
Pledged to the Dead
In the dim glow of a Paris‑styled study, the ever‑charming detective Jules de Grandin finds himself drawn into a tangled romance that borders on the uncanny. Nella Bentley bursts in, trembling with dread, pleading for help with her fiancé Ned Minton—a man who has vowed to honor a pledge to a lover who has lain in a grave for more than a hundred years. Her frantic confession hints at a curse that threatens to bind Ned to a spectral bride, and de Grandin’s keen intuition tells him this is no ordinary heartbreak.
As the night deepens, the detective’s keen eyes scan the shadows, while the housekeeper Nora watches warily, unsure whether the guest’s pleas are rational or haunted. With a wry smile and a lit cigarette, de Grandin agrees to probe the mystery, promising to untangle love, loyalty, and lingering spirits before the promised betrayal can claim another soul.
Language
en
Duration
~1 hours (61K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
Release date
May 24, 2010
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1889–1969
Best remembered for the wildly popular Jules de Grandin tales, this Washington, D.C., writer helped shape classic pulp horror for generations of magazine readers. He mixed occult thrills, brisk plotting, and a lawyer’s eye for detail in stories that became a staple of Weird Tales.
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