Detective Stories Anthology

The bride carried no decaying roses, but her bridal dress was torn and burnt. Her bare legs, starved needle points, staggered disjointedly. The veil hung low over her face. I had my pistol, however I could not shoot. If it was a ghost, the bullet would surely pass through. If it was flesh, then I would be shooting dead a woman. Her hands, the fingernails long and cracked, lifted up the veil. Her face! Even in the darkness I could see its ruin.

Very odd happenings cause a hydraulic engineer to lose his thumb - and lead Holmes and Watson to a band of criminals.

Holmes and Watson arrive at Trinity College, summoned by a message that rugby star, Godfrey Staunton, has disappeared. Staunton is the key man on Overton's rugby team, and they will never win the important match if he cannot be found. Holmes admits that sport is a bit outside his ken, but he takes this case as seriously as any other. It proves not all elementary.

A group of four teenagers get together every week to watch movies. They love nothing more than a good movie or a good adventure. Being able to combine the two, now that's something they get excited about. Listen to how the gang get into scrapes and adventures, turning detective to uncover all manor of mysteries, legends, and myths, not to say mysteries within their own imaginations. This short story takes you into their world as their adventures begin.

It was just another call at 3:15am for DC Roger Dickson. Plagued by pills, memories, and loss, we go back to the start of the puzzle - the murder of the angel and Father Millar as DC Dickson tries to piece things together. We then get brought up to date: A visit to the Refuge Asylum to dig a little deeper into Refuge's mysteries.

In Paris, two women have been brutally murdered, and newspapers report an assortment of clues and the arrest of a man with seemingly little link to the case. One man, C. Auguste Dupin, believes that the clues reported and the findings of the investigators assigned do not match up. Dupin takes the investigation upon himself and begins to seek out the truth in this odd circumstances.

Jarred is haunted by a mask in his mirror, visions of a past he doesn't remember, and love for a woman he can't recognize. As he feels he is about to crack from the stress, the mask in the mirror begins to crack as well. Jarred wonders if he is haunted, insane, or is he perhaps the only sane person left in the world.

When men are plotting to assassinate European leaders, some take justice into their own hands. A train never makes it to its destination, in this short story penned in the 1890's.

Three short detective anecdotes by one of the key founding fathers of the detective genre, Charles Dickens. The Pair of Gloves, The Artful Touch, The Sofa.....

Sherlock Holmes first regards the experiences related by newly arrived visitor Violet Smith with a degree of impatience and disinterest. This solitary cyclist, however, is being shadowed by a mysterious man on a bicycle as she travels to and from her new employer's home as a music teacher. As Holmes and Watson investigate, a dark, dangerous picture begins to emerge that threatens the young lady's safety and ultimately her freedom.

A second marriage after the first ended in tragedy is bound to have its challenges. In the case of DI Peter Johns, his new wife, "Our Bernie", is very different from Angie, the love of his life. This short story plots the path of their friendship from first encounters to final commitment.

Here is a test, a puzzle for you. It is a faithful account of two most gruesome murders. Can you work out what actually happened in the early hours of one fateful morning in the Rue Morgue? Before you start, here are a few tips. To be a good detective you need the same skills as a good card-player. You must consider and examine every detail, not just the obvious ones. You have to observe every change in a person's face, everything they say, everything they do and you must always expect the unexpected. And finally, you must remember it all.

Where does fiction begin and reality end? Is there ever such thing as real fiction? Alex is a failing writer who decides his lack of success is due to lack of honesty and relatability. How far will he go to gain his experience to create his masterpiece? Especially when the story he is writing involves murder....

"A Scandal in Bohemia" was the first of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories to be published in The Strand magazine. Doyle ranked "A Scandal in Bohemia" fifth in his list of 12 favorite Holmes stories. It was first published on June 25, 1891, and was later the first of the stories collected in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes in 1892.

You would think that the easiest crimes to solve would be the ones where you have several eyewitnesses who saw what happened and are willing to tell the police about it. However, as DI Peter Johns discovers in this short story, witnesses don't always always remember what they saw - and sometimes they even remember things that they did not see!

DI Peter Johns was brought up in a children's home. He never expected to know his parents and never wanted to. He is unsure how to react when his mother makes contact with him and asks to meet. Follow his thoughts and feelings as he faces this unexpected development in his life.