Read by: John Rubinstein, Paul Boehmer, John Lee, Stefan Rudnicki, various narrators
Language: English
Length: 14 hours and 8 minutes
Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
Release date: 2022-03-01
Assembled and edited by Julian Hawthorne and first published in 1909, the Modern English volume of The Lock and Key Library features sixteen classic mystery and detective stories by such luminaries as Rudyard Kipling, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Wilkie Collins.
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.
The Modern English volume of The Lock and Key Library features sixteen stories that explore the genre, from Rudyard Kipling’s supernatural mysteries in India to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s beloved and classic tales of detection (including the introduction of Irene Adler into the Sherlock Holmes canon). Other special additions include the reality-bending “The Dream Woman: A Mystery in Four Narratives” by Wilkie Collins, whom T. S. Eliot called “a master of plot and situation”; and Robert Louis Stevenson’s “The Pavilion on the Links,” which was regarded by Doyle as “the high-water mark of [Stevenson’s] genius” and “the first short story in the world.” And the mystery goes beyond the ordinary in this comprehensive collection: the last five stories are all written by anonymous writers, giving the listener an extra shroud of secrecy to peek behind.
This volume of The Lock and Key Library is sure to delight and enthrall armchair detectives and fans of classic mysteries alike.
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