Mystery Reads

Anodos is a young boy who finds a large and mystical castle with a big and impressive library. The library hides the secret story of the poor Cosmo who was a student at the university of Prague. Cosmo’s life changed forever because of a mirror. But it was no usual mirror; it was an enchanted and a beautiful girl’s soul was kept inside of it. Cosmo was determined to free the girl but was he able to? Read this short story and find out. B. J. Harrison started his Classic Tales Podcast back in 2007, wanting to breathe new life into classic stories.

In the 1990s, middle school was a treacherous time for young Susan, where her lifelong friendship with Maddie is put to the test. Determined to win back her friend from the clutches of the school bully, she is willing to do anything. When she stumbles upon a chilling discovery in the woods—the enigmatic "Book of Fear," she is torn by the sinister promise of one wish granted if she is willing to face one night of all her fears.

Tim Diamond - the world’s worst private detective - takes on his most dangerous case yet, and it’s going to be up to his brother to keep him out of trouble. A short story from Guys Read: Thriller, edited by Jon Scieszka.

Sammy expects a carefree summer during her internship at the US Embassy in Vienna. Competing spy rings clash in desperation and threaten her life as every Strauss waltz accompanies a murder. Is the handsome stranger she meets heading for romance or using her as a pawn? Can she figure out who’s playing the tune before the dangerous dance ends badly?

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.

Business has been slow for Hounslow’s small time dope-dealer, Jay Qasim. A student house party means quick easy cash, but it also means breaking his own rules. But desperate times lead him there—and Jay finds himself in the middle of a crime scene. Idris Zaidi, a police constable and Jay’s best friend, is having a quiet night when he gets a call out following a noise complaint at a house party. Fed up with the lack of excitement in his job, he visits the scene and quickly realises that people are in danger after a stabbing.

This loner teen is haunted by a secret. One that forces her to continuously be on the move. As Penny settles into a new town, she realizes something much darker is afoot. The Raven, her nemesis, has tracked her down once again. She finds herself in a race against time to vanquish the darkness and save those around her.

A train gets waylaid in the middle of nowhere, and Luke and his dad find themselves with four hours to kill before it’s fixed. Just enough time for a trip to the mysterious, decrepit old museum on the edge of town. A short story from Guys Read: Other Worlds, edited by Jon Scieszka.

Thomas has only vague memories of the night his parents vanished, and the memories haunt his dreams: an old mansion, hide and seek, and panicked screaming. After their aunt threatens to split them up, Thomas and his two sisters run away to the abandoned family mansion to look for clues to their parents' disappearance. Soon after they arrive, terrifying messages make it clear that someone or something doesn't want them there. When another person close to Thomas disappears, the children must work quickly to stop the sinister force before they become the next victims of Branson Manor.

"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.

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.

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.

Three young men are caught by a storm and are offered shelter by a strange man. Something about him is very disturbing and they are about to find out what it is. Their host claims that he has made a pact with the Devil and can't get himself out of the deal. Is he going crazy or he is telling the truth? If it is the truth, can the three visitors help the poor man? Find out in Leroux’s "In Letters of Fire". B. J. Harrison started his Classic Tales Podcast back in 2007, wanting to breathe new life into classic stories.

"The Squaw" is not your typical horror story but the brutality of it will take by surprise even the biggest horror fiction fan. Bram Stoker introduces us to a couple on a honeymoon and an American tourist whom they meet in Nuremberg, Germany. The story however does not unfold around those three characters, but between the American lady and a kitten ... which she kills. What is the reason for it and what follows after that? Find out in "The Squaw". B. J.

Sherlock Holmes is at the stables of Colonel Ross in Dartmoor. He has an especially important mission to investigate the disappearance of Silver Blaze, titular horse and a famous winner. It is not enough that the champion is gone, but his trainer, John Straker, has apparently been murdered. After carefully examining the crime scene, Holmes follows the horse’s footprints to the neighbor stables, where he tries to get more information from Silas Brown.

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.