検索キーワード： ナレーター "Cathy Dobson" すべてのカテゴリー

A fascinating collection of intriguing and unusual classic murder stories by some of the masters of mystery and crime writing.

David Herbert Richards Lawrence (1885-1930) was one of England's greatest novelists, poets, playwrights, and writers of short stories. His works often explored emotional health, vitality, spontaneity and instinct. "The Lovely Lady" is a short story which tells of an unnervingly dysfunctional family, including the elderly mother and an aunt, the lovely lady who looks much younger than her 72 years. Her son, Robert, and niece, Ciss, are dominated by the charming but manipulative old lady.

George William Curtis (1824 - 1892) was a traveller, essayist and fiction writer who was particularly renowned for his short stories. He combined a highly polished style with a great sense of humour and his works we enthusiastically received in the heydays of American Periodical Literature. In the marvellous story

Titbottom's Spectacles, Curtis displays the individual charm of his work as well as the delicate atmosphere of sympathy and humour in which he sets his scenes and his characters.

'Sixpence' is the story about Edwardian parents faced with a dilemma: whether or not to whip their misbehaving little son. Will corporal punishment hurt the parents or the child more?

The year is 1870. The elderly Colonel Jouve has suffered a medical collapse and is confined to his bed. It is uncertain whether or not he will pull through. His granddaughter takes over his care. Then one day, news reaches Paris of military successes in the war against Prussia. Colonel Jouve senses the optimism in the air and his health begins to improve. Almost immediately further news reaches Paris. The previous news was wrong - in fact the French are being beaten back.

A collection of classic short stories for the restless sleeper.... "A Dream of Wild Bees" by Olive Schreiner, "The Face" by E. F. Benson, "The Dream" by A. J. Alan, "In a Far-Off World" by Olive Schreiner, "A Soothing Dream" by Fedor Sologub, "Life's Gifts" by Olive Schreiner, "A Curious Dream" by Mark Twain, "The Artist's Secret" by Olive Schreiner and "A Joy Ride" by A. J. Alan.

Sabine Baring-Gould (1834-1924) was a British writer, clergyman and member of the landed gentry, having inherited an estate of 3,000 acres. While a young curate, he met and fell in love with a beautiful 16-year-old mill worker. He paid for her education and married her, and they subsequently had 15 children. Their relationship formed the inspiration for George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion, which was turned into the musical My Fair Lady.

Edward Frederic Benson (1867 - 1940) was an English novelist, biographer, memoirist, archaeologist, and short story writer, best known as the true master of the gothic occult story. Charles Linkworth is guilty of the very worst kind of murder imaginable and is sentenced to hang the next morning. The prison doctor certifies the death following the execution, but is struck by a strange sensation as he does so, as though the spirit of the executed convict were next to him.

Giles is out of work and deep in debt after being cheated by a business partner. He is desperate to find a way to support his wife Eleanor and his daughter Anna, but he has no obvious marketable skills or talents. His one wealthy relative lends him tiny sums, and is so unpleasant over it that Giles scarcely dares borrow more. Then one day, Giles finds a wallet packed with banknotes in the back of a taxi.

'Room 53' tells the story of Beatrice, a bookaholic hotel chambermaid. When a guest at the hotel wakes late one morning to discover he has been robbed of his collection of valuable diamonds, Beatrice discovers a clue to the whereabouts of the suspected thief. She sets off to London to track the mysterious stranger down....

'A Comedy of Capricorn' is a humorous romantic tale. When Gwendolen invites the supremely eligible animal lover Lord Bampton to meet her parents so that he can ask permission to court her, she warns her family of the visitor's fondness for pets. Even the butler is warned to allow any strange or exotic animal which might accompany his Lordship into the drawing room without batting an eyelid. So when a stray goat turns up by chance at the same time as Lord Bampton, chaos, confusion and hilarity are predestined.

Stacy Aumonier was a British writer best known for his outstanding short stories. Nobel Prize-winner John Galsworthy described Aumonier as 'one of the best short story writers of all time' and predicted that he would 'outlive all the writers of his day'. 'One Law for the Rich' is the tale of two brothers, one a rich and successful businessman, the other a poor man whose business only just makes ends meet. At a cousin's funeral, both men catch a stinking cold. One is able to afford the best doctors and medicines London can provide...the other must rely on home remedies. But how will each invalid fare?

Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) began writing when he was stationed in the Caucasus in the Russian army. After fighting in the Crimean war, he settled in St. Petersburg, where he wrote a number of stories which reveal an increasing disillusionment with society and the military. "The Empty Drum" is an antiwar story adapted from a Russian folk tale.

Sir Hugh Seymour Walpole (1884-1941) was a New Zealand-born English novelist, famous for his skill at scene setting and vivid plots. He was a best-selling author in the '20s and '30s and remains popular to this day. "The White Cat" is the story of a young American man in Hollywood who, being at the end of his financial possibilities, conceives a plan to marry a wealthy English widow.

Richard Barham Middleton (1882-1911) was an English poet and author who is remembered mostly for his short ghost stories and supernatural tales. 'The Conjurer' is a short story about a stage performer whose act includes juggling and magic tricks. In one trick he makes his pretty young female assistant, who happens to be his wife, disappear. It is a pretty dull trick, but the audience applauds wildly, much too enthusiastically.... Why on Earth can that be?

E. T. A. Hoffmann (1776-1822) was a German Romantic author of fantasy and horror as well as a jurist, composer, music critic, draftsman and caricaturist. His stories were highly influential during the 19th century, and he is one of the major authors of the Romantic movement. 'The Cremona Violin' is the story of Councillor Krespel, an eccentric violin maker who lives with a mysterious woman, Antonia, who has the most beautiful singing voice ever heard by anyone in the town, but she was only ever heard to sing once.

Barry Eric Odell Pain (1864-1928) was an English journalist, poet, and writer best known for his ghost and horror stories. "The Missing Years" is the haunting tale of Sylvia Hetheril, who goes out to post letters one day and fails to return. All enquiries and advertisements fail to trace her, and eventually her family are forced to abandon the search.

Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce (1842-circa 1914) was an American author, journalist, short story writer and satirist who disappeared in 1913 under mysterious circumstances and was never seen again. "The Moonlit Road" is a brilliant and eerie ghost story which recounts a terrible murder of a woman from three different viewpoints.

Mary Cholmondeley (1859-1925) was an English novelist and short story writer. 'Let Loose' is a supernatural ghost story where a young architect wishes to research a unique fresco in the crypt of a remote and ancient parish church in Yorkshire. The parish clergyman is remarkably reluctant to hand over the keys to the crypt and sets some odd conditions to their use. On the subsequent days after the young architect has opened the crypt, terrible and mysterious deaths begin to plague the village.

John Galsworthy (1867 - 1933) was an English playwright and novelist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1932. 'Quality' is a poignant tale of a master boot maker whose quest for perfection leads to his own tragic downfall.