Master Tales of Mystery

This collection of modern mystery tales revels in suspense, misdirection, and the thrill of uncovering hidden truths. In Anna Katharine Green's "Room No. 3," a young deputy sheriff and a coroner arrive at the weathered Three Forks Tavern, where a puzzling death, a missing name in the register, and a young woman's shaken testimony create an atmosphere thick with suspicion. Miss Demarest insists her mother came with her and was alive when they reached the inn, but the landlord and evidence seem to deny her memory. As the search spreads through the old house, every room deepens the uncertainty, until a fierce, grieving woman guarding a shrouded figure suggests that the truth is far more tangled than anyone suspects. The volume then moves into a different register of mystery and moral conflict, where letters, recollections, and old loyalties illuminate the smuggling world and the cost of justice. Lancy Doane's confrontation with Jim Faddo is a brutal test of courage and restraint, while Dick Orry's reflections add loneliness, regret, and steadfast affection to the tale. Fanny's reply, tender with memory and longing, widens the emotional scope, making this a collection where crime, conscience, and human attachment are all drawn into the same shadowed light. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.