Showing results by author "Wilkie Collins" in All Categories

Doug Bradley's Spine Chillers, Volume 2, presents four classic stories from the masters of horror literature. It kicks off with Charles Dickens' friend and collaborator Wilkie Collins' eerie tale of a man's dream of his own murder that comes too true, 'The Dream Woman'. Second on the bill is the master of American literature Edgar Allan Poe's classic story of doomed love 'The Oval Portrait'.

Appearing in 1852, Basil was Wilkie Collins’s second published novel. The eponymous narrator is emotionally torn between two women: Margaret Sherwin and his sister Clara. His marriage to Margaret, a draper’s sexually precocious daughter, is to remain secret and unconsummated for the first year, as agreed with her father.

Two tales from the golden age of supernatural fiction.

Published in instalments in 1859, The Woman in White is often considered to be one of the very first detective novels. Although critics weren’t impressed at the time, the novel proved to be a hit with the public and has since gone on to become one of the timeless classics of the Victorian era. Following the adventures of Walter Hartright, this is a story of sleuthing, inheritance, ghosts and mistaken identity and was recently the subject of a hit TV adaptation by the BBC.

From the pen of the author of The Woman in White and The Moonstone, comes a collection of lesser known yet equally magnificent supernatural stories! Volume two features "A Terribly Strange Bed" (read by Luke Harrison), "Mrs. Zant and the Ghost" (read by Murray Melvin), and "Blow Up with the Brig" (read by Phil Reynolds). Be prepared to be terrified and entertained as Wilkie Collins’ disturbing tales of ghosts, deadly visions, and family curses come to life in this fantastic new collection.

Sixteen classic stories.

Detective stories existed for centuries before the concept of the detective itself—amateur or professional— was fully formulated, and tales of mystery and intrigue have been thrilling readers since ancient times. The Lock and Key Library is the classic overview of the history of the mystery genre, at once a rousing listen for fans of the unsolved and unknown as well as an essential literary resource for those seeking to understand the roots of modern pulp fiction. This volume is sure to delight and enthrall armchair detectives and fans of classic mysteries alike.

Appearing in 1854, Hide and Seek was Wilkie Collins’s third published novel. At the centre of the plot is the mystery surrounding a deaf and dumb girl known as Madonna, whom the painter Valentine Blyth rescues from her life as a circus performer. But it is only when Blyth’s friend Zack Thorpe rebels against his disciplinarian father and falls into bad company that the secret of Madonna is revealed.

Fifty great classic short stories selected from the works of the best writers of the last century.

A series of BBC Radio short stories, comprised of classic and period dramas featuring four female sleuths to rival Sherlock Holmes himself. 'The Redhill Sisterhood' by Catherine Louisa Pirkis, 'Mr Bovey’s Unexpected Will' by L. T. Meade and Robert Eustace, 'The Golden Slipper' by Anna Katharine Green and 'The Law and the Lady' by Wilkie Collins. Starring Gayanne Potter as Loveday Brooke, Elizabeth Conboy as Florence Cusack, Teresa Gallagher as Violet Strange and Abigail Docherty as Valeria Woodville.

After a tragic accident kills their father and their mother perishes during childbirth, sisters Norah and Magdalen discover their parents had only been married a matter of months and therefore the girls were actually illegitimate. Their uncle inherits the entirety of the family fortune, refusing to provide the girls with anything as they make their way out into the world. Using her love of the stage and all things dramatic, Magdalen enlists the help of her distant relative, Captain Wragge, a known professional swindler, to regain her inheritance and the right to her name.

After breaking off his engagement with Agnes Lockwood, Lord Montbarry marries the eccentric Countess Narona before embarking on a whirlwind honeymoon tour of Europe culminating in Venice. There they reside in the decaying Palace Hotel with the Countess' brother, Baron Rivar, and their courier, Ferrari. Lord Montbarry later dies of bronchitis and upon hearing of this from Henry Westwick, Montbarry's brother, Agnes agrees to meet with Henry at the newly renovated Palace Hotel to investigate the insurance claim that was purchased prior to his death.

After a riding accident involving her uncle, a respected General, Mina's life takes a dark turn. A new groom with a mysterious past and unsettling talents arrives at the estate, stirring whispers of hidden secrets and dangerous motives. As Mina delves deeper into the groom's enigma, she unravels a web of intrigue that threatens to upend everything she knows.

The story is told by the clergyman to his brother as a later-life confession concerning a brush with the supernatural which he has kept a secret for many years. Before he joined the church he met and fell in love with Miss Jeromette, a Frenchwoman living alone in London. They enter into a relationship but she tells him candidly she loves another man who has deserted her. Miss Jeromette predicts the man will return to her but that she will die young and miserably.

Ernest Lismore is in financial difficulties. In return for a token marriage, he is offered help by the elderly Mrs. Callender whom he had saved from a fire some years earlier. Lismore eventually agrees and they live abroad as mother and son until he meets an attractive girl in an art gallery.

Young Rachel Verinder inherits a sacred Indian moonstone from her uncle. This extremely valuable gem disappears from Rachel's bedroom soon after a party is thrown in her honor to celebrate her eighteenth birthday. Believed to be stolen, a series of narratives unfold to solve the mystery of the missing moonstone. In true Collins fashion, one cannot get enough of the twists and turns in this intriguing detective story.

"The Dream Woman" is a novella by Wilkie Collins, telling the story of Francis Raven, a young man who dreams that a strange woman is trying to kill him. Eventually, he marries a woman who looks exactly like the one from his dream. This novella is a cosy mystery that leaves readers with more questions than answers. A lot of guesswork is needed, and the reader is often disturbed by the occurrences, not knowing what or how it came to this.

"En 1860, la réputation du docteur Wybrow de Londres était arrivée à son apogée. Les gens bien informés affirmaient que de tous les médecins en renom, c'était lui qui gagnait le plus d'argent. Un après-midi, vers la fin de l'été, le docteur venait de finir son déjeuner après une matinée d'un travail excessif. Son cabinet de consultation n'avait pas désempli et il tenait déjà à la main une longue liste de visites à faire lorsque son domestique lui annonça qu'une dame désirait lui parler."

Francis Raven awakens on the eve of his birthday, frightened by the appearance of a woman attempting to murder him. He is continually haunted by this woman and years later marries Alicia Warlock, who looks strikingly identical to the figure from his dream. Is this Dream Woman simply an apparition or will her attempts to kill Francis become reality? Also known as The Ostler in earlier versions, The Dream Woman is another of Collins' finest detective stories.

The Frozen Deep was originally written as a play by Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens. With Dickens himself gracing the stage as Wardour, the play was met with success, drawing audiences to tears night after night, and even performing for Queen Victoria herself. Drawing on reports of the real-life Franklin expedition of 1845, in which a crew had set out from England to discover the North Passage and disappeared without a trace, Collins and Dickens recreated the events of the ill-fated journey.