Résultats lu par "Cathy Dobson" dans Toutes les catégories

When Herbert Blamyre is summoned back from his vacation for an urgent mission, he knows it is a matter of great importance to his firm. And indeed, he is to travel to Naples with two trunks, secured with cryptic letter locks, containing a million in gold. His instructions are to speak to nobody and make no friends on his journey. But already when he boards the boat to Calais, he strikes up an acquaintance with the blustery Major and his domineering wife, as well as the rather odd Mr. Levinson, a commercial traveller in waterproofs....

Morgan Andrew Robertson (1861-1915) was a popular American author of short stories and novels who claimed to have been the inventor of the periscope. 'The Trade Wind' is the strange and unsettling story of a ship where all the crew are mysteriously struck blind after a night of drinking rum in the tropics...a condition called moon blindness, for which there is no available cure.

Elia Wilkinson Peattie (1862-1935) was a prolific American author, journalist and critic. Although she left school at 14, she was enormously talented, and by her 20s she was well established as a writer of short stories. This collection showcases six of her best tales: 'The Piano Next Door', 'On the Northern Ice', 'A Child of the Rain', 'From the Loom of the Dead', 'Story of an Obstinate Corpse' and 'Story of the Vanishing Patient'.

Herbert George Wells (1866 - 1946) was a prolific English writer of science fiction stories and novels, and is credited with being the father of science fiction. 'A Deal in Ostriches' is an amusing tale about a situation on a ship returning from the Indies with several passengers and five ostriches on board. One of the ostriches swallows a valuable diamond - but nobody knows which bird it was.

D. H. Lawrence's uncanny and erotic story of a family haunted by devastating bad luck which can only be dispelled by the visitation of a mysterious ghost, who spreads happiness wherever she goes. When the narrator goes to visit his old and much beloved friend Carlotta and her husband Luke, who are weighed down by the catastrophic deaths of their three children, he finds that they are burdened also by the vexed and sexually frustrated spirit of the dead wife of another of their house guests.

When Algernon Weatherhead moves into Wisteria Villa, he finds himself living next door to the Currie family, who are besotted with their black poodle Bingo. Algernon falls in love with the Colonel Currie's adopted niece Lillian... but he cannot make friends with Bingo, a dog with a deeply psychotic desire to bite neighbours, tradespeople, the gardener and passers-by. When Algernon shoots Bingo dead by accident, events lead to him burying the body in a shallow grave and pretending the dog has run away.

Robert Ervin Howard (1906-1936) was an American author who wrote weird fiction and terrifying horror stories. The Right Hand of Doom features one of his most fascinating characters, the puritan Soloman Kane. Kane is staying at an inn where in the taproom a braggard is boasting at having brought the evil necromancer Roger Simeon to justice. Simeon is to be hanged the next day. The necromancer has vowed revenge on the man who betrayed him....

Thomas W. Hanshew (1857-1914) was an American writer from New York. His best-loved creation was the private detective Hamilton Cleek, known as "the man of the forty faces" for his incredible skill at disguise. Cleek is based in Clarges Street, London, where he is constantly consulted by Inspector Narkom of Scotland Yard. In The Mystery of the Steel Room, Cleek is called upon to solve a very strange case. A famous racehorse is under threat from saboteurs ahead of the derby.

The Tales of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table are of Celtic origin. It is believed that King Arthur lived in the sixth century, just after the Romans withdrew from Britain. Minstrels and storytellers travelled through the land in the centuries after this, telling tales of chivalry and heroism, and the legends of King Arthur grew up across Britain and parts of Europe. Andrew Lang's collection of Arthurian legends is one of the most complete and comprehensive ever written and is more accessible than most.

A spine-chilling collection of tales of uncanny happenings, ghostly apparitions, unexplained mysteries, evil deeds and tragic events.

Bertie Thropplestance stands to inherit a vast fortune from his wealthy but indomitable grandmother, a fact which has not escaped the notice of every mother of a marriageable girl in the county. But old Mrs. Thropplestance has her own ideas of a suitable mate for her grandson, and even when he romantically rescues Dora Yonelet from a rampaging elk, this cuts little ice with the dowager. The elk, however, has its own ideas....

The respectable philanthropist Charles Granter is approached by a disreputable type on the Embankment in London, who attempts to blackmail him. Granter has just paid a visit to a pretty flower girl, a single mother in straightened circumstances, and the blackmailer wants 10 pounds in return for not telling Granter's wife. Granter is unsure how to deal with the situation. He refuses to give in to the blackmailer's demands...but how will his wife respond to the situation?

A collection of 40 classic short stories which carry a huge punch, from the great classic authors: Oscar Wilde, Saki, Kate Chopin, Edgar Allan Poe, O. Henry, Banjo Paterson, W. W. Jacobs, Guy de Maupassant and many more great names. Look forward to the train being delayed, friends turning up late, walking the dog round the block, ironing that shirt... 10-minute slots need never be wasted time again!

Sir Hugh Seymour Walpole (1884-1941) was a New Zealand-born English novelist, famous for his skill at scene setting and vivid plots. He was a best-selling author in the '20s and '30s and remains popular to this day. "The White Cat" is the story of a young American man in Hollywood who, being at the end of his financial possibilities, conceives a plan to marry a wealthy English widow.

When a stranger turns up at Shepherd Fennel's party, held in honour of his daughter's christening, he is welcomed and treated to home-brewed mead, a pipe and tobacco and a seat by the fire. When a second, altogether more sinister stranger arrives, he too is welcomed, although he makes rather too free with the host's liquor and sings a song revealing his terrible secret. When a third stranger arrives in the midst of the second stranger's song and taking one look into the room, flees in terror, the guests are mystified.

Originally written by Adolphe Danziger De Castro in 1889, but based on an earlier German tale, this story was submitted to Ambrose Bierce for revision. He insisted on reinstating the tragic ending which De Castro had altered in order to cater for the tastes of the day. In reverting to the original plot, the story regains its full importance as a work of great literature. The young monk, Ambrosius, falls in love with the village outcast, Benedicta, who is the daughter of the hangman.

Sir Hugh Seymour Walpole (1884-1941) was a New Zealand born English novelist, famous for his skill at scene setting and vivid plots. He was a best-selling author in the 1920s and 1930s and remains popular to this day. 'The Tiger' is the evocative tale of an Englishman who travels to New York and descends strangely into a terrible psychosis in which he seems to perceive wild animals roaming through the subway beneath the streets.

Charlotte Riddell (1832-1906), who wrote as Mrs J. H. Riddel, was one of the most popular and influential writers of the Victorian period. 'A Strange Christmas Game' is a brilliantly constructed ghost story with a strange twist at the end.

'Green Ink' is a classic Victorian detective story. Carsdale the solicitor receives a mysterious visit from Mr. Flapp, an old Wrychester resident who has just returned from years of travel overseas. The purpose of the visit remains mysterious, although Grice, the clerk, believes that Mr. Flapp left something with Carsdale. When next day Mr. Flapp is found drowned in the canal, Carsdale is surprisingly silent on the subject of his business with Flapp.

Herbert George Wells (1866 - 1946) was a prolific English writer of short stories and novels, who is best remembered as the father of science fiction. 'The Flying Man' is a strange adventure story. A young lieutenant explains how it is that a remote tribe of natives believe him to have supernatural powers - including the ability to fly. And a very remarkable story it is!