Showing results by narrator "Cathy Dobson" in All Categories

The Desert Islander is the story of a deserter from the French Foreign Legion who seeks help from an Englishman living in a remote part of southern China during the Chinese war. Two facts quickly become apparent about our legionnaire. First, that he has a narcissistic personality disorder which leaves him devoid of empathy and in desperate need to attention and adulation. Second that he is suffering from a gangrenous leg.

Elizabeth 'Lizzie' Irons Folsom Fox (1862-1935) was an American writer best known for her rich and varied short stories. 'Towers of Fame' is an unlikely love story. The indifferent, cold, calculating and wholly ambitious judge, Eric Hall, is the last person any of the assembled company could imagine ever having a love affair. And yet an old friend of his tells a romantic story that perplexes and fascinates everybody.

Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace (1875-1932) was an English writer of 957 short stories and over 170 novels. He is widely recognized as one of the most prolific writers of his age. 'White Stockings' is a compelling and cleverly constructed story about a vengeful jilted lover with a gambling addiction, a racing tout, a gullible lover, a hairdresser and a wily old racehorse owner...most of whom are hell-bent on double-crossing each other.

Neil Munro (1863-1930) was a Scottish journalist, newspaper editor, author and literary critic who is now mainly known for his humorous short stories. The Student Lodger is the humorous tale of a Scottish couple who take on an English divinity student as a lodger. The trainee minister turns out rather livelier than his landlords had hoped....

Arthur George Morrison (1863-1945) was an English writer and journalist known for his realistic novels and stories about working-class life in London's East End. This collection contains a selection of Morrison's best work, including 'Dobbs' Parrot', 'The House of Haddock', 'The Thing in the Upper Room', 'His Tale of Bricks', and 'A Lucifo Match'.

William Fryer Harvey (1885-1937) was an English writer of short stories, most notably in the mystery and horror genres, in which many of his works are recognized as masterpieces of the genre. The Ankardine Pew is one of W. F. Harvey's most famous works. It is a curious tale of a house haunted by the tortured soul of a previous owner who had once committed a most dreadful and unusual atrocity.

The elderly spinster, Miss Cornelius appears to be the cause of a range of strange supernatural phenomena which are troubling the house where she is temporarily lodging. But when Andrew Saxon, a local schoolmaster, accuses her of being behind the mysterious haunting she turns on him with a terrifying curse. Following this the focus of the strange and terrifying phenomena mysteriously shifts to the Saxon household...and worse still, it seems as though the awful powers have transferred from Miss Cornelius to Saxon's beloved wife, Molly.

Arthur Jermyn is the story of a baronet with an interest in anthropology who sets out to solve the mystery of what his great, great, great grandfather discovered in the Congo many years earlier. The family stories were very peculiar and the old ancestor had gone mad and been locked up in an asylum...but when on an expedition to the Congo Arthur Jermyn finally met someone claiming to be able to solve the mystery, he anticipated great things.

A Keen Sense of Rumour is a tongue-in-cheek love story with strong elements of a bedroom farce. Kenneth Harvey, a notorious philanderer and proficient golfer is on holiday with a group of friends. His roving eye is drawn to a pretty girl who is staying at the same hotel. After a day of golf, Kenneth leaves the billiard room to have an early night - though his friends think it more likely that this is a pretext for some amorous adventure and take it upon themselves to catch him out.

Arthur George Morrison (1863-1945) was an English writer and journalist known for his realistic novels and stories about working-class life in London's East End. His Tale of Bricks is a humorous tale of a set of rogues in London's East End attempting an ingenious swindle at Liverpool Street station, involving the switching of one suitcase with another filled with bricks...but the swap does not work out quite as planned.

Arthur George Morrison (1863-1945) was an English writer and journalist known for his realistic novels and stories about working-class life in London's East End. A Lucifo Match is the story of a London pickpocket who selects the wrong pocket to dip his fingers into. It belongs to a West End conjurer who exacts an extraordinary revenge for the attempted theft. But the pickpocket is not so easily beaten, and his natural cunning suggests a way to get even.

The Abandonment of Miss Plum is the tale of Alice Honoria Plum, a 19-year-old orphan who takes a dull position as companion to an elderly lady - although secretly she dreams of travel and the high life. When two years later the old lady dies and leaves a fortune to Alice Honoria, she determines to travel to Paris for a 'fling'.

Mr. Pappas tells the story of a young female artist who has agreed to let out her studio one evening a week to a mysterious foreigner, Mr. Pappas. She is now anxious about what her sinister tenant might be getting up to in her studio...and A. J. Alan offers to hide in the place and spy on them one night. When he does so, he uncovers astounding and terrible goings on....

'A School Story' is an intriguing ghost tale set in a private school near London. During a lesson one of the boys finds himself writing a strange sentence in Latin which he himself cannot properly explain. When the teacher reads it, he turns pale and appears to become suddenly very ill. A week or so later, again during class, another even more mysterious Latin message appears...and then events turn very strange and sinister indeed.

Arthur George Morrison (1863-1945) was an English writer and journalist known for his realistic novels and stories about working-class life in London's East End. The Disorder of the Bath is an engaging and humorous story about a burglary told by a cockney rogue who has double crossed his companions and is on the run.

Arthur George Morrison (1863-1945) was an English writer and journalist known for his realistic novels and stories about working-class life in London's East End. The House of Haddock is the humorous story of an old rogue whose formerly genteel family has fallen on hard times. A former ancestor of his once gave a set of almshouses to the village, and our anti-hero sets out to ensure that one of these is allocated to him.

The true crime story of Henri Désiré Landru, master of murder and the art of making love, captivated the whole of Europe for almost two years. Landru is known to have murdered at least a dozen women for their savings and their furniture. Moreover, the uncanny fascination which he held for his victims from the moment he fixed them with his strangely compelling eyes, has never been properly explained.

The Secret of the Moat Farm is Wallace's account of a real-life murder mystery which he had covered as a young journalist. Camille Holland, a spinster of 56, became enamoured of an attractive scoundrel named Dougal. When the two moved into the remote Moat Farm, it was not long before Miss Holland disappeared. Dougal remained at the farm, spending Miss Holland's money and entertaining a series of mistresses...until finally suspicions were aroused.

Joseph Smith Fletcher (1863-1935) was a British journalist and author. He wrote more than 230 books on a wide variety of subjects, both fiction and nonfiction. He was one of the leading writers of detective fiction in the Victorian golden age of the short story. This collection brings together some of the finest and most diverse examples of Fletcher's genius.

Skinflint is a bittersweet tale of an embittered middle-aged woman who has never recovered from being jilted as a young woman. Since that sorry episode she has thrown herself into the micro-management of her grocery and drapery business. Then one day she learns that her former lover is on the brink of ruin...and the memories of her youth come surging back....