
audiobook
Masterpieces of Mystery - In Four Volumes - RIDDLE STORIES - Edited by Joseph Lewis French - Garden City New York Doubleday, Page & Company - 1922 - COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THAT OF TRANSLATION INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGES, INCLUDING THE SCANDINAVIAN - PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES AT THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS, GARDEN CITY, N. Y.
NOTE
FOREWORD
MASTERPIECES OF MYSTERY - RIDDLE STORIES
THE MYSTERIOUS CARD - Cleveland Moffett - Courtesy of the Author. - I
THE GREAT VALDEZ SAPPHIRE - (Anonymous)
THE OBLONG BOX - Edgar Allan Poe
THE BIRTH-MARK - Nathaniel Hawthorne
A TERRIBLY STRANGE BED - Wilkie Collins
THE TORTURE BY HOPE - Villiers de l'Isle Adam
This anthology gathers some of the finest early twentieth‑century riddle tales, each crafted to tease the reader’s logic as much as its imagination. The stories range from tightly wound literary puzzles to subtle touches of the uncanny, all anchored in clear, often ordinary motives that unfold with elegant precision. Listeners can expect a gentle mental workout, where clues are laid out in crisp narration and the satisfaction comes from piecing them together.
Among the selections are celebrated pieces such as a daring Parisian card mystery, a macabre box once opened by a famous American poet, and an eerie birth‑mark tale that probes fate’s hidden designs. The contributors include the era’s leading storytellers, each voice distinct yet united by the love of a well‑turned puzzle. Perfect for a brief commute or an afternoon pause, the collection invites listeners to linger over each clue before the final, satisfying reveal.
Language
en
Duration
~6 hours (349K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by David Clarke, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
Release date
2009-08-15
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

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