Showing results by narrator "Cathy Dobson" in All Categories

'Mr. Leggatt Leaves His Card' tells the story of a robbery. The famous and invaluable Hislip Chalice is stolen from the safe of the parish church at Meddersley, and the Reverend Francis Leggatt, Vicar of Meddersley, sets quickly out to solve the mystery before the ecclesiastical authorities get wind of it.

Joseph Smith Fletcher (1863-1935) was a British journalist and author. He wrote more than 230 books on a wide variety of subjects, both fiction and nonfiction. He was one of the leading writers of detective fiction in the Victorian golden age of the short story. In 'The Secret of the Strong Room', three young men of unimpeachable character are planning to commit the perfect heist on the safe of the Illysium Theatre. But they have planned without the greater cunning of the theatre's owner, Markenstein.

No Ships Pass is a strange tale of a shipwrecked sailor who manages to swim to a remote tropical island. He discovers, to his surprise, that he is not the first sailor to alight there. There are already four castaways ashore...and mysteriously some of them have been there for a very long time. Up to 140 years, in fact. Before long he realises that there is something very peculiar and sinister about the island. He determines to try to escape, whatever the odds.

'Jerry Bundler' is a ghost story with a twist. We open in a tavern where travellers are telling ghost stories late one night. One gentleman tells a tale about a ghost haunting the very house where they are all sitting. His story frightens all the company gathered around the fire...and when the old gentleman retires to bed, one of the others proposes to take revenge by pretending to be the ghost. But what happens next is very far from a joke.

Ménie Muriel Dowie (1866-1945) was a travel writer, a novelist and an author of short stories. An intrepid traveller, many of her tales are set in the exotic locations she explored. 'A Cowl in Cracow' describes a young female traveler who is exploring the beautiful old city of Krakow in Poland. She wanders into a building which turns out to be a monastery, where she has a very emotionally charged interview with a tormented young monk.

'The Red Mark' tells the tale of Bloomah Beckenstein, whose family's many demands on her continually prevent her from getting to school on time. Week after week her lateness prevents her class from winning the attendance prize. But Bloomah is determined that her class should win the prize and have the honour of displaying the school banner on the classroom wall for a week. By Thursday it seems as if nothing can go wrong...but then a postcard arrives....

May Sinclair was the nom de plume of Mary Amelia St. Clair (1863-1946), a British writer of novels, short stories and poetry and an active suffragette and spiritualist. 'Where Their Fire Is Not Quenched' is a highly unsettling and creepy story about an adulterous couple who are damned to continue their loathsome, loveless relationship for all eternity.

A brilliant anthology of weird and fantastic stories about islands and sea monsters. 'The Sea-Raiders' by H. G. Wells. 'Alone on a Wide Wide Sea' by J. S. Fletcher. 'Dagon' by H. P. Lovecraft. 'A Tropical Horror' by William Hope Hodgson. 'No Ships Pass' by Eleanor Smith. 'Aepyornis Island' by H. G. Wells. 'The Vengeance of La Maraye' by J. S. Fletcher. 'Absolute Evil' by Julian Hawthorne. 'The Shadows' by Henry S. Whitehead. 'The Lighthouse on Shivering Sand' by J. S. Fletcher. 'Over the Border' by Morgan Robertson. 'Treasure Trove' by Neil Munro.

Seven contrasting short stories, all set at Christmastime: 'Mr. Huffam' by Hugh Walpole, 'A Strange Christmas Game' by J. H. Riddell, 'The Christmas Tree and the Wedding' by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, 'The Snow' by Hugh Walpole, 'The Gift of the Magi' by O. Henry, 'The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle' by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 'The Cop and the Anthem' by O. Henry.

Joseph Smith Fletcher (1863 - 1935) was a British journalist and author. He wrote more than 230 books on a wide variety of subjects, both fiction and nonfiction. He was one of the leading writers of detective fiction in the Victorian "Golden Age" of the short story. 'The Vengeance of La Maraye' is the terrible tale of a cruel feudal lord, the Sieur de Brieux, who behaves like a tyrant towards his serfs on the island of La Maraye. This is the story of how the islanders finally get their awful revenge.

A superb collection of classic short stories showcasing the variety, depth and imagination of great Victorian writers.

Edward Frederic Benson (1867-1940) was an English novelist, biographer, memoirist, archaeologist, and short story writer, best known for his evocative and beautifully narrated ghost stories. 'Royal Visitors' is a humorous story set at Trinity College, Cambridge, and tells the story of a revenge prank by the undergraduate nicknamed 'The Babe' on his tutor, Mr. Stewart, who at short notice had withdrawn a lunch invitation to dine with visiting foreign royals.

Sarah Grand (1854-1943) was a well-known Victorian writer and suffragette. 'The Man in the Scented Coat' is a story about an adventurous lady, Josepha, who gets lost in a pea-soup fog in London one evening. As she cannot see anything, she follows a scent of flowers, which turns out to emanate from a distinguished gentleman in disguise who is on a secret mission.

May Sinclair was the nom de plume of Mary Amelia St. Clair (1863-1946), a popular British writer of novels, short stories and poetry. She was also an active suffragette and spiritualist. Nowadays she is best known for her uncanny and unsettling ghost stories. 'The Token' is a ghost story about a wife who died with an important question in her life unanswered. She revisits her husband's study in search of the answer to the mystery she never solved while alive.

Ten classic short stories from the quills of great bird-loving authors.

Joseph Smith Fletcher (1863-1935) was a British journalist and author. He wrote more than 230 books on a wide variety of subjects, both fiction and nonfiction. He was one of the leading writers of detective fiction in the Victorian 'golden age' of the short story. 'Against Time' is the adventure of a young clerk, Ledbitter, who realises, to his horror, that he has forgotten to post an important letter from his employer to a prospective client containing a valuable tender.

Joseph Smith Fletcher (1863-1935) was a British journalist and author. He wrote more than 230 books on a wide variety of subjects, both fiction and nonfiction. He was one of the leading writers of detective fiction in the Victorian golden age of the short story. The eminent Doctor Clement Holford has a strange artifact in his study. A glass-fronted wall cabinet containing many rare books about poisons and a hermetically sealed glass box in which is a single white kid glove. The story behind these objects is an uncanny one.

Joseph Smith Fletcher (1863 - 1935) was a British journalist and author. He wrote more than 230 books on a wide variety of subjects, both fiction and nonfiction. He was one of the leading writers of detective fiction in the Victorian 'Golden Age' of the short story. Brown Rat's Docks is a fast-paced detective story involving murder, double crossing and skullduggery, all set in the heart of the London docklands.

The Yellow Drawing Room is a story told through the eyes of an archetypical Victorian gentleman. He has met and fallen under the spell of the beautiful Vanora Haydon. Vanora has been given permission to decorate and furnish a drawing room and has chosen to do so in brilliant yellow. She has created her own room, reflective of her own personality and individuality - something which the conservative narrator cannot cope with.

Beatrice Harraden (1864-1936) was a British writer and suffragette. 'A Bird on Its Journey' is the story of a mysterious young Englishwoman hiking alone through Switzerland. When she arrives at a mountain hotel, she discovers that the piano is badly out of tune. The young woman, although she is travelling with only a small knapsack, has brought with her a tuning hammer, and she proceeds to tune the piano.