Mystery Reads

A man visits his friend, a Scandinavian artist who lives in an old Italian villa. They go out on the balcony, enjoying the calm and beautiful night. Then the guest suddenly sees a strange mound of earth with a body next to it. The artist knows the story and it goes way back in time. Angelo and Cristina were a couple in love who did not get the chance to be together. Cristina was killed by two robbers. Since then a strange body appears in the moonlight.

Mr. John Smith is a British student of Egyptology who travels to Paris. The main purpose of his trip is to visit the Louvre and research some papyri. Unfortunately, tired from going round the museum, Smith falls asleep in one its the many corners. When he wakes up, he sees an Egyptian-looking man performing a ritual on a mummy. Things get even stranger as the Egyptian man unwraps the mummy, uncovers a beautiful woman and hugs her.

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.

One night during his regular rambles, Mérimée stumbles upon a mysterious woman who invites him home to her place. They enter a big, dark but luxuriously furnished room and they spend the whole night having dinner and talking. However things take a turn to the strange when the eery lady starts talking about death and tombs. Mérimée realises that his companion is not an ordinary woman and that he is in danger. Will he get himself out of there alive or will Xélucha drag him with her to the underworld? B. J.

A young traveler is up on a mountain when night falls and he finds shelter with a family that lives nearby. They make friendly conversation and the visitor shares his dreams and goals to achieve great things in life. Their conversation is however interrupted by the sound of rocks falling from the slope. Are they in danger? Find out in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s "The Ambitious Guest". B. J. Harrison started his Classic Tales Podcast back in 2007, wanting to breathe new life into classic stories.

Father Brown, an amateur detective, takes up his first case ever. He has to find the infamous criminal Flambeau. The task is however very difficult because Flambeau is a master of disguise and nobody knows what he really looks like. The detective finds out that Flambeau is planning to head out to an international conference in London, most probably intending to steal some religious articles. So Father Brown decides to cross Flambeau’s path. What the detective had not expected is a police inspector from Paris to be crossing his path.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Lionel Dacre is a young man who lives in a small house in Paris. Because of his large interest in the occult, Dacre has gathered a huge library of occult literature and many mysterious items. One of these items is a leather funnel next to which the young man sleeps. The strange thing is that in his dreams, Lionel can see exactly how the funnel has been used.

An Adjutant-crane, a jackal and a giant crocodile are talking by the river, under a newly built railway bridge. The crocodile remembers the good old days, when he used to catch and devour the villagers as they tried to pass through a ford. He also remembers a boat sailing down the river, on which was a white child whom the crocodile tried to catch, but got shot with a revolver instead. Soon the reptile falls asleep, when two men with riffles cross the bridge.

Aristide Valentin holds a dinner party in his secret garden, which only has one main entrance. Many people are invited. Julius K. Brayne, one of Valentin’s rivals, is of the party as well. Everything goes as planned until one group of guests finds a beheaded corpse and the dinner turns into an investigation. Many questions begin to arise: How could someone be killed in a closed back garden without anyone noticing? Who is the victim? Who is the murderer? Where is the head? Find out the answers in "The Secret Garden". B. J.

From the books that inspired the new Netflix series "Lupin" with Omar Sy. At Chateau de Maupertuis, death shadows Lady Jeanne Darcieux, as she escapes more than one attempted murder. But hero and gentleman burglar, Arsene Lupin is lying in wait and he can't help saving a stranger, especially if she's young and rich. The sixth story in Maurice Leblanc’s collection "The Confessions of Arsène Lupin" about gentleman thief and criminal mastermind, Arsene Lupin.

"Tobin’s Palm" is a story about a young man named Tobin whose love Katie has disappeared. He did everything he could to find her, but she was nowhere to be seen. Heartbroken, Tobin falls into despair. His friend Jawn shows up and force Tobin to head out into to get some fresh air. But what they stumble upon there is not what Jawn or Tobin had expected. "The Ransom of Red Chief" is a short story with a twist ending about two criminals, named Bill and Sam.

Can people come back from the dead? Can they bring something or someone back from there? If so, can they reach out to people who are still alive? "The Return" and "The Second Generation" are two stories about supernatural occurrences, about people returning from a world, which most of us do not know. Algernon Blackwood sets the readers in a scary and dreadful atmosphere which only the bravest can endure.

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.

"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.