Showing results by narrator "Cathy Dobson" in All Categories

The Leather Case is an adventure story about a young man who has just reached Paris after five years working in India as an engineer. While in Paris, he is startled by seeing a young woman whose face seems remarkably familiar, although it is impossible that he can have ever met her before. Moreover, the companion of the girl - apparently an uncle - seems to be going out of his way to engage the young engineer in a mysterious project in Silesia.

O. Henry was the pen name of William Sydney Porter (1862-1910), an American writer of outstanding short stories known for their wit, wordplay, warm characterization, and surprise endings. In this story two old friends had promised to meet up exactly 20 years to the day since their last meeting in New York. One of the friends has travelled a thousand miles to be there...and is now waiting for his childhood companion. Will he turn up?

The Penance is an edgy and at times horrifying tale about a normally amiable man who has killed the cat belonging to his neighbour's children, on the grounds that he suspected it of attacking his chickens. His efforts to make up for this awful deed are met with hostility, and the children take the opportunity to plan a dire revenge.

William Wymark Jacobs (1863-1943) was an English author of short stories and novels. His most popular works in the early part of the last century were his humorous tales set around the docks of Wapping and in the taproom of the infamous Cauliflower tavern. 'The Rival Beauties' is one of the night watchman's most unlikely tales. He narrates the time when his ship came across a giant sea-serpent and they attempted to lure it with them to New York.

John Davys Beresford (1873-1947) was an English writer, now remembered for his early science fiction and short stories in the horror and ghost story genres. 'The Hidden Beast' is a strange and evocative tale of superstition, supernatural forces and suspense. Could the rumours about a strange beast, imprisoned and tortured in the lonely house in the woods where the weird man lives, really be true?

Kate Chopin (1850 - 1904) was a US. author of French and Irish descent famous for her short stories and novels set in Louisiana. A Pair of Silk Stockings is the tale of a frazzled housewife and mother, Mrs. Sommers, who has come into a small fortune of $15. She plans selflessly to spend it on clothes and shoes for her children, but when she sets out on her shopping trip she is seduced by a pair of beautiful soft silk stockings and embarks on an intoxicating spending spree for her own personal pleasure.

The Voice in the Night is an uncanny story about a ship becalmed in fog in the middle of the Pacific. In the night, the watch hears a voice hailing the ship. It would seem to be a lone man in a rowing boat, but the individual does not wish to be seen. He is starving and urgently wants food - but despite this, he will not approach the ship and vehemently rejects the idea of being rescued. Instead they have to float some provisions out to him in a crate, which he takes off to a nearby island where his fiancée is dying of hunger.

The Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance is a strange tale told in the form of four mysterious letters. The writer's uncle, the rector in a small market town, has mysteriously disappeared in the days before Christmas. The writer of the letters has been summoned to help the search for the missing man. He writes every day to his brother to update him on events...and describes a series of most bizarre and inexplicable happenings.

W. W. Jacobs was an English writer, famous for his humorous short stories, particularly those relating the preposterous adventures and misadventures of sailors on leave. The collection Short Cruises contains some of W. W. Jacobs' most popular characters, including the night watchman at the docks in Wapping who relates the stories of his friends Ginger Dick, Sam Small and Peter Russet.

John Davys Beresford (1873-1947) was an English writer, now remembered for his early science fiction and short stories in the horror story and ghost story genres. 'Powers of the Air' is a strange and evocative tale of superstition, supernatural forces and suspense. When the 'black time' comes, it is not safe to go out on the cliffs...but a young outsider from the town is determined to prove that the Powers do not exist.

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. 'A Tough Tussle' is a weird and horrible ghost story about a soldier in the Civil War who finds himself stationed on sentry duty, alone in a wood at night, next to the corpse of an enemy soldier. While he waits and watches, the body appears to change position....

The House-Surgeon is a strange tale about a haunted house. Not that there is an actual ghost in evidence. Indeed, nobody has ever died in the house since it was originally built. But a strange all-pervading depression haunts the place intermittently which overwhelms its occupants. When the current owner of the house tells the strange tale of the house to a fellow passenger, Mr. Perseus, on a trans-Atlantic steamer, he invites him down to the house to experience the horrible phenomenon himself.

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 Tool is a creepy tale about a young curate on a walking holiday who discovers the body of a murdered sailor on the moors above a remote village. He walks on to the village with the intention of reporting his grisly discovery, but as the constable is away for the night he checks into the local inn until he can report the murder.

Morley Roberts (1857-1942) was an adventurer who worked on railways, cattle, and sheep ranches all over Africa and the Americas and still found time to write a large number of very varied novels and stories with a zest that only real-life experience can give. The Overcrowded Iceberg is the story of the argumentative crew of a fog-bound ship in the northern Atlantic, which eventually strikes an iceberg and sinks.

"The Paradise Coal-Boat" is the story of Ezra Pollard, skipper of a coal boat working between Tyneside and the South Coast. The cost-conscious shipowner, Gedge, makes it very clear to Ezra that he is to sail his route at top speed and in the event of any collision to bring home no survivors from other ships who could make claims for damages against the firm. But Ezra is haunted for years by an incident where he accidentally mows down a fishing smack and drowns its crew.

A fast-paced and varied collection of captivating short stories ranging from action thrillers to poignant tear-jerkers to the downright weird, including: "Jerry Bundler" by W. W. Jacobs, "The Umbrella Mender" by Beatrice Harraden, "Green Ink" by J. S. Fletcher, "Why Herbert Killed His Mother" by Winifred Holtby, "The Red Mark" by Israel Zangwill, "The White Kid Glove" by J. S. Fletcher, "Sophy Mason Comes Back" by E. M. Delafield, plus many more.

Reparation is a strange short story. Angus, a young engineer returning to England from Cape Town, is offered a first class passage by an ailing acquaintance on the pretext that he needs a secretary during the voyage. Once they set sail it becomes clear that there is in fact no secretarial work to be done and he is puzzled as to why he has been taken on. One evening he is called to his employer's cabin. The old man is dying.

The Child in the Garden is the story of an independent young woman with a passion for archeology who enjoys travelling to sites of antiquity in pusuit of her research. Meanwhile her fiancé, a highly traditional curate, is unhappy at her level of freedom and independence. When he finally travels out to Greece and catches up with her in a remote village, she breaks off their engagement. Soon after this she experiences a terrifying, but at the same time thrilling adventure.

Morley Roberts (1857-1942) was an adventurer who worked on railways, cattle, and sheep ranches all over Africa and the Americas and still found time to write a large number of very varied novels and stories with a zest that only real-life experience can give. The Mad Hatter is a fast paced and gripping adventure story about a magazine editor who is pursued across London by a murderous psycopath who is determined to kill him in revenge for rejecting a short story of his about his escape from the asylum.

A Patch on the Quilt is a short story about an actor who is pursued by a strange woman at the theatre with a very odd request. She has attended every performance of his play since it started, skipping meals to afford the tickets. She now wants him to come with her to a house in Kensington after his performance...which she says is part of her 'plan'. But who is this person and what could she possibly want from him?