Horace Walpole

1 Published Story

Horace Walpole's Book and Story

The Castle of Otranto

The Castle of Otranto

3.5

Regarded as the first gothic horror novel ever written, The Castle of Otranto is a dark, thrilling tale, delightfully shocking for its time and hugely influential. A fantastic, provocative and playful tale of medieval dynastic and sexual politics, The Castle of Otranto is regarded as the first ever published gothic novel and has inspired authors from Edgar Allan Poe to J.K. Rowling. Abounding with unfulfilled prophecies, supernatural occurrences, adventure, suspense and destiny it follows the fortunes of the royal family of Sicily in the thirteenth century. Prince Conrad is crushed to death on the day of his wedding to the beautiful Princess Isabella. Heirless – and terrified of an ancient prophecy that foretells the downfall of his dynasty – his father, King Manfred, divorces his wife and resolves to marry the princess himself. Far from enamoured with her new fiancé, Isabella flees the royal castle and makes for the sanctuary of a nearby church with the help of the humble Theodore. When the pair is captured their respective fates seem inescapable; but at the moment of Theodore's death, delivery comes from the most unexpected of places.

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The Phantom of the Opera

The Phantom of the Opera

4.7

Rumours that a ghost stalks the dark passages and cellars of the Paris Opera House, wreaking havoc, have long been rife among staff and performers. This Phantom also haunts the imagination of the beautiful and talented singer Christine Daaé, appearing to her as the 'Angel of Music' - a disembodied voice, coaching her to sing as she never could before. When Christine is courted by a handsome young Viscount, the mysterious spectre, who resides in the murky depths of the building, is consumed by jealousy and seeks revenge. With its pervading atmosphere of menace, tinged with dark humour, The Phantom of the Opera (1910) offers a unique mix of Gothic horror and tragic romance that has inspired film, stage and literature since its publication.

The Picture of Dorian Gray

The Picture of Dorian Gray

5.0

Oscar Wilde's only novel, first published in 1890, is a brilliant puzzle, intended to tease convention minds with its exploration of the myriad interrelationships between art, life, and consequence. From its provocative preface, challenging the reader to believe in "art for art's sake", to its sensational conclusion, the book explores the nature of sin through the tale of a young man who sells his soul for a lifetime of beauty.

The Pit Prop Syndicate

The Pit Prop Syndicate

Freeman Wills Crofts

5.0

From the Collins Crime Club archive, the third standalone novel by Freeman Wills Crofts, dubbed 'The King of Detective Story Writers'. Seymour Merriman's holiday in France comes to an abrupt halt when his motorcycle starts leaking petrol. Following a lorry to find fuel, he discovers that it belongs to an English company making timber pit-props for coal mines back home. His suspicions of illegal activity are aroused when he sees the exact same lorry with a different number plate – and confirmed later with the shocking discovery of a body. What began as amateur detective work ends up as a job for Inspector Willis of Scotland Yard, a job requiring tenacity, ingenuity and guile . . . Freeman Wills Crofts' transition from civil engineer on the Irish railways to world-renowned master of the detective mystery began with The Cask when he was fully 40 years old; but it was his third novel, the baffling The Pit-Prop Syndicate, that was singled out by his editors in 1930 as the first for inclusion in Collins' prestigious new series of reprints 'for crime connoisseurs'. This Detective Club classic is introduced by John Curran, author of The Hooded Gunman, and includes the bonus of an exclusive short story by Crofts, 'Danger in Shroude Valley'.

The Red House Mystery

The Red House Mystery

5.0

The setting is an eng country house, where Mark Ablett has been entertaining a house party consisting of a widow and her marriageable daughter, a retired major, a wilful actress, and Bill Beverley, a young man about town. Mark's long-lost brother Robert, the black sheep of the family, arrives from Australia and shortly thereafter is found dead, shot through the head. Mark Ablett has disappeared, so Tony Gillingham, a stranger who has just arrived to call on his friend Bill, decides to investigate...

The Red Seal

The Red Seal

Natalie Sumner Lincoln

5.0

Nothing is what it seems to be as events unfold in this entertaining mystery by Natalie Sumner Lincoln. Red seals and red herrings abound and will keep you guessing all the way through the final chapter!

The Kellys and the O'Kellys

The Kellys and the O'Kellys

Anthony Trollope

5.0

During the first two months of the year 1844, the greatest possible excitement existed in Dublin respecting the State Trials, in which Mr O’Connell, his son, the Editors of three different repeal newspapers, Tom Steele, the Rev. Mr Tierney a priest who had taken a somewhat prominent part in the Repeal Movement and Mr Ray, the Secretary to the Repeal Association, were indicted for conspiracy.

The Brother of Daphne

The Brother of Daphne

5.0

Daphne is 'well-born, elegant, beautiful, and not especially bright'. In this, Yates' earliest collection of stories, we meet the Pleydell clan and encounter their high-spirited comic adventures. It is a world of Edwardian gentility and accomplished farce that brought the author instant fame when the stories appeared in 'Windsor Magazine'.

The Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter

Nathaniel Hawthorne

5.0

Delve into The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne's meditation on human alienation and its effect on the soul in this story set in seventeenth-century Massachusetts and be dazzled by literature. In Nathaniel Hawthorne's dark novel, The Scarlet Letter, a single sinful act ruins the lives of three people. None more so than Hester Prynne, a young, beautiful, and dignified woman, who conceived a child out of wedlock and receives the public punishment of having to always wear a scarlet "A" on her clothing. She refuses to reveal the father of her child, which could lighten her sentence. Her husband, the aptly-named Roger Chillingworth, who Hester thought had died in a shipwreck but was actually being held captive by Native Americans, arrives at the exact moment of her deepest public shaming and vows to get revenge. Her lover, Arthur Dimmesdale, remains safely unidentified, but is wracked with guilt. Though originally published in 1850, the story is set in seventeenth-century Massachusetts among Hawthorne's Puritan ancestors. In The Scarlet Letter, he created a story that highlighted both their weaknesses and their strengths. His knowledge of their beliefs and his admiration for their way of life was balanced by his concerns about their rigid and oppressive rules. Complete and unabridged, this elegantly designed, clothbound edition features an elastic closure and a new introduction by Mike Lee Davis.

The Castle of Otranto

The Castle of Otranto

3.5

Regarded as the first gothic horror novel ever written, The Castle of Otranto is a dark, thrilling tale, delightfully shocking for its time and hugely influential. A fantastic, provocative and playful tale of medieval dynastic and sexual politics, The Castle of Otranto is regarded as the first ever published gothic novel and has inspired authors from Edgar Allan Poe to J.K. Rowling. Abounding with unfulfilled prophecies, supernatural occurrences, adventure, suspense and destiny it follows the fortunes of the royal family of Sicily in the thirteenth century. Prince Conrad is crushed to death on the day of his wedding to the beautiful Princess Isabella. Heirless – and terrified of an ancient prophecy that foretells the downfall of his dynasty – his father, King Manfred, divorces his wife and resolves to marry the princess himself. Far from enamoured with her new fiancé, Isabella flees the royal castle and makes for the sanctuary of a nearby church with the help of the humble Theodore. When the pair is captured their respective fates seem inescapable; but at the moment of Theodore's death, delivery comes from the most unexpected of places.

The Hospital Murders

The Hospital Murders

Means Davis and Augusta Tucker Townsend

4.8

The loud speaker whined through laboratories, permeated kitchens, rasped in corridors. In the service corridor of Medicine Clinic the orderly rolling the laundry bin halted to listen and expectorate. Four floors above, Cub Sterling pulled in his long stride and reached for a nurse’s desk ’phone. His voice pushed through the mouthpiece and almost immediately severed the monotonous breathing of the loud speaker.