Short story collections

Clerks, priests, teachers and peasants face troubles and moral choices across Russian villages, towns and country estates.

Strange encounters test beliefs and desires, entangling the search for evil with the faults of those who judge.

A strained marriage leads stories about ordinary people whose small moral crises emerge at home, work and in relationships.

Watson records puzzling cases in which Holmes uses observation and logic to uncover crimes and deceptions.

Scholars and collectors follow their curiosity about old books, churches and objects into encounters with supernatural danger.

A quiet priest looks beyond appearances to solve thefts, murders and apparent impossibilities through his understanding of human weakness.

A sinister play disturbs lives in tales of uncertain danger before the collection turns toward artists' romances.

Hidden possibilities and unfamiliar dangers interrupt ordinary lives, bringing private desires into conflict with settled beliefs.

A disguised prince's wanderings through London and Paris lead into linked adventures involving a secret society and a diamond.

A formerly enslaved man tells newcomers plantation stories in which folk magic enters the lives of enslaved people.

Historical research, old objects and quiet landscapes draw curious people into encounters with threatening supernatural forces.

Watson follows Holmes through thefts, disappearances and concealed crimes, often grasping the clues only after his friend explains.

A doctor investigates illness and fear in people and places troubled by forces beyond ordinary medical explanations.

Ordinary New Yorkers pursue love and a living as accidents, misunderstandings and surprises change the meaning of their circumstances.

Children and adults seek affection, independence and change within the limits of everyday life in Dublin.

Cruel jokes, strange animals and private rebellions expose vanity and selfishness beneath the manners of wealthy English society.

Small officials in St Petersburg face loss, ambition and strange events that unsettle their daily routines.

Restless young people chase love, pleasure and social standing in stories that mingle flirtation with impossible wealth.

Gambling, love and revenge unsettle Russian lives, with an officer's pursuit of a card secret driving the title tale.

An American traveller's impressions of British customs and Christmas scenes mingle with stories drawn from American legend.

Travellers, captives and fortune seekers confront cold, hunger and violence in stories set mostly in the Yukon and Alaska.

Guilt, grief, greed and violence disturb settled lives, while memories and divided loyalties unsettle people in the Malay world.

Islanders, sailors and traders face storms and dangerous voyages amid struggles shaped by trade and colonial power.

Soldiers, sailors, conspirators and travellers confront violence, suspicion and divided loyalties across varied places and conflicts.