Books with title Tales of mystery

"The Masque of the Red Death" is just one of the chilling stories in this vibrant retelling of some of Edgar Allan Poe's classical tales of terror. From the underground horrors of "The Pit and the Pendulum" to the weird goings-on in the spooky House of Usher, these stunningly illustrated stories are guaranteed to send shivers of fear and delight down the spines of modern readers, as much as when they were first published 150 years ago.

A selection of twelve stories from the creator of detective Holmes and Dr. Watson featuring: The Horror of the Heights, The Leather Funnel, The New Catacomb, The Case of Lady Sannox, The Terror of Blue John Gap, The Brazilian Cat, The Lost Special, The Beetle-Hunter, The Man with the Watches, The Japanned Box, The Black Doctor, The Jew's Breastplate.

*ILLUSTRATED EDITIONSome of Conan Doyle s unduly neglected masterworks. Each begins in a quietly factual way, making all the more dramatic the crescendo of fear and puzzlement that ensues as each new circumstance is revealed. Even without his supremely logical brain child, Sherlock Holmes, Conan Doyle shows that his tales are unbeatable for thrills and excitement.

Edition perfect as a gift. "Miss Morton was a young lady who was well known upon the country-side, her father, James Haldane Morton, having been the Squire of Bishop's Crossing. Both her parents were, however, dead, and she lived with her only brother, Arthur Morton, who had inherited the family estate. In person Miss Morton was tall and stately, and she was famous for her quick, impetuous nature and for her strength of character. She met Dr. Lana at a garden-party, and a friendship, which quickly ripened into love, sprang up between them. Nothing could exceed their devotion to each other. There was some discrepancy in age, he being thirty-seven, and she twenty- four; but, save in that one respect, there was no possible objection to be found with the match. The engagement was in February, and it was arranged that the marriage should take place in August."

Trapped by the strength of the public adoration of his character, Sherlock Holmes, Conan Doyle was desperate to write other works not involving the sleuth. The Tales of Terror and Mystery have all the recognisable qualities that made Conan Doyle's work so popular - the attention to gruesome detail, the meticulous logic and the intricate and wittily bemusing plotting - yet they are free of the constraints put on Conan Doyle by Mr. Holmes. These stories let loose the adventurous side of the rational and logical mind that many associate with Conan Doyle - the side that pulled him away from his medical studies as a young man to the Arctic Circle on a whaling ship - and, more importantly, the side that led him to a firm belief that grew throughout his life in the occult and the spiritual. His commitment to things psychic was so great that it is claimed he spent an estimated 258 pounds in the later years of his life on various occult causes. The pioneer fascinated by advances in the technology of flight is released in "The Horror of the Heights", with Conan Doyle’s hero subjected to the hitherto unknown terrors of the upper layers of the atmosphere.