David Stuart Davies has edited four other immensely popular anthologies for the Collector's Library. This volume includes some of the greatest classic crime short stories ever written. It contains locked rooms, barely decipherable codes, and straightforward murders written by masters of the genre: Arthur Conan Doyle, R. Austin Freeman, G.K. Chesterton, Edgar Wallace, John Dickson Carr, Sheridan Le Fanu, and Arnold Bennett, among others.

Selected and Introduced by David Stuart Davies. Prepare to take a step beyond reality into the fantastic realm of other worlds imagined by the pioneers of science fiction. This collection features a set of wide ranging and mind expanding tales created by the founding fathers of this most fascinating and exciting of literary genres. As well as the works of famous authors such as Jules Verne, Arthur Conan Doyle and Jack London, there are some startlingly original gems by lesser known scribes. Thrill to the adventures of the first invisible man in Edward Page Mitchell's The Crystal Man; take part in Stanley G. Weinbaum's A Martian Odyssey; travel back in time to the prehistoric world of Atlantis in J. Leslie Mitchell's Three Go Back; be intrigued by Edwin A. Abbott's Flatland, the classic novella of the Fourth Dimension; witness the terrible disaster that besets London in Fred M. White's The Dust of Death; and be chilled by Robert Duncan Milne's cosmic disaster story Into the Sun. From the wonders of outer space, to the predictions of the future and the startling possibilities and dangers of scientific progress to the frightening potentials of human development, the writers of these pioneering scenarios provide thrilling and unique experiences for all those who love to journey beyond the familiar.

The dictionary defines 'macabre' as something that is 'grim, gruesome and grotesque'. This definition sums up splendidly the flavour and the content of the excellent stories you will find in this collection. Here are tales written by masters of the genre which feature ghosts, monsters, magic, and horror — everything and anything which is out of kilter with the norm and challenges the imagination, while creating that special tingle of fear which is generated by uncertainty. In reading these pleasantly disturbing stories it is as though one is looking at the world through a glass darkly. This wonderfully potent brew of macabre titbits is guaranteed to entertain and enthral.

Over the centuries Ireland has preserved a magical, mystical aura that lends itself to tales of the supernatural — from leprechauns and fairies to ghosts and hauntings. Stories and storytelling have always been central to Irish folk culture, and this anthology of the best ghost stories from Ireland and Irish writers includes contributions from Sheridan Le Fanu, Bram Stoker, Patrick Kennedy, George Moore and W. B. Yeats. The result is a collection of tingling tales of poltergeists, supernatural experiences, haunted houses, death warnings and banshees that will chill the blood of readers and listeners alike.

«Crime Scenes» is a sparkling collection of short stories written by modern masters and mistresses of the crime fiction genre. Within these pages you will find tales of murder, mystery and mayhem in a great variety of styles and tones from the time-honoured whodunnit to the psychological chiller to the history mystery to the crime procedural to the noir thriller to the gangster epic and the darkly humorous narrative. This volume demonstrates clearly how the crime story has developed and matured over the last two hundred years or so into the exciting, thought-provoking and thoroughly entertaining form of fiction it is today. The impressive cast of contributors includes well-respected and well-established names such as Peter Lovesey, Edward Marston, Natasha Cooper, Judith Cutler and Russell James as well as those currently making their reputation as fine exponents of their craft and a few young lions whose work is bristling with promise. Crime Scenes is a treasure chest of delights for the fans of crime fiction.»

Once more, the game's afoot as Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street returns in twenty new adventures specially commissioned for Wordsworth's Mystery & Supernatural series. The celebrated detective, along with his friend and biographer, Dr Watson, investigate a variety of baffling mysteries that will delight fans of the famous sleuth. Striding through the foggy gas lit streets of London, Holmes tackles such cases as the puzzle of the Green Skull, the secret of the Brown Box, the conundrum of the Dragon of Lea Lane, as well as coming face to face once again with the Sussex Vampire. We also learn what really happened at the Reichenbach Falls when Holmes had his fateful encounter with Professor Moriarty. David Stuart Davies, Denis O. Smith, Mark Valentine, Matthew Booth, M.J. Elliott and the other talented writers who have contributed to this collection have followed closely in the footsteps of Arthur Conan Doyle in creating a wonderful feast of Sherlockian entertainment.

«This novel is an exciting fusion of a Sherlock Holmes mystery with the Ruritanian world of intrigue and skulduggery of Anthony Hope's novel «The Prisoner of Zenda». Colonel Sapt of the Ruritanian Court journeys to England on a secret mission to save the country from anarchy. His mission is to engage the services of Rudolf Rassendyll once more to impersonate the King while the monarch recovers from a serious illness. But Rassendyll has mysteriously disappeared. In desperation, Sapt consults Sherlock Holmes who, with his faithful companion Watson, travels to the Kingdom of Ruritania in an effort to thwart the plans of the scheming Rupert of Hentzau in his bid for the throne. «Sherlock Holmes and the Hentzau Affair» is a wonderful blend of detective story and rousing adventure yarn.»

«Beware, the Dead are coming back! This is a unique and fascinating collection of early mummy stories that helped to establish the chilling concept of the Dead returning to life as a potent sub-genre of horror fiction. The main feature on the mummy bill, «The Jewel of the Seven Stars» by Bram Stoker, is generally regarded as his best work after «Dracula». A weird mixture of adventure, the supernatural and science fiction is found in Jane Webb's «The Mummy», a tale written in 1827 but set in 2126. «Some Words with a Mummy» is by the great horror writer Edgar Allen Poe. Arthur Conan Doyle's «The Ring of Thoth» is the classic mummy tale and was the basis for the 1932 movie «The Mummy» starring Boris Karloff and, indeed most mummy films ever since. «Lot 249», another Doyle chiller, completes this collection, which is guaranteed to entertain and possibly prompt a nightmare.»

«The Shadows of Sherlock Holmes» is a fascinating collection of stories featuring detectives, criminal agents and debonair crooks from the golden age of crime fiction: a time when Sherlock Holmes was esconsced in his rooms at 221B Baker Street and London was permanently wreathed in a sinister fog. These gripping tales of mystery, suspense and clever puzzles are wonderfully entertaining and in them you will meet The Crime Doctor, Professor Augustus S.F.X.Van Dusen — The Thinking Machine, Max Carrados — the incredible blind detective, the repulsive but brilliant Skin o' My Teeth, and the natty, ingenious French sleuth Eugene Valmont. On the other side of the law, there are gentleman crooks Raffles and Simon Carn — the Prince of Swindlers. The stories include: «The Purloined Letter» by Edgar Allan Poe, «The Stolen Cigar Case» by Bret Harte, «The Swedish Match» by Anton Chekhov, «Nine Points of the Law» by E.W. Hornung, «The Ghost at Massingham Mansions» by Ernest Bramah and «The Great Pearl Mystery» by Baroness Orczy.»