Classic Mystery Short Stories

For The Penguin Book of Murder Mysteries, writer and anthologist Michael Sims did not summon the usual suspects. He sought the unfamiliar, the unjustly forgotten, and little-known gems by writers from outside the genre. This historical tour of one of our most popular literary categories includes stories never before reprinted, features rebellious early “lady detectives," and spotlights former stars of the crime field—Austrian novelist Auguste Groner and prolific American Geraldine Bonner among them.

The indomiitable cleric's gentle expertise in ferreting out the guilty is presented in selected stories, including: "The Absence of Mr. Glass", "The Paradise of Thieves", "The Duel of Dr. Hirsch", "The Man in the Passage", "The Mistake in the Machine", "The Head of Caesar", "The Purple Wig", "The Perishing of the Pendragons", "The Salad of Colonel Cray", "The Strange Crime of John Bounoir" and "The Fairy Tale of Father Brown".

Jane screeched at this further betrayal and went for Henry. They began to struggle. Henry was the stronger out of the two, yet the woman's pain was unstoppable. His hands wrapped around her throat and Jane clawed at his face until she fell. She lay there, across the tracks, and was quite still. Mrs. Cavell gasped in shock and Henry ran past us back to the train. We stared down at Jane's body.

The collected short stories of the great Victor Canning, originally written and published in the 1950s and 1960s—full of humor, charm, and in true fashion of classic crime writing. Canning’s heartwarming vignettes and clever mysteries take us from a Welsh valley to a far-off island and across the French countryside—introducing unforgettable characters and stories along the way.

"Suddenly, from across the hall, came a cry - sharp, uncanny, terrible. I ran out in the direction from which it had come and stood on the threshold of the Drew dining room. A table was set with gleaming silver and white linen, and in its center stood a cake, on which fifty absurd pink candles flickered bravely. There appeared to be no one in the room. On the other side of the table, a French window stood open to the fog, and I went around to investigate. I had taken perhaps a dozen steps when I stopped, appalled...."

An enhanced audiobook, with complete music score and extensive sound effects to add to your listening experience. "The fireman had seen a skeleton, wearing a dress coat, whose head was aflame. I was deeply worried for the missing young woman. If she had been taken by the opera ghost, be he flesh or spirit, how would she fare if she rejected his 'love'? All worries were momentarily forced out of my head when a sudden squawk rang out across the opera house. I cannot believe this! Me; a suspect."

Seltsame Geschichten vom Altmeister der Kriminal- und Schauerliteratur Edgar Allan Poe, u.a.: Der Goldkäfer - Der schwarze Kater - Das Faß Amontillado - Die Maske des roten Todes - Der Doppelmord in der Rue Morgue - Der entwendete Brief - Bericht über den Fall Waldemar - Der Untergang des Hauses Usher - In der Tiefe des Maelstroms E.A. Poe (1809 -1849) war ein US-amerikanischer Schriftsteller. Er prägte entscheidend die Gattung der Kurzgeschichte sowie die Genres der Kriminalliteratur (er gilt als der Erfinder des deduktiven Ermittlers) und der Horror- und Schauerliteratur.

In Agatha Christie’s short story, “The Mystery of Hunter's Lodge,” Poirot and Hastings are enlisted by a Mr. Roger Havering to help investigate the murder of his aristocrat uncle at his hunting lodge. Hastings discusses the murder with the housekeeper on the scene, but Poirot quickly deduces that her story doesn’t add up. This short story appeared in the May 16, 1923 issue of The Sketch magazine.

When the body of the popular Parisian perfume-shop assistant, Marie Roget, is found floating in the Seine, the whole of Paris is alive with rumours. But despite many clues and the offer of a substantial reward, the French police are unable to solve the mystery. The only solution is to call upon the super-sleuth Dupin.Poe's story, inspired by the unsolved murder of Mary Cecilia Rogers in New York, contains many parallels to that crime and was viewed at the time by many as a convincing solution to the American case.

A collection of short stories from such favorites as Wilkie Collins, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Rudyard Kipling are joined by others written anonymously in this anthology which will have you scratching your head and listening just a bit longer to discover the key to the mysteries.

The Memories of Sherlock Holmes is a collection of eleven stories about the famous London detective. Holmes, along with his friend Dr. Watson, as always, takes on the challenge of solving many complicated mysteries. One of them leads to a deadly encounter with Professor Moriarty, a dangerous yet brilliant criminal and Holmes's greatest adversary. The meeting takes place near the Reichenbach Falls. Will Holmes return?

Mästerdetektiven Sherlock Holmes är tillbaka i en samling spännande berättelser som utspelar sig från Dartmoor i England till Reichenbachfallen i Schweiz. Här får vi bland annat följa fallet med den försvunna kapplöpningshästen och dess avlidne tränare, just som prestigefyllda Wessex Cup står för dörren. Holmes berättar även för sin följeslagare Watson om sina mest minnesvärda fall från tiden innan de båda träffades. Och sist men inte minst skildras hans möte med ärkefienden professor Moriarty – i en bokstavlig kamp på liv och död.

Here are tales of mystery, the supernatural, and the paranormal, all moulded by Robin Bailey's very smooth and rolling tones. These intriguing stories include "The Man of the Night" by Edgar Wallace, "No. 1 Branch Line: The Signalman" by Charles Dickens, "A Terribly Strange Bed" by Wilkie Collins, "Sredni Vashtar" by Saki, "The Werewolf" by Frederick Marryat, "The Mezzotint" by M.R. James, and "The Black Cat" by Edgar Allan Poe.

A couple of law students, Tom Donague and Jack Turnbull, who have run out of money, set off for South Africa to make their fortune. For three years, they fail to make any money, but then one day, as they are up country in a remote spot, their luck changes. A friend, Dick Wharton appears unexpectedly one night during heavy rain, telling a strange tale of having seen a ghost in the cursed Sasassa Valley. Tom Donague is particularly excited by the story, and determines to uncover the mystery of the apparition.

Frank Pettingell reads pages from David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, Martin Chuzzlewit, Great Expectations and The Pickwick Papers.

"Die Abenteuer des Sherlock Holmes" (Originaltitel: "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes") sind eine Sammlung von zwölf Kurzgeschichten von Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Die Geschichten wurden ursprünglich von Juli 1891 bis Juni 1892 im Strand Magazine veröffentlicht, der Sammelband mit Illustrationen von Sidney Paget erschien am 14. Oktober 1892 in Großbritannien und am 15. Oktober 1892 in den USA. Im Zentrum der Handlung stehen Sherlock Holmes und Dr. John Watson, die seltsame Verbrechen aufklären.

The anonymous narrator is suffering from a strange hypersensitivity to everything around him. He lives with an old man who has a clouded bluish eye, an abnormality that fascinates and disturbs him. Resolving to kill the man and dispose of his body, he soon realizes in horror, however, his innocent victim may never let him forget what he has done.

The grand-prize winner of a writing contest sponsored by the Philadelphia Dollar Newspaper, "The Gold-Bug" was one of Poe's most popular stories during his lifetime. Similar to his ratiocination tales - early versions of what we now call detective fiction - "The Gold-Bug" is full of mystery and adventure and includes a cryptogram, invisible ink, a scarab-like bug, and pirate treasure.

First published in an 1844 literary annual The Gift: A Christmas and New Year's Present for 1845, "The Purloined Letter" is the third and final story that features Poe's detective, C. Auguste Dupin. In it, Dupin is approached by the prefect of the police to help with a case that involves a stolen letter containing compromising information.

This is a story from the "Great Ghost Stories" collection.