Classic Mystery Short Stories

First published in an 1839 edition of Burton's Gentleman's Magazine, "The Fall of the House of Usher" is the story of the declining physical and psychological health of the residents of the House of Usher - and the way in which the house itself reflects that. Gothic in theme and style, the story is an exemplar of Poe's philosophy of composition, which dictates that literary works should be short and methodological and have a unity of effect wherein all the elements of the story are related and relevant.

Diese "Erzgebirgischen Dorfgeschichten" stammen aus Mays frühester Schaffenszeit. Er zeigt sich hier von ungewohnter Seite...

Andréi Yefímych, doctor e intelectual de un sórdido e insalubre sanatorio mental de provincias, donde la violencia y la fuerza bruta se ejercen contra los internos, entabla una curiosa relación de amistad con uno de sus pacientes, Iván Dmítrich. Este encuentro tambaleará las estoicas e ingenuas creencias de Andréi, precipitándolo así hacia el despertar de una amarga realidad.

Violet Strange is no ordinary well-to-do young New York City debutante. Unbeknownst to family and society friends, she leads a secret life as a professional sleuth for a private detective agency. On a mission to raise money for an undisclosed project, the determined and gutsy young debutante diligently snoops around sleepwalking widows, violent and sinister characters, whispering clocks and concealed tombs, connecting clues to solve tales of murder, mystery and intrigue.

Mr Fortune Explains is HC Bailey's sixth collection of eight golden-age mysteries for the eclectic surgeon-detective Mr Reginald Fortune. Including a child kidnapped from a picnic; a milliner's assistant vanishing from home without a word to her friends; a strange visit, followed by a violent attack on Mr Fortune himself; a raid on a jeweler's shop, and the theft of a photograph; an ill-situated rock garden, and a haunted man; a rigidly saintly clergyman suspected of a trivial theft; a dead policeman and a broken bicycle lamp; and a curiously disturbing picture in the Paris salon.

"Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street" is a short story by the American writer Herman Melville, first serialized anonymously in two parts in the November and December 1853 issues of Putnam's Magazine, and reprinted with minor textual alterations in his The Piazza Tales in 1856. A Wall Street lawyer hires a new clerk who, after an initial bout of hard work, refuses to make copy and any other task required of him, with the words "I would prefer not to".

Un prefecto de la policía recurre al detective Dupin y a su amigo, el narrador, con el objetivo de resolver el caso de una carta robada en las cámaras reales, la cual, el ladrón usa para obtener poder sobre él con fines políticos. El ladrón fue visto por la víctima y un tercero, robando la carta.

Arthur Conan Doyle, le créateur du personnage de "Sherlock Holmes", le détective privé par excellence, était un écrivain prolifique. Il s'est aussi attelé à l'écriture de nombreux romans, historiques ou policier. On découvre ici une autre facette de son talent : l'écriture de nouvelles fantastiques, d'anticipation et d'horreur.

This is a story from the "Great Ghost Stories" collection.

In Agatha Christie’s short story, “The Veiled Lady,” Poirot’s investigation of a jewelry heist intersects with a case of blackmail brought to him by a heavily veiled lady. The woman wants to retrieve an embarrassing letter from an extortionist, but is she telling the whole truth? This short story originally appeared in the October 3, 1923 issue of The Sketch magazine.

This is a story from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes II collection. In this collection are four of the finest cases of Mr. Sherlock Holmes, narrated by his faithful friend and admirer Dr. Watson. What was the mystery of the engineer's thumb? What was behind the disappearance of the race horse? Why did masked royalty walk up to see Holmes in Baker Street? These and other puzzles are solved in this collection by this bloodhound of a genius.

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.

The 21st crime mystery in this Sherlock Holmes series. Travel alongside a carnival where murder is on the agenda. Narrated by Peter Baker, a well-known British television personality on the BBC, commercial radio, and TV.

Dirty Laundry in Paradise. For a moment, my estimation of the good Mr. Brae had increased somewhat, as I gathered he didn’t want one of his servants taking the blame for a deed the poor soul hadn’t perpetrated. I glanced at Holmes to determine his take on the situation, but I wasn’t surprised that he had taken little notice of Mr. Brae. “Would you pass the milk, Watson?” Ignoring the man completely as one could ignore a bumbling buffoon, as Holmes had dubbed him after our previous encounter. Dutifully, I passed him the cream which he slowly poured into his tea.

"Suddenly, from across the hall, came a cry - sharp, uncanny, terrible. I ran out in the direction from which it had come and stood on the threshold of the Drew dining room. A table was set with gleaming silver and white linen, and in its center stood a cake, on which fifty absurd pink candles flickered bravely. There appeared to be no one in the room. On the other side of the table, a French window stood open to the fog, and I went around to investigate. I had taken perhaps a dozen steps when I stopped, appalled...."

An enhanced audiobook, with complete music score and extensive sound effects to add to your listening experience. "The fireman had seen a skeleton, wearing a dress coat, whose head was aflame. I was deeply worried for the missing young woman. If she had been taken by the opera ghost, be he flesh or spirit, how would she fare if she rejected his 'love'? All worries were momentarily forced out of my head when a sudden squawk rang out across the opera house. I cannot believe this! Me; a suspect."

"The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist" is one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It was originally published as part of The Return of Sherlock Holmes in 1903.

This audiobook contains 17 short stories inspired from famous classic fairy tales. In addition to 17 classic tales, you’ll get another three bonus stories from Aesop’s Fables book.

In Agatha Christie’s short story, “The Market Basing Mystery,” Poirot and Hastings are called on to investigate the suspicious death of a landowner in a small English town. What looks at first like a simple case of suicide quickly becomes more complex as Poirot interrogates the suspects in the home. This short story originally appeared in the October 17, 1923 issue of The Sketch magazine.

This is a cult classic in the gothic horror and suspense genre! Our hero Richard is a young Englishman abroad in Napoleonic-era France. He falls in love with a mysterious and endangered Countess, whom he glimpsed behind her black veil. To be close to her, he checks into a room in the Dragon Volant (the Flying Dragon), a haunted hotel that has seen many mysterious disappearances.