Showing results by narrator "Cathy Dobson" in All Categories

During the last part of the nineteenth century, the detective story took off as a popular genre as literary magazines vied with each other to draw in readers with gripping page-turners by the likes of Arthur Conan Doyle, G. K. Chesterton, Guy Boothby and Wilkie Collins. This collection brings together some of the great detectives of the Victorian era, from the master sleuth himself, Sherlock Holmes, to the mild mannered Father Brown, to the feisty J. G. Reeder.

'Mr. Tallent's Ghost' is an amusing tale about an eccentric writer who likes to read his appalling and tedious novels aloud to his relatives...or indeed anyone who will listen. He persuades a lawyer to draw up a will devoting his entire fortune to funding the publication of his writing. Shortly after this, news of Mr. Tallent's death arrives. The disinherited relations dispute the will vigorously, and soon after this, the ghost of Mr. Tallent begins to haunt the relatives and the executor.

A wonderful collection of 50 of the best classic ghost stories ever written. 'The Missing Model' by Lettice Galbraith, 'Pomegranate Seed' by Edith Wharton, 'The Screaming Skull' by F. Marion Crawford, 'The Ghost in the Cupboard Room' by Wilkie Collins, 'The Shadow on the Blind' by Louisa Baldwin, 'A Ghost's Revenge' by Lettice Galbraith, 'The Lost Ghost' by Mary Wilkins-Freeman, 'On the Northern Ice' by Elia W. Peattie, 'The Cold Embrace' by Mary E. Braddon, 'The Dust Cloud' by E. F. Benson, and many more.

Adeline Virginia Woolf (January 1882-1941) was an English writer and one of the preeminent modernists of the 20th century. 'The Mark on the Wall' is a description of a chain of thoughts inspired by catching sight of a mysterious mark on the wall. It does not matter what the mark actually is.... What is important is the imaginative images and philosophical considerations which it stimulates in her brain.

A bumper collection of classic ghost stories and strange supernatural tales.

Edith Wharton (1862-1937) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist and short story writer. She was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1927, 1928 and 1930. Among her most popular and terrifying tales are the many masterly ghost stories which she wrote in her early career. "Pomegranate Seed" is a disturbing ghost story in which a man receives a series of eerie letters from his dead first wife.

A spectacular collection of outstanding half-hour short stories...perfect for commuters or bedtime listening. 'The Whistle' by Hugh Walpole, 'The Well' by W. W. Jacobs, 'The Scrupulous Father' by George Gissing, 'The Debt' by Edith Wharton, 'The Problem of the Five Marks' by Melville Davisson Post, 'The Purple Wig' by G. K. Chesterton, 'Pickman's Model' by H. P. Lovecraft, 'Humplebee' by Geroge Gissing.

Leitch Ritchie (1800–1865) was a Scottish novelist and journalist, who is best known for "The Man-Wolf" - one of the first British werewolf stories. At the ceremony of the ducking of the fishermen, a knight is accidently pitched into the river by his servant Hugues. This humiliation, which occurs in the presence of the beautiful damsel Beatrix, causes the knight to go on a drinking spree that night, as a result of which he sets off home very late indeed. Travelling through the forest at night, he has a series of adventures which end in him being turned into a werewolf.

Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923) was a prominent modernist writer of short fiction and a close associate of D. H. Lawrence and Virginia Woolf. The Apple Tree is a delightful story narrated from the perspective of a child whose father discovers that he has a rare and valuable apple tree growing in his orchard. The family wait impatiently for the first crop of the magical and splendid apples. Finally the day arrives when they can taste the wonderful red fruits...

Twenty hours of the very best of Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories.

An enchanting folk tale of two sisters who could not be more different from one another. One is hardworking, cheerful and willing, the other lazy and disagreeable. When the first meets an old woman and helps her she is rewarded with some very remarkable eggs which help her make her fortune. When the second sister behaves badly towards the old woman, she too is given some eggs... but with very different results. Enchanting!

Edith Wharton (1862-1937) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist and short story writer. She was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1927, 1928 and 1930. 'All Souls' is a creepy Hallowe'en story about a woman who lives with her servants in a remote house in Connecticut. One weekend at the end of October, she has an accident and breaks her ankle...and then follow the most terrifying and mysterious 36 hours of her life.

The golden age of the short story was in Victorian and Edwardian times, when authors made a living by contributing to literary magazines and journals. These popular journals threw up such literary greats as Dickens, Conan Doyle, Rider Haggard, and Jerome K. Jerome. Many of the great writers are undeservedly neglected by modern audience...but what a pleasure it is to rediscover the literary treasures that delighted our great grandparents!

Originally published anonymously in the form of a pamphlet, the intriguing ghost story entitled: "A True Relation of the Apparition of One Mrs. Veal the Next Day after her Death to One Mrs. Bargrave at Canterbury the 8th of September, 1705" has long been the cause of academic speculation and dispute. The theme of the story is an uncanny interaction between the spiritual world and the physical world, as well as the nature of death itself. The story describes a posthumous visit by Mrs. Veal to her friend Mrs. Bargrave, during which strange insights and confidences are exchanged.

A wonderful collection of 30 of the greatest detective and mystery stories ever written. Featuring all the great classic sleuths, including Sherlock Holmes, Father Brown, Max Carrados, Dr. Thorndyke and Madame Rosika Storey. 1. 'Who killed Charlie Winpole?' By Ernest Bramah 2. 'The Blue Cross' by G. K. Chesterton 3. 'The Problem of the Five Marks' by Melville Davisson Post 4. 'The Comedy at Fountain Cottage' by Ernest Bramah 5. 'The Mysterious Card' by Cleveland Moffett 6. 'The Card Unveiled' by Cleveland Moffett

A superb collection of classic ghost stories from the world's great storytellers. 1. "Lot No. 249" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. 2. "The Phantom Rickshaw" by Rudyard Kipling. 3. "The Haunted Dolls’ House" by M. R James. 4. "Ligeia" by Edgar Allan Poe. 5. "The Monkey’s Paw" by W. W. Jacobs. 6. "The Finest Story in the World" by Rudyard Kipling. 7. "The Apparition of Mrs. Veal" by Daniel Defoe. 8. "Metzengerstein" by Edgar Allan Poe. 9. "They" by Rudyard Kipling. 10. "Labadoyere’s Doom" by Lord Halifax. 11. "Lost in a Pyramid" by Louisa May Alcott. And more...

The Giant Who Had No Heart tells the story of a kind prince who sets off to rescue his brothers and their sweethearts, who have been turned to stone by a cruel giant. With the help of a raven, a salmon, a wolf and a very clever princess, he is finally able to rescue his brothers and their brides and win the princess for himself....

The Yellow Wallpaper is Charlotte Gilman's best known work. Written from the perspective of a woman suffering post-partum psychosis, it draws the listener into a world which is both terrifying and fascinating, where strange events occur and where even the wallpaper takes on a sinister and creepy significance. The narration and language are masterful, but it is the way the listener is invited to empathise and almost experience the mental illness first hand which make a lasting impression.

When the prematurely middle-aged J.P. Huddle is recommended to take an “unrest-cure” by a friend, he little realizes that the other passenger in the railway compartment, the prank-loving Clovis, will take this as a personal challenge. The havoc which Clovis’s macabre and at times shocking practical joke causes is beyond anything that the sleepy hamlet of Tilfield has seen before. Hector Hugh Munro at his most macabre.

A mysterious and unsolved murder has taken place on the train from Euston to Manchester. A bearded man with a cigar is sitting in the first class smoking carriage. In the next carriage a tall middle aged man and a younger woman travelling together. When the train arrives at Rugby, the smoking compartment is empty and in the next carriage the couple are also gone, but there is the corpse of a young man who has been shot through the heart. There is nothing which can help identify the dead man...