A story about a mysterious oriental figure who pursues a British politician to London, where he wreaks havoc with his powers of hypnosis and shape-shifting, Marsh’s novel is of a piece with other sensational turn-of-the-century fictions such as Stoker’s Dracula, George du Maurier’s Trilby, and Sax Rohmer’s Fu Manchu novels. Like Dracula and many of the sensation novels pioneered by Wilkie Collins and others in the 1860s, The Beetle is narrated from the perspectives of multiple characters,...

This is a collection of 12 short stories of mystery and humor, which are, as the title says, for amusement only.

Oh dear! The Duchess of Datchet's diamonds, worth a quarter of a million pounds, have been stolen. Just as Mr. Paxton, a ne'er do well gambler planning to leave the country to escape his losses, reads this news item on a train, he overhears, in the next compartment, the actual thief boasting of his accomplishment. Then, when he arrives at his hotel and opens his Gladstone bag, he finds the bag is not his -- and it contains the spoils of the robbery! Will our hero take them directly to the magistrate and tell all he knows? Or will things take another turn, leading to brigands, danger, and possibly romance? - Summary by Jacquerie

After a night of drinking and gambling, John Ferguson has a terrifying dream of his neighbor being violently torn to shreds by an unknown attacker. When he wakes up, he sees a strange and bloodied woman climbing through his window, suffering from amnesia. These strange occurrences are brought to a chilling climax when, the next day, Ferguson learns that his dream came true, and his neighbor was indeed brutally murdered during the night! With suspicion mounting against the mysterious woman, Ferguson sets out to uncover her true identity and find the vicious killer in the process...

Mary Blyth, a sales clerk who is robbed, nearly murdered and then fired from her job, thinks her luck has changed when she inherits an old house from a distant relation, Benjamin Batters. This house holds dark secrets. Murderous thugs, a mysterious threat from the Far East let her know this is not the case. The Joss, a Reversion is from Richard Marsh, author of “The Beetle”. - Summary by Alan Winterrowd

Madge and Ella have lived at Clover Cottage for six weeks when a series of strange events begin to occur. A gentleman who arrives asking for a piano lesson from Madge, suddenly bolts out the back door and over the hedge when he sees a rough-looking character watching him from the street in front of the cottage. This man in turn, runs away when he sees a shabbily dressed woman come around the corner. The woman, marches into the cottage, declaring that the cottage is haunted, and she is the wife of the ghost! An attempted burglary, and a cryptic note left at the scene, just add to the mystery.

Judith Lee is a young woman with an unusual gift, she can read lips at a distance as well as she can hear the person next to her. Her skill leads her into a number of adventures. Written by Richard Marsh and published in the Strand Magazine in 1911, Marsh creates a strong independent female detective.

Clare awakens in the middle of the night with no idea why. Her husband is not in his bed and as she goes in search of him she runs into her cousin Elsie who's heard a terrified shout from Rupert. When Clare returns her husband is burning papers in the grate. Next morning they discover that Uncle John a very shady and disagreeable usurer has been murdered!! Who is the culprit and will the earlier interrupted kiss ever be completed? - Summary by Celine Major

The House of Mystery is based upon the complicated plot involving two women who look exactly alike, one rich and one poor, and so mistaken identities bring about comic and tragic madness.

Is it true that people can literally be scared to death ? Is it possible to photograph astral projections ? What happens if you play with a pack of cards which belonged to a dead card-trickster ? These and more questions are raised and answered in ''The Seen and the Unseen'' , a collection of twelve short stories of a supernatural and uncanny nature by English author Richard Marsh , famous for such mystery/horror novels as ''The Beetle'' and ''The Goddess: A Demon''. So if you feel you are ready for some goosebumps before bedtime, snuggle up and have a listen. - Summary by Sonia