Six Stories Added to Vintage E-Book Collection

October additions to the "Vintage Short Mystery Classics" series of free e-book downloads include: "The Mystery of Essex Stairs" by Sir Gilbert Campbell, "Talma Gordon" by Pauline E. Hopkins, "The Sapient Monkey" by Headon Hill (Francis Edward Grainger), "Thrawn Janet" by Robert Louis Stevenson, "A Tale of the Great Plague" by Thomas Hood and "The Bravoes of Market-Drayton" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

All are noteworthy (in this editor's opinion—otherwise we wouldn't have taken the time to typeset and proofread them). You may find the last three named above to be of particular interest, though. Here we find Stevenson at his macabre best (as contrasted with "his swashbuckling best"); Doyle's "Bravoes" (not a Sherlock Holmes tale) is a bit unlike Doyle, in several respects; and Hood's "Great Plague," although you wouldn't guess it by the title, offers comic relief to an otherwise sobering series.

A total of 23 classic short stories of intrigue, mystery and crime now are available at the site. More are being added each month—and again, they're free.