Playing upon our most primal fears, Stephen King draws us into his sinister world - a place where sane men and women see their lives shattered, their realities distorted and destroyed. Now, listeners can probe even deeper into the mind of the master storyteller of the macabre, with this third unabridged production of 5 classic short stories, from K...

Arthur Cadogan West, a young government clerk, is found dead by the railway tracks near Aldgate. On his body Holmes' brother Mycroft finds some secret submarine plans - 3 pages of which seem to be missing. These pages alone, in the wrong hands, could be used to build a Bruce-Partington submarine that would pose a threat to Britain. Cadogan West's h...

Three of Mark Twain's classic short stories, originally broadcast in the Afternoon Reading slot on BBC Radio 4 from 9-11 November 2010, to accompany the Autobiography of Mark Twain (aired on Book of the Week). Read by Stuart Milligan. Twain's classic short stories, with their familiar trademarks of high farce and droll insight, bring us eccentric b...

This excellent animal story, written by Saki under his penname H.H. Munro, concerns two half-brothers, their respective artistic prowess, sibling rivalry, jealousy and a rather non-plussed white bull. As always, Saki lives up to his (real) name and delivers a witty and caustic short story which is an amusing delight to hear.

One of Saki's famed 'animal stories', The Brogue is the witty, and biting tale of an erratic horse and the hapless and even hopeful human beings that the beast comes into contact with. Writing as H. H. Munro here, Saki is a genius of satirical prose and always a rewarding and amusing listen.

Matilda Cuvering decides to release a boar pig ('Tarquin') into the paddock where Mrs Stossen and her daughter are walking, in order to teach them a lesson. A funny and intelligent tale from the supreme wit of Saki, who incorporates the French language, a ridicule of manners / best behaviour and blackmail into this short but sublimely bitter-sweet...

Two recently-rediscovered Hercule Poirot short stories by Agatha Christie, read by David Suchet. In 2004, a remarkable archive was unearthed at Agatha Christie's family home, Greenway - 73 of her private notebooks, filled with pencilled jottings and ideas. Hidden within this literary treasure trove were two rare, never-before-published short storie...

When Irish protagonist Bryden suffers from blood poisoning, his doctor advises him to go on a voyage overseas to aid his recuperation. He travels to Ireland from New York, and on returning home he gets a job - also a big shock at how different Ireland is to New York...and starts to reevaluate the advantages of a slower, village life.

The Sweet Possessive is the last of three comic tales from BBC Radio 4's The Greengrocer's Apostrophe, inspired by those hand-written signs offering "Apple's and Banana's" which can be found in every town in Britain. Originally broadcast in the Afternoon Reading slot on 30 September 2010. Distracted by an apostrophe obsession, a woman fails to noti...

Solving the mystery of the Primrose Path Home proves to be the first of a collection of great new cases, as Rumpole defies hospital and returns triumphantly to defend the innocent - and the not-so-innocent.The stories contained within are: 'Rumpole and the Primrose Path', 'Rumpole and the New Year's Resolutions', 'Rumpole and the Scales of Justice'...

Wooster bumps into Bingo and his uncle Old Bittlesham in St James' Street. Old Bittlesham has received a threatening letter in an uneducated hand. Bingo and his uncle think that the culprit is a man with a beard. So Bingo with the help of œ50 offers to sort the matter out. Instead he puts the œ50 on Ocean Breeze a horse owned by his Unc...

In this addictive short story collection, twenty-four very different women reach a pivotal moment in their lives. A widow is liberated by a new job, but keeps it secret from her family. A date in suburbia has dramatic results. A seamstress takes revenge on an unsuspecting customer, while in France, a mother is promised 'fantastic news' - and lets h...

Rockmetteler (Rocky) Todd, one of the laziest people in America, visits Wooster and Jeeves in New York for their advice. Rocky's aunt has written him a letter informing him that she will give him a large monthly allowance on the condition that he visits all the clubs and retaurants and lives life to the full as she would have done had she been much...

A chilling collection of ghost stories containing Rats by M. R. James, The Raven and Berenice by Edgar Allan Poe, The Birthday of the Infanta by Oscar Wilde, A Tough Tussle by Ambrose Bierce and The Signalman by Charles Dickens. In Rats, Mr Thompson comes to regret his decision to investigate a locked room in a country inn, and in The Signalman, th...

A surprisingly shocking short story which is darkly comical, mainly concerning female submission and the necessary loss of identity to survive in an unfair male-dominated world. Humphrey's mother meets an intriguing stranger at a dance and agrees to go for a walk with him. The events that follow shape the rest of her life, that of her husband and o...

Wooster receives a letter out of the blue from his Aunt Agatha inviting him and Jeeves to join her in Rouville-sur-Mer, France. It turns out that Aunt Agatha has decided it is time that Wooster gets married and has some children. She has met an eminently respectable girl she wants to introduce him to, as she considers her absolutely right for the j...

This tale is a cultural insight into the exotic land of India. Based in Narsipur, where panthers and leopards are hunted, the narrator is assisted in this story by local shikari, Subhar. He is unlike other natives, and the pair adventure together in this compelling study of life in India and story of big game hunting.

The first fully recognizable Jeeves and Bertie story. Bertie's cousin arrives in New York lured by the bright lights of Broadway, forcing his dreaded Aunt Agatha to make an unscheduled visit to America. A struggling artist needs help in a romantic intrigue. A wonderful Wodehouse story full of laughs, gaffes and unlikely though touching camaraderie.

Nothing in this world ever seems to be absolutely perfect, and that is certainly the case in this story. Young Billy, in love with a young and beautiful woman, attempts to woo her by making plans to rescue someone with his trusted group of friends. However, the scheme doesn't quite go according to plan, and the consequences are not necessarily as d...

An evocative anthology for Christmas. This collection contains complete versions of old favourites such as 'The Little Match Girl', 'The Night Before Christmas', and 'Christmas Day in the Workhouse'. Other extracts include a sermon by Lancelot Andrews, an account of Christmas under the Puritans and a Mummer's Play.

Richard "Bingo" Little falls in love with the daughter of a left-wing (probably communist or socialist) leader called Charlotte Corday Rowbotham. In an attempt to get close to her, Little joins the group, called the Heralds of the Red Dawn, whose aims are to "massacre the bourgeoisie, sack Park Lane and disembowel the hereditary aristocracy". This...