Library of the World's Best Mystery and Detective Stories, Volume 4


Read by LibriVox Volunteers

(3.9 stars; 68 reviews)

In the six volumes of the Library of the World's Best Mystery and Detective Stories, Julian Hawthorne presents us thrilling and mysterious short stories from all corners of the world. Some of the stories appeared in this collection for the first time translated into English, and many of them come from unexpected sources, such as the letters of Pliny the Younger, or a Tibetan manuscript. In this fourth volume, we find stories originally written in French, Italian, Spanish and Latin. (Summary by Leni) (11 hr 21 min)

Chapters

The Necklace 18:39 Read by Patti Cunningham
The Man with the Pale Eyes 12:14 Read by Gesine
An Uncomfortable Bed 5:38 Read by Lucy Perry
Ghosts 13:25 Read by Alan Winterrowd
Fear 15:04 Read by Alan Winterrowd
The Confession 12:06 Read by Linda McDaniel
The Horla, or Modern Ghosts, part 1 38:12 Read by Roger Melin
The Horla, or Modern Ghosts, part 2 36:36 Read by Roger Melin
The Miracle of Zobeide 16:58 Read by laineyben
The Torture by Hope 14:40 Read by Katie Riley
The Owl's Ear 22:34 Read by Anna Simon
The Invisible Eye 45:49 Read by Coastalbloke
The Waters of Death 33:27 Read by Coastalbloke
Melmoth Reconciled, part 1 42:14 Read by Katie Riley
Melmoth Reconciled, part 2 33:35 Read by David Pittard
Melmoth Reconciled, part 3 43:04 Read by Katie Riley
The Conscript 37:00 Read by mbousquet
Zadig the Babylonian, part 1 43:35 Read by Bev J Stevens
Zadig the Babylonian, part 2 51:20 Read by Bev J Stevens
Zadig the Babylonian, part 3 31:17 Read by Bev J Stevens
Zadig the Babylonian, part 4 25:22 Read by Bev J Stevens
The Nail, part 1 20:18 Read by Karen Savage
The Nail, part 2 19:49 Read by Karen Savage
The Deposition 18:39 Read by Xanderphillips
The Adventure of the Three Robbers 21:08 Read by Bev J Stevens
Letter to Sura 8:43 Read by Bev J Stevens

Reviews

Very enjoyable!


(4 stars)

This listener found most of these stories quite enjoyable. Many seemed rather contemporary (with a little leeway), and suffered little from the passage of time. Monsieur‎ de Maupassant is a master at crafting a short story. Having not read or heard any of his work in forty years since junior high school, I now know why we we read his work! There were a few stories that I couldn't get into, but since everybody has different taste, I don't want to discourage anyone from listening to any of the stories! As always, the readers did a great job in presenting these works! Thank you to all who make this possible!

Generally Excellent


(3 stars)

Overall, I have greatly enjoyed this series ("Library"), but I question the inclusion of Ghosts by Guy de Maupassant. It seems only to inflame animosity between Catholic and Protestant and, in particular, to degrade Catholics. There is no mystery whatsoever for the reader. There is only a childish "lesson" about the evils of Catholics. My recommendation is to recognize the ignorance of the times and let it flow by like our many black readers must ignore the use of the "N Word". That said, I still like this volume of the Library less that the others I've listened to.

The best volume yet in the series!


(4 stars)

I very much enjoyed the majority of these stories and feel that they still seem relevant today. Volume 4 is by far the best one in the series, and the stories fit the theme of "mystery and detective" better then any volume thus far. Overall the readers did a fantastic job, and the sound quality was consistently good. I definitely recommend giving this book a listen!

The best volume yet in the series!


(4 stars)

I very much enjoyed the majority of these stories and feel that they still seem relevant today. Volume 4 is by far the best one in the series, and the stories fit the theme of "mystery and detective" better then any volume thus far. Overall the readers did a fantastic job, and the sound quality was consistently good. I definitely recommend giving this book a listen!