the two friends find they have insufficient money to pay their bills. Their landlady, Mrs Pounce, suggests a surprising way to settle their debt: one of them must marry her.

A stormy night. A seemingly deserted farmhouse in the north of England. A young farmer returns to find a well-dressed woman seated at his desk, dead from a gunshot wound. John Leslie is completely mystified. Who is she? The police identify her as Mrs. Draycott, a visitor to the area. And since John cannot provide a plausible alibi, he is charged with her murder.

In the 1930's and 40's Southern justice could be quick or slow. "Terror in the Sun" narrated by Mike Vendetti and written by Talmage Powell originally appeared in Suspense, a pulp magazine in the Fall of 1951. A Southern farmer and his younger son find his older son murdered and left beside a creek being attacked by a vulture. The father's rage demands retribution, but how to satisfy that rage without going to jail is the problem. Listen to this short tale and discover his unique solution to his dilemma.

Nancy Morris, a shopkeeper's daughter from Sandwich, becomes a governess with the help of a benefactor, Sir Gervase Damian. One day she helps a stranger whose advances she gently rebuffs, only to meet him again when she takes a new position in the North.

From the February 1960 issue of Manhunt magazine, every smoker has a ritual that they go through when they smoke. Detective MacKinstry became acutely aware of the rituals other smokers would go through and helped him catch a thief.

From the February 1960 Issue of Manhunt magazine, one of the popular pulp magazines of the era. A man getting his life back together after spending two years in the penitentiary witnesses the murder of his best friend and boss. He recognizes the murderer, and the murderer recognizes him. As the murderer is leaving the scene he leaves a warning that if the police find out, things will go very badly for the man and his wife. A phone call while the man is eating dinner confirms that. A visit to his house by a goon while he is at the police station drives him into action.

Travel into the world of a pickpocket who has turned a new leaf. He has put his skills and fast hands to productive work and now is happily married. Everything is wonderful until he is the only witness to a murder. The murderer recognizes him immediately. Why not another Murder?

A reporter drowses off at his typewriter, to awaken to a very strange presence that has the appearance of a misshapen man. The "creature" appears not to be of this world, but when it begins to speak in a very strange voice it obviously knows George the reporter, and it has a story to tell.

According to legend, in 1910, Marie Belloc Lowndes attended a London dinner party where a guest told her that his mother’s butler and cook claimed they had once rented rooms to Jack the Ripper, the notorious mass murderer. The idea for “The Lodger” was born. Mr. and Mrs. Bunting have sunk their savings into their house with plans to let rooms. But no lodgers have materialized, and they are on the verge of penury when, one foggy night, a knock on the door brings Mr. Sleuth, an unassuming gentleman whose needs are perfectly suited to the suite of rooms the Buntings have to rent.

Running away from an abusive stepmother, a little girl scrambles across London rooftops, a favorite hiding place. She peers through a window and sees a man apparently burglarizing a studio, but quickly realizes that she has witnessed the aftermath of a murder when the man puts a gun in the hand of a body on the floor. When she cries out he glimpses her and she escapes in terror. Very soon after, she is sent to live with her deceased mother’s aristocratic family and her secret is kept from the police.

As the first light of dawn creeps in, the steady beep of a monitor becomes my anchor. When that beeping fades away, I'm thrust into a world where the North Star has lost its brilliance. It's scattered into a thousand glittering fragments, and nobody knows how to mend it. But how am I supposed to find my way back without the light of my guiding star? And how can I help North rediscover his own light?

In true Lovecraftian fashion a man's wife thought to be dead is entombed in the family crypt. The husband has an uneasy feeling, so he enters the tomb and finds the lid torn off the coffin. His wife is alive but in a state of delirium and shock. He sees a naked creature scurrying off through the inner vaults on all four semi-human limbs.