"Start a story by Conan Doyle and you cannot stop reading, whether you
are ten or sixty." -Michael Dirda
"The immense talent, passion and literary brilliance that Conan Doyle
brought to his work gives him a unique place in English
letters."-Stephen Fry
Arthur Conan Doyle's Tales of Terror and Mystery (1922) is a haunting
collection of twelve stories that highlights his extraordinary skills of
storytelling. The first six stories are bloodcurdling tales of horror,
and includes the macabre classic "The New Catacomb". The last six
stories, closer in form to the Sherlock Holmes work, includes the
classic railroad mystery, "The Lost Special".
One of the stand-out works in the entire collection is "The Horror of
the Heights"; in a story that straddles both the science fiction and
horror genres, the journals of a missing pilot reveal the existence of
terrifying creatures that lurk in the upper atmosphere. "The New
Catacomb", in Doyle's tribute to Edgar Allan Poe, tells the revenge
story of two rival archeologists as they sink deeper into an endless
Roman catacomb. In the evocative story "The Lost Special", a train has
mysteriously disappeared without trace between two stations. When the
only evidence of the enigma is the dead body of the locomotive driver,
the local newspaper becomes a platform to solve the mystery. The
intrigue of speculation and reasoning is on par with the best of the
Sherlock Holmes adventures.
Tense, disturbing, and dark, these stories will keep readers captivated
until the final page. Other stories included are: "The Leather Funnel",
"The Case of Lady Sannox", "The Terror of Blue John Gap", "The Brazilian
Cat", "The Beetle-Hunter", "The Man with the Watches", "The Japanned
Box", "The Black Doctor", and "The Jew's Breastplate".
With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript,
this edition of Tales of Terror and Mystery is both modern and
readable.
