Mystery Reads

The Porte Montmartre is under citizen Bibot’s command and he is determined not to let anybody escape. When he finds out that Scarlet Pimpernel is planning his next rescue mission, he is ready to do whatever it takes to stop the commander of "The League of the Scarlet Pimpernel". Will he manage to do so or will Pimpernel outwit him? Will the Duc and Duchesse de Montreux be saved by Pimpernel or will this mission fail? Find out the answers in the second of eleven short stories, combined in "The League of the Scarlet Pimpernel" from 1919.

Halpin Frayser awakes from a dreamless sleep and the only thing in his mind was the words "Catherine Larue". Frayer feels a shiver down his spine because this was not the first strange thing he had experienced that day. Earlier, he was hunting in the forest but he could feel that something was not quite right. The picture of a haunted forest dripping with blood had come up in his mind. He had seen himself writing a poem with blood. The corpse of his mother had been in front of him.

Forty-two years old Marlow is drinking with four other Englishmen. They have known each other since the beginning of their working lives. Some of them have other jobs now, but they still gather to recall the good old days. Marlow tells his friends a story of his early life, when he travelled to the East as a young man in search of adventure. He shares his experience and impressions of the different cultures he came across with the four men.

After a long stay in South Africa, Richard Hannay arrives back in London just before the outbreak of World War One. There he meets Franklin Scudder, who claims to be investigating the Black Stone - a German spy organization. Hannay gives a shelter to the man but one day he finds him dead. Now the Scotsman fears that he might be the next one on the Black Stone’s list. Hannay decides to go back to his native Scotland with the notebook Scudder gave him before he was murdered.

A man’s beloved woman suddenly dies of pneumonia. He cannot cope with the loss and spends a whole night wandering around the cemetery searching for her. However, what he finds and sees there is far from what he expected. Would you feel fear after reading "Was It A Dream?"? Then it may be interesting for you to find out what the characters in Maupassant’s short story "Fear" have to say about it as well. B. J. Harrison started his Classic Tales Podcast back in 2007, wanting to breathe new life into classic stories.

A father and his son visit a magic shop. This is not just any magic shop, but the "genuine" one, as the shop owner points out to the father. The father is not impressed but the boy is mesmerized by what he sees and hears. Yet when one trick turns out to be too real and the father is gripped by something he will not easily forget. H. G.

From the books that inspired the new Netflix series "Lupin" with Omar Sy. There is a mystery to be solved. A baroness and a great deal of money have disappeared from Paris, and neither her husband nor the police can find any trace of her. Enter the infamous Arsene Lupin, master thief, gentleman burglar and greatest criminal mind of all time.

Helen Stoner goes to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. She is afraid that her stepfather, Dr. Grimesby Roylott, may be trying to kill her. Helen’s sister died mysteriously two years earlier, right before her own wedding. Her last words, which Helen never managed to decipher were "The speckled band". Dr. Roylott’s best friends are a band of gypsies. He also owns two dangerous animals, a cheetah and a baboon, as pets. He simply scares people, and everyone avoids him.

It is the day after Christmas. Colonel Adams and his daughter are throwing a party. The neighbor, the girl’s uncle, her godfather and the local priest Father Brown are invited. The uncle comes up with a plan: they are going to arrange a masquerade play with costumes. It seems like a very good idea, until the three diamonds the girl’s godfather had brought her as a gift disappeared from his pocket. Luckily Father Brown is there and he will try to solve this case as quickly as possible.

The Twelve True Fishermen are going on their annual dinner at an exclusive club where fifteen waiters are going to serve the guests. The fishermen are refined and insist on using their own ornate silver knives and forks, which are shaped like fish and have a pearl in the handles. The dinner goes as planned until the silver cutlery disappears. Have some of the waiters stolen it? Father Brown will find out. B. J. Harrison started his Classic Tales Podcast back in 2007, wanting to breathe new life into classic stories.

From the books that inspired the new Netflix series "Lupin" with Omar Sy. Arsene Lupin is suddenly and suspiciously willing to share some secrets with Inspector Ganimard which will help the police unveil a murder. But is Lupin helping out of the goodness of his heart or does a large jewel connected to the deceased have anything to do with it? The fifth story in Maurice Leblanc’s collection "The Confessions of Arsene Lupin" about gentleman thief and criminal mastermind, Arsene Lupin.

In this story, John Buchan explores Africa together with his friend Lawson. During their expedition, they find an astonishing place and they decide to settle there. But after a while John decides to leave Africa, while Lawson decides to stay. When Buchan returns, after some years, he finds Lawson in terrible condition and not willing to tell him why. However, Lawson’s warden, Mr. Jobson, believes that the problem comes from the grove of trees in their property.

Dmitri Gurov is a nearly forty-year-old man, who is married and has three children. He is unhappy with his marriage and regrets this big mistake every single day. While on a vacation, Dmitri meets Anna Sergeyevna - a young lady, who just like him is unhappily married. Very soon a love affair enfolds between the two and they start secretly meeting at different places. Unfortunately, Anna must go back to Moscow because her husband is having some health issues.

Baron Grogzwig lives a life full of pleasure, drinking and hunting with his friends. But when he decides ´ to marry one of his fellow baron’s daughter, his days change drastically. First he has to send his friends away as per his wife’s demands. Then his responsibilities start growing bigger with time as his wife gifts him with twelve children. When the thirteenth child is on the way, baron Grogzwig’s despair and lack of money become unbearable. He decides to end his life.

Daniel Dravot and Peachey Carnehan are two scruffy adventurers who are planning to conquer Kafiristan - a remote part of Afghanistan. The two men pretend to have signed a contract that neither of them will touch alcohol or women. However, disguised as a priest and his assistant, Dravot and Carnehan depart for Kafiristan, secretly carrying twenty riffles. Why do they want to conquer Kafiristan? Will the make it across the border alive? Find all the answers in Rudyard Kipling’s adventure story "The Man Who Would Be King" from 1888. B. J.

The "League of the Scarlet Pimpernel" is a secret society made up of twenty English aristocrats. The commander is the so-called "Scarlet Pimpernel" but almost nobody knows his real identity. The society aims to defy the French revolutionaries. The main goal is to rescue innocents from the deadly guillotine.

What is the worst thing that can happen in a cemetery? "The Dead and the Countess" gives one truly horrific description which will keep you at the edge of your seat until the very end. Now do you really want to know what happened in the Breton cemetery? Its inhabitants’ long sleep has been interrupted and they have become restless. What will follow is still unknown. B. J. Harrison started his Classic Tales Podcast back in 2007, wanting to breathe new life into classic stories.

While hosting a party, a banker makes a bet with one of his guests, who is a lawyer. The topic of the bet is capital punishment and whether it is worse or better than a life sentence. The banker sees the capital punishment as more humane than life imprisonment, whilst the young lawyer completely disagrees. The bet is as follows: if the lawyer spends fifteen years in complete isolation, the banker will give him two million rubles. As the years pass, the banker realizes that he will go bankrupt if he loses the bet.

The infamous Baron Munchausen is capable of everything and anything. Escaping from a hungry lion’s jaws, shooting a male red deer with cherry stones or climbing a beanstalk all the way to the moon are but a small part of his adventures. Every new one is more surprising and exciting than the previous one. If you want to learn more about Baron Munchausen, do not hesitate to embark on this journey. B. J. Harrison started his Classic Tales Podcast back in 2007, wanting to breathe new life into classic stories.

An Englishman stops at an inn during his trip through Transylvania. He decides to wander around in a carriage despite the approaching night; darkness doesn't seem to worry him. He sets off but after a while the horses get scared by howling wolfs. The Englishman continues by foot and suddenly finds himself in a snowy and gloomy cemetery. This would not be that big of a problem if this specific night was not the so called Walpurgis Night, or in other words the time when spirits leave their graves to haunt the living.