Mystery Reads

"When the World Was Young" introduces us to a thief named Dave Slotter, who intends to steal from James Ward - a famous and wealthy businessman. However, while Slotter walks through Ward’s property, he encounters a wild barbarian and is forced to fight for his life. Will Slotter escape from the wild man who wants to kill him? Who is the barbarian and what is he doing on Ward’s lands? Will the thief succeed in his plan? "Moon-Face" introduces us to John Claverhouse, a man who is unreasonably despised.

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.

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.

"The Castaway" is a short story by W. W. Jacobs, telling of the return of a husband, who was thought lost and buried at sea for three years. Mrs. Boxer immediately welcomes him, but his mother-in-law suspects him to be a fraud. A visit to the local fortune-teller only deepens her suspicions. "The Castaway" is a brilliant mystery story that questions reality in a remarkable way, leaving no stone unturned and dwelling into each the characters’ suspicions and fears. Recommended to short story fans and mystery fiction enthusiasts. B. J.

Jabez Wilson, a London pawnbroker with ginger hair, pays a visit to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. He tells them about his young assistant, Vincent Spaulding, who has advised Wilson to respond to an urgent job advertisement in the local newspaper. The very next morning the pawnbroker is interviewed and hired. Everything goes well, until one morning he sees an announcement which says that "The red-headed league is dissolved". Wilson is extremely dissatisfied and goes to meet the landlord but does not receive any help.

"The Yellow Sign" is considered to be Robert Chambers’ horror masterpiece. He introduces us to Mr. Scott, an artist living in New York City. One day, Scott sees an overweight young man, who looks like a lawn grub to him. The artist’s is working on a painting of a girl named Tessie. When the girl falls ill, Scott tries to cure her, so he can finish his work as fast as possible. However, Tessie’s condition gets worse and she starts having very strange dreams.

Winzy is a young man who is desperately in love with a girl named Bertha. He is willing to do whatever it takes to keep her, even to reluctantly accept an employment offer by the alchemist Cornelius Agrippa. Unfortunately Bertha leaves Winzy for another man and Winzy’s despair leads him to drinking an elixir which Agrippa has been working on. Winzy hopes that the elixir will cure him from love. But it does more than that. The next day Bertha is still true to Winzy and he has been rejuvenated and is happy.

The Baron d’Etraille witnesses a disturbing scene at a party between his own wife and another young man. D’Etraille decides that they have to separate, so he leaves the baroness and heads out on a long journey. He spends almost six years wandering around from one place to another, not knowing what is happening with his wife. Eventually, he returns to Paris but a month later he catches such a bad cough that he is sent to Nice for the rest of the winter.

Hilton Cubitt visits Sherlock Holmes to show him a sheet of paper with a weird sequence of drawn figures. When these odd messages began to arrive at Cubitt’s house, fear and panic overwhelmed his wife Elsie. She is afraid her past is catching up with her, but she refuses to reveal anything about it. Holmes is tasked with decipher the messages and find out who is sending them.

B.J. Harrison reads "The Purloined Letter" by Edgar Allan Poe, which is a story of an unusual mystery that needs to be solved. A sensitive letter has been stolen from the queen's boudoir, and the famous amateur detective C. Auguste Dupin has been called to the rescue. The guilty one is the lover himself, Minister D-. What ensues is a match between the detective and the thief, two equally brilliant minds.

Sherlock Holmes is still a student when he receives his very first case. While still in college, he is invited to the house of his good friend, Victor Trevor. There he meets Trevor’s father, who challenges Holmes to analyze him, so that he can test the young detective’s investigative skills. Holmes touches a nerve after mentioning a person with the initials "J.A.". After the shock passes, Trevor’s father tries to hide how terrified he is, but Holmes can still catch the anxiety in his eyes.

Lieutenant-General von Rabbek is a local aristocrat, who invites the officers of the Reserve Artillery Brigade to a cup of tea with brandy. Of all the guests, Ryabovitch is the most unpleasant one. While doing his best to avoid talking to people, Ryabovitch enters a dark room, where he an unknown woman surprises him by kissing him, then running away. The unexpected kiss awakes Ryabovitch's curiosity and passion, and the man spends the rest of the evening searching for the mysterious woman.

A young woman named Mary Sutherland is engaged and about to marry Hosmer Angel, when he unexpectedly disappears. In her despair and anxiety, Mary decides to ask Sherlock Holmes for his help. This seems to be a simple case for the great detective. After a short exchange of letters with Mary’s stepfather, Mr. Windibank, Sherlock finds out what the truth is.

Edith Whittlesey is born in a country district of England, where life flows as per the rule of thumb. She is married to an honest and hardworking miner, who works together with four other men. Usually no unexpected things happen, but one day it all changes. One of the miners bursts into the hut where his partners are sitting together with Edith. The man kills two of them but is stopped and tied up thanks to Whittlesey’s quick reaction.

Can a man lose his mind because of a braid of hair? Can people come back from the dead? "The Head of Hair" tells the story of one poor man who gets so obsessed with a hairpiece that he comes to believe that the lady it belonged to has returned from the underworld. Nobody believes him and he ends up in an institution for mentally ill but could he have been telling the truth? Did he really get a visitor from the past? B. J. Harrison started his Classic Tales Podcast back in 2007, wanting to breathe new life into classic stories.

A small group of friends decide to attend a seance at a local art studio. While some of them are very sceptical about the whole thing, others believe in the medium’s abilities. The group starts a discussion about a new painting of a mythical creature, when a Frenchman joins and claims that he sees a unicorn in it. Shortly after the seance begins, a strange light fills the room and the medium starts speaking in a different voice. The voice is that of a person no longer within the living.

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are discussing the lack of interesting new cases when a man bursts into the room. The panicked young man is McFarlane and he believes that he will be arrested for the murder of 52-year-old Jonas Oldacre. Oldacre’s burnt remains are found behind McFarlane house, the day after the builder Oldacre came to the lawyer McFarlane to draw up his will and made him his sole beneficiary. McFarlane is arrested as the main suspect. Holmes believes that the young man is not guilty and does his best to prove it.

Joel Hetman Jr. is summoned home because his mother was found dead. The only thing his father saw was an unknown man fleeing their home. The murderer was never found and the crime case turned to a mystery. One night Joel and his father were walking down a moonlit road when suddenly the father saw a pale figure. Was it a ghost or was he going crazy? Joel will finally find out what happened to his mother. "The Moonlit Road" by Ambrose Bierce holds all the answers.

Have you ever wondered what hides inside the big chimney which Santa Claus goes through every Christmas Eve? Jem is about to find out. Inside the chimney, she notices a magnificent white brick, but this brick is special; it lets Jem into a magical world full of toys. Do you want to join Jem’s journey to Santa Claus’ wonderland? Grab "Behind the White Brick" and come along. B. J. Harrison started his Classic Tales Podcast back in 2007, wanting to breathe new life into classic stories.

For Mr and Mrs Thackenbury it seems like there are too many holidays. They start talking about the hypocrisy behind all these holidays, such as Christmas for example. Yet, they love listing some of the people they would like to honor on that day and discuss what they would give to them as a present. After all, they really enjoy having a good time together. If you want to find out what else Mr and Mrs Thackenbury are talking about, read Saki’s short story "The Feast of Nemesis" from 1914. B. J.