Classic

Mystery

     and

Horror Novels

Edgar Allan Poe

1809 – 1849

Edgar Allan Poe was best known for his poetry and short stories, – especially for tales of mystery and horror. He was one of the earliest practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective genre. Poe is also credited with contributing to the genre of science fiction.

The Fall of the House of Usher

(1839)

The shortstory opens with an unnamed narrator arriving at the house of his boyhood friend Roderick Usher. Having received a letter from him complaining of an illness and asking for his help. Roderick's symptoms include hypersensitivity and an excessive preoccupation about having a serious illness.

It is revealed that Roderick's twin sister, Madeline, is also ill and falls into death-like trances.

Roderick tells the narrator that he believes the house he lives in seems to be sentient, and that this sentience arises from the arrangement of the masonry and vegetation surrounding it ...

36 pages

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The Pit and the Pendulum

(1842)

The shortstory is about the torments endured by a nameless prisoner of the Spanish Inquisition. The narrator of the story describes his experience of being tortured.

The story is effective at inspiring fear in the reader because of its focus on the senses prisoner, such as sounds, scents or the incessantly movements of the pendulum above him.

The tale has been adapted to film several times.

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28 pages

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The Premature Burial

(1844)

The short story features the theme of being buried – alive! The unnamed narrator describes his struggle with "attacks of the singular disorder which physicians have agreed to term catalepsy," a condition where he randomly falls into a death-like trance. This leads to his fear of being buried alive ...

The fear of being buried alive was common in Poe's victorian period and the author was taking advantage of the public interest. at that time

The story has been adapted to film.

28 pages

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A Descent into the Maelström

(1841)

In the short story a man recounts how he got shipwrecked and survived in a gigantic whirlpool – driven by a supernatural hurricane.

Inspired by the ›Moskstraumen‹, the tale is couched as a story within a story, told at the summit of a mountain climb in Norway. The review is told by an old fisherman who reveals that he only appears old ...

The tale has been grouped with Poe's stories of ratiocination and is also labeled as an early form of science fiction.

28 pages

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Collections

Poe's Mad Men

In this Special Edition the reader will find Poe's most famous works of horror, in which men became – slowly but unstoppable – mad ...

The collection contents the following master pieces:

- The Black Cat

- The Tell-Tale Heart

- The Imp of the Perverse

- The Masque of the Red Death

- The Cask of Amontillado

56 pages

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Poe's Gothic Romance

In this Special Edition the reader will find Poe's most famous works of the so called ›Gothic Romance‹, in which men fall in love – and loose their beloved by death. But are these women really dead ...?

The collection contents the following master pieces:

- Morella

- Ligeia

- Eleonora

44 pages

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Poe's MasTermind

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In this Special Edition the reader will find Poe's most famous works of detective stories.

Frenchman C. Auguste Dupin is considered as the forerunner of Arthur Conan Doyle's ›Sherlock Holmes‹, Agatha Christie's ›Hercule Poirot‹, and other Private Investigators, who uses their logical and brilliant intellect to enlighten criminal cases.

The Murders in the Rue Morgue is first published in 1841 and has been claimed as the first detective story ever published.

The collection contents the following master pieces:

- The Murders in the Rue Morgue

- The Mystery of Marie Rogêt

- The Purloined Letter

148 pages

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Collection

The Murders in the Rue Morgue

The shortstory opens with a lengthy explanation of ratiocination. Frenchman C. Auguste  Dupin demonstrates his prowess by deducing his companion's thoughts as if through apparent supernatural power.

The story then turns to the double murder of Madame L'Espanaye and her daughter at their home in the Rue Morgue in Paris. According to newspaper accounts, the mother was found in a yard behind the house. The daughter was found strangled to death and stuffed upside down into a chimney. The murders occurred in a fourth-floor room that was locked from the inside ...

"The Murders in the Rue Morgue" is first published in 1841. It has been claimed as the first detective story ever published.

The Mystery of Marie Rogêt

The short story "The Mystery of Marie Rogêt" is a sequel of "The Murders in the Rue Morgue." The crime story, written in 1842,  based on a real crime, happened during Poe's lifetime in New York City.

In "The Mystery of Marie Rogêt" Frenchman C. Auguste  Dupin demonstrates his genius by analysing the facts of the case according to newspaper articles.

The Purloined Letter

A letter of great significance is stolen from the Royal Palace in Paris. The identity of the thief is known, but the police is unable to pinpoint the hiding place where the incriminating letter is secreted. The Prefect of Police is at great pains to discover its whereabouts – and approaches C. Auguste Dupin for help ...

"The Purloined Letter" is a short story and the third of Edgar Allan Poe's three detective stories featuring Frenchman C. Auguste Dupin. The other two are "The Mystery of Marie Rogêt" and "The Murders in the Rue Morgue."

Poe's protagonist C. Auguste Dupin is considered as the forerunner of Arthur Conan Doyle's ›Sherlock Holmes‹, Agatha Christie's ›Hercule Poirot‹, and other Private Investigators, who uses their logical and brilliant intellect to enlighten criminal cases.

Poetry

Written in 1845 the narrative poem "The Raven" attracts with melody, a perfect rhyme, and a mystical atmosphere. The poem features a mysterious talking raven visiting a desperate lover,  who is lamenting about the loss of his love – Lenore.

Sitting on a bust of "Pallas," the raven seems to have the goal to distress with its constant repetition of the term "nevermore."

28 pages

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H.G. Wells

1866 – 1946

The Island of Dr. Moreau

(1896)

Edward Prendick is shipwrecked somewhere in the Pacific Ocean and on "The Island of Doctor Moreau." There is no chance for him to escape from this damned island. Soon he uncovers that the doctor is doing surgical experiments with animals and men ...

176 pages

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Robert Louis Stevenson

1850 – 1894

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

(1886)

A London lawyer named Gabriel John Utterson investigates strange occurrences between his old friend Dr. Henry Jekyll and the evil Edward Hyde. Then he realizes, that Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde are two personalities within Dr. Jekyll – one apparently good and the other evil ...

120 pages

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Mary Shelley

1797 – 1851

Frankenstein – or the modern Prometheus

(1818)

"How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe ...?" asks scientist Victor Frankenstein himself after the creature he had formed in a laboratory opens it's eyes for the first time.

A monster is born. And Victor Frankenstein's misfortune begins ...

276 pages

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Joseph Conrad

1857 – 1924

Heart of Darkness

(1899)

Marlow travels from the civilized world of Europe up the Congo River into the primitive of Africa. His mission: To meet an agent of an Ivory Trading Company - Kurtz. Deep in the jungle of Africa discovers Marlow the wanted Kurtz – who lives among the savage natives who revere him as a God ...

116 pages

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Oscar Wilde

1854 – 1900

The Picture of Dorian Gray

(1891)

Dorian Gray is having his picture painted by Basil Hallward, who is fascinated by the appearance of his extraordinary good looking model. Dorian wishes that all the marks of age will be reflected in the portrait – and not on his own face. After a while it seems that Dorian's wish becomes reality ...

236 pages

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Ocean of Minds Media House Ltd.

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