Classic Mystery Short Stories

In Agatha Christie’s “The Affair at the Victory Ball,” Poirot is enlisted by Chief Inspector Japp to assist in the investigation of a murder at a costumed Ball. Six attendees form a circle of suspicion when a young aristocrat and his fiancée are found dead. Poirot then makes an interesting discovery about the costumes worn by the six friends. This short story originally appeared in the March 7, 1923 issue of The Sketch magazine.

In Agatha Christie’s short story, “The Case of the Missing Will,” Poirot must help clever student Violet Marsh meet the terms of an unusual will by her Uncle Andrew. She must live in his house for a month and “prove her wits” if she is ever to receive his fortune. But is there another will? This short story originally appeared in the October 31, 1923 issue of The Sketch magazine.

In Agatha Christie’s short story, “The Adventure of Johnnie Waverly,” Poirot investigates the kidnapping of Johnnie Waverly, the three-year-old son of a wealthy couple in Surrey. Could the butler be in on the plot? And why were all the clocks in the house set 10 minutes ahead at the time of the kidnapping? This short story originally appeared in the October 10, 1923 issue of The Sketch magazine.

In Agatha Christie’s short story, “The Kidnapped Prime Minister,” Poirot investigates the mysterious disappearance of the British Prime Minister during wartime. Apparently carjacked on the way to a peace conference, Poirot must overcome subterfuge and misdirection to solve the mystery. This short story originally appeared in the April 25, 1923 issue of The Sketch magazine.

In Agatha Christie’s short story, “The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor,” Poirot investigates the case of a middle-aged man who died under suspicious circumstances just weeks after insuring his life for 50,000 pounds. Could the man, who was in financial straits, have killed himself to benefit his beautiful young wife? This short story originally appeared in the April 18, 1923 issue of The Sketch magazine.

In Agatha Christie’s short story, “The Plymouth Express,” a rich young American woman is found murdered on the train from Bristol to Plymouth and her valuable jewelry missing. Poirot’s suspects include her indebted gambler husband, her french adventurer lover, and her maid. But where is the murder weapon? This short story originally appeared in the April 4, 1923 issue of The Sketch magazine.

In Agatha Christie’s short story, “The Lemesurier Inheritance,” Poirot and Hastings are asked to keep an eye on the heir of a Northumberland estate. The house, thought to be cursed since the middle ages, is the locale of several recent near-death accidents for a young boy and rumors of the curse increase. But is it possible the accidents are man-made? This short story originally appeared in the December 19, 1923 issue of The Sketch magazine.

In Agatha Christie’s “The King of Clubs,” Poirot investigates the possible double murder of a famous dancer and theater impresario. Could the words of a fortune teller and a playing card provide a solution to the mystery? This short story originally appeared in the March 21, 1923 issue of The Sketch magazine.

I racconti qui presentati, "Tè verde", "Il giudice Harbottle" e "Carmilla", appartengono alla raccolta "In a Glass Darkly". Composti in momenti differenti e pubblicati su varie riviste e poi riuniti nel 1872, i singoli racconti, benché diversissime siano le storie ivi riportate, possono essere considerati parti di un'unica narrazione, fatta di oscure risonanze e di sinistri riflessi. Elemento esterno unificante è la figura-cornice del Dottor Hesselius, medico, psicologo, mistico e metafisico tedesco, primo "detective dell'occulto" della letteratura europea.

In Agatha Christie’s short story, “The Double Clue,” Poirot investigates the robbery of a collection of medieval jewelry from the safe of a dealer. Since the theft occurred during a dinner party, the suspects could be any of the guests. But which one? This short story originally appeared in the December 5, 1923 issue of The Sketch magazine.

In Agatha Christie’s short story, “The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim,” to win a bet with Inspector Japp, Poirot solves the mysterious robbery and disappearance of a banker from his home, all without leaving his seat. Is the culprit the businessman Mr. Davenheim was supposed to meet? Or is the situation more complicated? This short story originally appeared in the March 28, 1923 issue of The Sketch magazine.

Poe’s characters often take turns for the worse, and this is the literal case in this shipwreck story by the author. Aboard a ship taking off from Indonesia, the narrator’s ship and crew is struck by a storm that kills everyone but the narrator and one other crewmember. As the ship sales on under the enchantment of the storm, it collides with another seemingly enchanted object - a large black galleon crewed by blind men. The narrator keeps a ship’s log while aboard and is forced to abandon it over the side of the ship with the hopes of someone reading it someday.

Poe brings the reality of life and death to the forefront as he weaves a story within a story. When the narrator runs into an old man, the man begins to tell the tale of how he aged so rapidly. Only a day before, he was young - but lost his shipmates into a vicious maelstrom and the powers of the sea. After the initial terror of the event has subsided, he is able to examine the beauty and the power of the forces that can both provide life and take it away without note.

El genial Edgar Allan Poe nos trae dos obras llenas de misterio y exponiendo hasta donde un ser humano puede hundirse en el odio irracional: "Carta Robada" y "Corazón Delator".

A young London engineer, contracted to service a hydraulic press at a country house, discovers that the owner is using the machine for illegal purposes. After confronting the owner, the engineer narrowly escapes death and loses a thumb when the owner turns on him. Sherlock Holmes deduces the actual use of the machine and sets off to bring the evildoers to justice.

In "The Adventure of the Copper Beeches", Violet Hunter asks Sherlock Holmes whether she should accept a job with very strange conditions. She has been offered £120 per year as a governess, but only if she will cut her long hair short. This is only one of many peculiar conditions to which she must agree. The employer, Jephro Rucastle, seems pleasant enough, yet Miss Hunter obviously has her suspicions. After a fortnight, Miss Hunter beseeches Holmes to come and see her in Winchester, as the situation has become even stranger. This is the last of the 12 stories collected in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

Sherlock Holmes takes an interest in the case of a British Foreign Office employee who has had an important naval treaty stolen from his office. "The Adventure of the Naval Treaty", one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 12 stories in the cycle collected as The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. It is one of the longest stories in the Sherlock Holmes collections.

Father Brown is an eccentric priest with his own particular ways of dealing with crime. David Timson, having completed the whole of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes canon, a remarkable achievement, turns his hand to the genial but certainly not innocent priest! This collection contains a group of stories from the Innocence of Father Brown, told unabridged.

The Screaming Skull is one of F. Marion Crawford's Uncanny Tales, which was first published, posthumously, in London in 1911 and was issued two weeks later in America as Wandering Ghosts.

When a letter of great significance is stolen from the royal palace in Paris, the prefect of police is at great pains to discover its whereabouts. The identity of the thief is known, but try as the detectives will, they are unable to pinpoint the hiding place where the incriminating letter is secreted. When the Prefect approaches Dupin for his advice on the matter, the latter sees the solution immediately. An insight from which he is able to profit handsomely. Poe at his most ingenious!