69 min read stories

Often cited as the first detective story. The genre arrives pretty much fully formed: a brilliant detective, the bumbing police officer and

A man and his daughter come accross an apparently mad, ill woman in a London park.

The story of the poor, downtrodden clerk Akaky - and his overcoat.

A student rents an apartment that looks onto the meticulously kept garden of the strange Dr Rappaccini and his beautiful daughter.

A fisherman accidently captures and falls in love with a mermaid but must make a sacrifice to be with her. A fairytale, reminiscent of , par

Holmes comes to the aid of a civil servant who has fallen on hard times following the theft of an important treaty placed in his care.

A lawyer takes on a new employee but fails to check the references. The original role model for slackers everywhere.

A suicidal playwright, finding himself unable to do the deed on his own, attempts an unconventional method involving the confession of a dar

A man is told by a palm reader that he will commit a murder. A satirical crime story that cleverly reverses the conventions of the genre.

A former mental patient and a deformed eccentric conspire in a fantastic plot.

Maupassant's short masterpiece following the journey of a group of civilians during the Franco-Prussian war.

A day in the life of the inhabitants of Crescent Bay.