
A stormy Christmas night sets the stage for a stark, brooding mansion that towers over a glittering, festive street. Inside its dark‑red sandstone walls, the only light flickers from a solitary window, casting a cold, yellow glow over polished oak and black marble. The atmosphere is heavy with the scent of coal fire, the ominous Dance of Death wallpaper, and the relentless howl of hail against the panes.
At the heart of this gloom sit a stern, middle‑aged woman in black satin and a man whose presence is equally enigmatic. Their silent, tense conversation hints at secrets buried deep within the house’s shadowed rooms, and the uneasy calm suggests that something dangerous and concealed is about to surface. Listeners will be drawn into a world of whispered intrigues, hidden motives, and the chilling promise that not all crimes remain buried.
Language
en
Duration
~10 hours (602K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Brenda Lewis, woodie4 and the Online Distributed Proofreading Canada Team at http://www.pgdpcanada.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
Release date
2011-03-03
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1840–1880
A bestselling 19th-century novelist, she helped shape the sensation and romance fiction that kept newspaper and magazine readers eagerly waiting for the next installment. Born in New Brunswick and later based in Brooklyn, she built a huge readership on both sides of the border.
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