Masterpieces of Mystery (Vol. 1-4)
A Four-Volume Treasury of Gothic Terror, Ghost Stories, Detective Ratiocination, and Psychological CrimeBy Edgar Allan Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle, Algernon Blackwood, Montague Rhodes James, Guy de Maupassant, William F. Harvey, Ralph Adams Cram, Robert Louis Stevenson, Wilbur Daniel Steele, Pliny the Younger, Arthur B. Reeve, Wilkie Collins, Anna Katherine Green, Anton Chekhov, Théopile Gautier, Mark Twain, Lafcadio Hearn, E. F. Benson, Arthur Machen, Brander Matthews, Cleveland Moffett, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Villiers de l'Isle Adam, William Archer, Fitz-James O'Brien, Florence Marryat, Chester Bailey Fernando, Mary E. Hanshew, Thomas W. Hanshew
Length27h 44m
About this audiobook
Masterpieces of Mystery (Vol. 1–4) surveys the extraordinary breadth of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century mystery writing, moving among analytic detection, Gothic terror, psychological unease, fantastic speculation, and the macabre tale. Its selections reveal mystery as a flexible literary mode rather than a fixed genre: rational inquiry coexists with haunting, crime with moral ambiguity, and sensation with satire. Standout examples of locked-room ingenuity, spectral visitation, inherited secrets, and uncanny reversals demonstrate how suspense can interrogate perception, evidence, and social order. The volume's contributors form a transnational constellation of British, American, French, Russian, and classical writers whose careers helped establish both the detective story and the modern supernatural narrative. Their varied traditions—from Gothic romance and sensation fiction to realism, Decadence, journalism, and popular crime literature—bring distinct cultural assumptions to questions of guilt, knowledge, and the unknown. Canonical innovators appear beside less frequently anthologized practitioners, allowing the collection to trace the mutual development of literary horror and detection across languages and markets. Recommended for students, scholars, and devoted readers of crime and fantastic fiction, this four-volume gathering offers an unusually rich comparative archive. It invites readers to follow recurring motifs across divergent styles while appreciating each tale's formal precision, historical resonance, and imaginative power.
Audiobook details
Rating★★★★ 3.8 (46)
Includes Goodreads, Amazon, LibraryThing
GenreMystery and Thriller
Length27 hrs 44 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateDec 22, 2022
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1BRITISH MURDER MYSTERIES: The Greatest Thrillers of G. A. Henty (Annotated)
2Masterpieces of Mystery (Vol. 1-4)
3Volume 1: Ghost Stories
4Foreword
5I. The Listener (Algernon Blackwood)
Show all chaptersShow less
6II. Number 13 (Montague Rhodes James)
7III. Joseph: A Story (Katherine Rickford)
8IV. The Horla (Guy de Maupassant)
9V. The Beast with Five Fingers (William F. Harvey)
10VI. Sister Maddelena (Ralph Adams Cram)
11VII. Thrawn Janet (Robert Louis Stevenson)
12VIII. The Yellow Cat (Wilbur Daniel Steele)
13IX. Letter to Sura (Pliny, the Younger)
14Volume 2: Detective Stories
15Foreword
16I. The Purloined Letter (Edgar Allan Poe)
17II. The Black Hand (Arthur B. Reeve)
18III. The Biter Bit (Wilkie Collins)
19IV. Missing: Page Thirteen (Anna Katherine Green)1
20V. A Scandal in Bohemia (A. Conan Doyle)
21VI. The Rope of Fear (Mary E. and Thomas W. Hanshew)
22VII. The Safety Match (Anton Chekhov)
23VIII. Some Scotland Yard Stories (Sir Robert Anderson)
24Volume 3: Mystic-Humorous Stories
25I. May Day Eve (Algernon Blackwood)
26II. The Diamond Lens (Fitz-James O'Brien)
27III. The Mummy's Foot (Théophile Gautier)
28IV. Mr. Bloke's Item (Mark Twain)
29V. A Ghost (Lafcadio Hearn)
30VI. The Man Who Went Too Far (E. F. Benson)
31VII. Chan Tow the Highrob (Chester Bailey Fernald)
32VIII. The Inmost Light (Arthur Machen)
33IX. The Secret of Goresthorpe Grange (A. Conan Doyle)
34X. The Man with the Pale Eyes (Guy de Maupassant)
35XI. The Rival Ghosts (Brander Matthews)
36Volume 4: Riddle Stories
37The Mysterious Card (Cleveland Moffett)
38The Great Valdez Sapphire (Anonymous)
39The Oblong Box (Edgar Allan Poe)
40The Birth-mark (Nathaniel Hawthorne)
41A Terribly Strange Bed (Wilkie Collins)
42The Torture by Hope (Villiers de l'Isle Adam)
43The Box with the Iron Clamps (Florence Marryat)
44My Fascinating Friend (William Archer)
45The Lost Room (Fitz-James O'Brien)
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