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

"Mistress of the Dark Pool" by Russell Gray is a captivating short story with elements of horror, sex, and suspense. First published in 1940 in the magazine Terror Tales. The story follows a young couple seeking solitude in the mountains, only to encounter a peculiar dog with human-like eyes. As the plot unfolds, they discover a local woman rumored to be a witch, and their encounter with her takes a dark turn.

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.

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?

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.

William Hope Hodgson wrote "The Terror of the Water-Tank" in 1907 and the story has been published in several pulp magazines since then. Mike Vendetti has taken this story and turned it into an engrossing audiobook. The story takes place in England where crowning the heights on the outskirts of a certain town on the east coast is a large, iron water-tank from which an isolated row of small villas obtains its supply. The top of this tank has been cemented, and around it have been placed railings, thus making it a splendid "look-out" for townspeople who may choose to promenade upon it.

An oil painting "The Golden Patio" hangs in a stairway of Peter Romsey's grandmother's home. Peter is named after his grandfather a nefarious philandering sea captain who died rather mysteriously in Spain. The painting is the only portion of his grandfather's effects his grandmother puts on display, and it has been relegated to a dark corner in a stairway. Peter as a child was fascinated with the painting and fantasized about the scene. As an adult, he is still fascinated with the painting that has hung in his office since his grandmother's death.

From the July 1937 Issue of Spicy Mystery Stories, "30 Seconds" by Robert Leslie Bellem and narrated by Mike Vendetti takes us to a rooftop forty stories above the pavement below where Philip Hayden is preparing to end his life because he has murdered his wife. But a strange bearded man pulls him from the parapet. Dr. Zarkov introduces himself as a Surgeon of Souls and offers Phillip a second chance if he can demonstrate that he has changed his evil philandering ways.

Thomas Dunbar is struck by an automobile. He wakes up in a hospital situation, that's not a hospital, but the home of a rather strange man that that hit Dunbar with his automobile. The man is a Dr. and an inventor. Dunbar receives excellent care, but there is something strange going on in the house. Against the doctor's orders, Dunbar decides to escape. He opens the wrong door and stumbles into a huge laboratory with tremendous machines... Dunbar's life is changed forever.

Phil Barnard goes on vacation, renting a cabin on a lake in the Canadian Rockies, a storm comes up pelting the cabin with rain, and then there is a soft knock on his door. He opens the door to reveal a beautiful young woman, wet and nearly frozen. What happens next, he will remember forever.

Step back in time to 1841, to the town of Darbury Massachusetts, where darkness and dread descend upon its residents, and the Spawn of Inferno emerges to wreak havoc and horror. Listen to "Spawn of Inferno" and delve into a world of unimaginable terror that will leave you on the edge of your seat.

The Man Within is Graham Greene's first published novel (1929). The story is set on England's South Coast and concerns Francis Andrews, who reluctantly became embroiled with a gang of smugglers. The novel opens with Andrews desperately fleeing over the downs and eventually reaching an isolated cottage. He finds it's the home of a young woman, Elizabeth, who is alone and recently bereaved of her guardian, protector, and possible abuser.

A body is uncovered in an empty classroom at Lincoln Lane Prep, West Jackson Boulevard, it's ruled as an accident. A heroin overdose. The case is closed within a month.

In "Waterway Death," listeners are transported back to the tense atmosphere of 1939, on the brink of World War II. Arthur W. Phillips crafts a gripping spy story centered around a master German spy, referred to as Dr. Death, and his dangerous plans for a newly developed explosive. Narrated by the talented Mike Vendetti, this audiobook is filled with suspense, intrigue, and high-stakes espionage as a Canadian government agent races against time to stop Dr. Death before it's too late.

Get ready for a thrilling listen with 'You Live Only Twice' by HB Hickey, narrated by the talented Mike Vendetti. Follow private detective Richard Ensign as he delves into a case that takes a supernatural turn when a seemingly ordinary man confesses to a murder with a chilling twist. As the investigation unfolds, the discovery of a machine capable of replicating human beings adds a new layer of mystery and danger. With a brilliant villain creating copies of himself at a rapid pace, Ensign must race against time to stop the sinister plot before it's too late.

In "Professor Jonkin's Cannibal Plant," listeners are taken on a thrilling journey into the world of botany and mutation. Follow Professor Jonkin as he turns a carnivorous plant that feeds on insects into a pet plant, like a large dog, that consumes three Porterhouse steaks per day. Is Jonkin's plant a pet or a monster?

As a newlywed couple settles into a lavish mansion, they soon discover they are not alone. With a curse lingering over the estate for centuries, they must unravel its haunting history before it's too late.