Mystery Reads

The four members of the Private Eyes Club - Skinny, Wizard, Snitch, and Tubby - solve the baffling case of the missing cat.

When paramedic Ashley Grant finds her boyfriend in bed with another woman, she moves out of her house (okay, his house), quits her job and takes a new one in a tiny Caribbean country, the Victoria and Albert Islands. Ashley is thrown into the deep end when she arrives. Her new colleague picks her up at the airport in the island's only ambulance, which is called to the discovery of a body floating off the beach at the exclusive Club Louisa. Before she can even unpack her bags or enjoy the view from her ocean-side apartment, Ashley is unwittingly dragged into a murder investigation.

Ein spannender Krimi über Mordfälle, die wie Illustrationen in einem Märchen inszeniert werden: Madeline Dare ist Journalistin bei der Lokalzeitung in der Kleinstadt Syracuse und vermisst ihre Heimat New York. Als sie zufällig von einem 20 Jahre zurückliegenden Mord an zwei Mädchen erfährt, wittert sie ihre Chance, eine gute Story daraus zu machen. Bei ihren Nachforschungen deuten ausgerechnet alle Indizien auf ihren Lieblingscousin hin. Als kurz darauf noch ein Mord geschieht, ist klar, dass der Mörder sich an Märchen orientiert.

To the moon and back, here are 10 tales with a twist. The unlikely characters have one thing in common - they're ready and willing to do whatever it takes to achieve their goals. As the old saying goes, "You have to watch out for the quiet ones." From a quirky inventor, humored by his neighbors, to two old men out to dinner, to a more-than-meets-the-eye beverage maker, the stories will take you into the minds of the overlooked and unseen.

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.

"I will not suffer thee, ungrateful girl, to rule my people according to thine own capricious will!" The king of Denmark is extremely frustrated with his daughter. Not only does she reject every suitor who asks for her hand - she does it so rudely that her reputation has become horrible in the neighboring countries. When the King orders her to marry one of her cousins, she does so only begrudgingly, and instantly starts planning her father's murder with her new husband.

"Phil, my dear boy, really -- what's the matter? Why don't you answer? Have you seen the eyes?" An older gentleman invites a group of friends over for dinner and to discuss the supernatural. Afterwards, when only two guests remain, he tells them a story about The Eyes, about a man who is repeatedly haunted at night by a pair of grotesque eyes floating over the foot of his bed. 'The Eyes' is a short, sharp read that slowly enters your psyche and leaves you with a paragraph that may haunt you forever, because it's not about ghosts at all...

A man travels through the frozen wasteland bordering the Yukon River, accompanied by his best friend - a large husky dog. The dog tries to dissuade the man from walking farther into the frozen land, but the man pushes on. At some point the man decides to stop and build a fire. Unfortunately, snow falls from one of the trees and extinguishes the fire. This is the moment where the problems truly begin.

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.

Joyce-Armstrong is a pilot, whose allies dies while they are trying to break the current height record of 30,00 feet. The man is curious over the mysterious deaths and thinks that his friends have been caught in what he calls "air-jungles". Hay Connor and Myrtle are its two most recent casualties. Connor dies immediately after landing, while Myrtle is found beheaded. Joyce-Armstrong then decides to conduct his own investigation and takes his plane to a height of 40,000 feet.

"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge and Other Tales" is a collection of 23 stories by the American author Ambrose Bierce. It consists of some of the author’s best known works such as "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge", "Chickamauga", "A Horseman in the Sky" and many others. The American Civil War, execution of plantation owner, twist endings, stream of consciousness narration, soldiers who are morally challenged, horses running through the sky, murder and supernatural occurrences.

Have you been caught in a long and meaningless conversation of which you want to sneak out but somehow find it difficult to do so? Simon Wheeler was sitting quietly in a tavern in a small mining town when an unknown man approached him. The man was actually sent there with a mission: he had to ask Wheeler if he knew another man called Leonidas Smiley. And there the big misunderstanding occurred, because the stranger began rambling about another Smiley he knew. He kept telling funny stories about tricky situations Smiley had gotten himself into.

Henry Adams is a poor American who ends up penniless in London after a boating accident swept him out to sea. One day he stumbles upon two brothers who hand him a suspicious envelope. What Henry does not know is that it contains a million pound bank note and that he is the subject of a bet. One of the brothers thinks that the bank note is completely useless since it cannot be exchanged for cash. The other brother has the opposite opinion. They are giving Henry one month to prove them right or wrong.

Can you imagine traveling back to the past? What would you find there? Would you like it? Would you find that everything you do has some consequences in the future? Do you want to join the man in our story? Because he is about to "trap" himself in a backwards time warp. If you are not brave enough to come along, but you still want to find out what happened next, just grab "The Man Who Lived Backwards" by Charles F. Hall. B. J. Harrison started his Classic Tales Podcast back in 2007, wanting to breathe new life into classic stories.

"King" Wallace is a lion-tamer, who has been viciously murdered by a man who hated him. Now everyone wants to know who the murderer is. The "Leopard Man" is a leopard trainer with mysterious scars on his arms. He finds out that the murderer attended every performance of the lion-tamer in hope of seeing the lion tear his trainer apart.

One day, a little English boy called Teddy finds a mongoose named Rikki-Tikki-Tavi in the family house garden. He thinks that the poor animal is dead, but his mother takes it inside the house and it recovers. Rikki-Tikki-Tavi then begins to explore the garden, which is half-wild and overgrown and crosses the path of two troublesome cobras. This is the moment where Rikki-Tikki-Tavi’s adventure begins.

Can you imagine that a big white elephant could disappeared into thin air? It may sound impossible or ridiculous but it actually happened. An elephant got sent to Great Britain as a gift to the Queen but it was lost on the way and nobody seems to have a clue how it came to happen. Can chief inspector Blunt solve the case? Find out in Mark Twain’s short story "The Stolen White Elephant". B. J. Harrison started his Classic Tales Podcast back in 2007, wanting to breathe new life into classic stories.

What will happen if you hear the bell of St. Sépulcre? According to the local small town folks, dangers and even death may follow. When a stranger enters the town, he is warned by the locals not to follow a certain path because it could be dangerous. It is believed that a strange and scary woman wanders the woods and terrorises whomever crosses her path. Will the traveler dare to enter the woods? What awaits him there? Find the answers in "The Bell of St. Sépulcre". B. J.

A man named Manton killed his wife and his two children and managed to get away with it. Ten years later he returns to the house where the crime was committed. He is recognized by the locals and he is provoked into a duel which is to be held in the haunted house where Manton killed his family. The locals were aiming to scare Manton away. However, the day after the duel Manton was found dead.

"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.