Showing results by narrator "Walter Covell" in All Categories

This second collecton of great American short stories includes titles by Mark Twain, O. Henry, and Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Kipling creates a harmonious picture of India that unites the secular and the spiritual, the life of action and that of contemplation. It is the story of the orphaned son of an Irish soldier, Kimball O'Hara, who spends his childhood as a vagabond, traveling through India with an old Tibetan lama, enthralled by the "roaring whirl" of the country's colorful landscape and by the diversity of its people.

Benjamin Franklin's wide range of activities and interests opened the doors of the world to him. Printer, inventor, philosopher, ambassador, champion of liberty - his influence has been felt by every American generation. And to everything he touched, including this autobiography, Franklin brought originality and wit.

The Big Bow Mystery is a masterpiece of the form, as compelling a story today as when it was first published. The author has produced a seminal crime novel - the original "locked room" mystery. With a flair for storytelling and a literate style comparable to his contemporary, Charles Dickens, Israel Zangwill concocts a heady satire of Victorian England, setting his scene in London's picturesque Bow district.

An English gentleman is murdered with a uniquely American weapon: a sawed-off shotgun. Since the police are baffled, Sherlock Holmes is asked to solve the murder.

The story is similar in structure to "A Study in Scarlet", with the second half taking place in the United States and filling in the history of what led up to the first half. Toward the end, the story comes back to Holmes and Watson.

Louis XIII had to be a Solomon. His queen produced twin male heirs - two sons of equal age with equal pretensions. Louis feared for France. One prince means peace and safety for the state, two are a recipe for civil war and anarchy. One son had to go. Louis could not kill him, but he could hide him in an iron mask. Such is the quality of paternal mercy.

"The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist" is one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It was originally published as part of The Return of Sherlock Holmes in 1903.

Robert Louis Stevenson's "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" is of the best "macabre" tales ever written. It is presented here in its entirety along with eight other incredible tales.

When young Edwin Drood disappears, suspicion centers on John Jasper, a drug-addicted choirmaster who hungers after Drood's fiancé. So does Neville Landless, a Ceylonese who has previously quarreled violently with the missing man. The mystery if further enhanced because it was left unfinished at the author's death. Thus the book has challenged the imagination of generations of readers.

If you look at any listing of the 10 most important books of detective stories published in the United States, chances are you will find Uncle Abner, Master of Mysteries on most of them. It is generally recognized as one of the most important contributions to American detective fiction between Poe and Hammett. In fact, there are some critics who call it the single finest collection of American detective stories ever written. This story is from that famous collection.

This famous story chronicles the end of the lives of the Forty-Seven Ronin, also know as the Forty-Seven Samurai. It is described by one noted Japanese scholar as the country's "national legend". It recounts the most famous case involving the Samurai code of honor, "bushido".

Fitz-James O'Brien was an Irish-born poet, journalist, and short-story writer who migrated to America in 1852. He died from an injury acquired during the Civil War. O'Brien was called "the preeminent writer of supernatural stories of his time", and he is best remembered for two or three widely anthologized stories that border on science fiction. Among them is this masterpiece.

Called by Lord Byron, "The most exquisite of all romances in miniature," The Vicar of Wakefield is the story of a simple reverend who, losing his fortune, moves his family to a new part of the country and tries to live according to his beliefs. He and his family make an Arcadian picture of affectionate accord. That is, until the idyll is rudely disturbed by a notorious seducer. The book is a classic comedy of manners and a satire on the moralistic tales of the period.

Raised by wolves, young Mowgli is taught the law of the jungle by his animal friends: Old Baloo the wise brown bear, and Bagheera, the sleek, black Panther. Slowly, Mowgli learns the language and ways of the jungle animals and his childhood seems quite idyllic. But looming in the darkness of the jungle is the cunning and sinister tiger, Shere Khan, who silently watches Mowgli, awaiting his moment to pounce.

Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu was one of the major figures of 19th-century supernaturalism. He helped move supernaturalist fiction away from the gothic's emphasis on external sources of terror and toward a focus on the effects of terror, thus helping to create the psychological basis for supernaturalist and horror literature that continues today. "The Familiar" is one of his most terrifying tales.

The Adventure of the Final Problem was first published in the Strand Magazine in December 1893. It appears in book form as part of the collection, The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. Conan Doyle later ranked The Adventure of the Final Problem fourth on his personal list of the 12 best Holmes stories. This story introduces Holmes' greatest opponent, the criminal mastermind Professor Moriarty.

One of the most popular of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries, "Silver Blaze" focuses on the disappearance of a famous race horse on the eve of an important race, and on the apparent murder of its trainer.

The Adventure of the Empty House is the lead story in The Return of Sherlock Holmes, first published in 1903. The author had attempted to kill off Sherlock Holmes in The Adventure of the Final Problem. However, there was such a public outcry that he relented and brought him "back from the dead" in this ingenious story.

This third collection of vintage detective stories includes tales by authors like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, R. Austin Freeman, and Emile Gaborioux.

In "The Invisible Man", a murderer manages to get in and out of a house, even though it is under constant observation. In some ways, the story parallels Poe's "The Purloined Letter" but adds its own unique touches, particularly in the character and methods of priest-sleuth Father Brown.