Books by Richard Marsh

Trudno pokonać wroga, którego nie sposób zidentyfikować. Paul Lessingham, deputowany do brytyjskiego parlamentu, wiedzie spokojne życie. Wszystko zmienia się jednego wieczoru, gdy niespodzianie przyłapuje w swoim domu Roberta Holta. Ten niepozorny urzędnik próbuje ukraść jego listy, zachowuje się w sposób budzący grozę i nie daje się schwytać. Niebawem w otoczeniu Paula zaczyna dochodzić do kolejnych dziwnych wydarzeń, a znajomi ludzie stają się nieobliczalni. Zaniepokojony bohater przyjmuje pomoc mężczyzny, który zaleca się do jego narzeczonej. W 1919 r. książka została zekranizowana w postaci filmu niemego w reżyserii Alexandra Butlera. Na jej podstawie wystawiano także sztuki teatralne oraz realizowano słuchowiska radiowe. W sam raz dla miłośników horrorów i opowieści grozy, w stylu Edgara Allana Poe.Richard Marsh (1857-1915) - urodzony w Londynie jako Richard Bernard Heldmann, syn kupca. Karierę pisarską rozpoczął w wieku 23 lat jako autor powiadań przygodowych dla chłopców publikowanych w ówczesnych magazynach. Z czasem pisarz stał się współredaktorem czasopisma "Union Jack". Dopuścił się tam jednak fałszowania czeków, za co trafił na 18 miesięcy do więzienia. Po odbyciu kary przybrał pseudonim i wrócił do pisania. Marsh był płodnym autorem opowiadań, ale pisał również obszerne powieści, jak "Dom Tajemnic". Sukces odniósł głównie jako pisarz horrorów, ale tworzył też powieści kryminalne, takie jak "Diamenty Dattchet"

The Beetle (1897) is a novel by Richard Marsh. Immensely popular upon publication, The Beetle was an instant bestseller and went on to inspire a 1919 silent film adaptation starring Maudie Dunham. Despite its success, the novel was largely forgotten until scholarly attention in the late-20th century highlighted its importance to the fields of gothic fiction, postcolonial criticism, and women and gender studies. "To have tramped about all day looking for work; to have begged even for a job which would give me money enough to buy a little food; and to have tramped and to have begged in vain,-that was bad. But, sick at heart, depressed in mind and in body, exhausted by hunger and fatigue, to have been compelled to pocket any little pride I might have left, [...] and to solicit it in vain!-that was worse. Much worse." Down on his luck, Robert Holt wanders the streets of London in search of food, a job, and shelter. Turned away from a Fulham workhouse, he finds himself standing before a seemingly abandoned house and, with nowhere to go, cautiously enters. There, he comes face to face with the mysterious Beetle, a figure from ancient Egypt who controls his subjects with mesmerism. Soon, Robert is used to commit a series of crimes against Paul Lessingham, a powerful member of the House of Commons. As the plot unfolds, a love triangle involving Lessingham, the beautiful Marjorie Lindon, and a vindictive chemist named Sydney Atherton falls victim to the scheming Beetle. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Richard Marsh's The Beetle is a classic work of British horror fiction reimagined for modern readers.

Richard Marsh''s greatest commercial success, The Beetle, is a story about a mysterious oriental person who pursues a British politician to London, where he wreaks havoc with his powers of hypnosis and shape-shifting. The story is narrated from the perspectives of multiple characters to create suspense. The novel engages with numerous themes and problems of the Victorian fin de siècle, including the New Woman, unemployment and urban destitution, radical politics, homosexuality, science, and Britain''s imperial engagements (in particular those in Egypt and the Sudan). "The Beetle" sold out upon its initial printing, and continued to sell well and to be published for several decades into the 20th century. In the 1920s the novel''s story was made into a film, and adapted for the London stage.

When Mr. Thomas Tennant got on a train from Brighton to Victoria he was unpleasantly surprised to see Nelly, a woman that tricked him thousand and one time, and whom he thought she was dead for seven years. They struggle in a carriage and the woman falls through the door and out of the train. Still confused with what happened, at the next station Tennant meets a certain detective who is looking for a missing woman named Louise O'Donnel. Tennant chooses not to share the story of his incident, believing Nelly is now really dead. But is she?

The Beetle is supernatural thriller in which a polymorphous Ancient Egyptian entity seeks revenge on a British Member of Parliament. Robert Holt, a clerk who has been looking all day for a place to work, which he hasn't had for a long time, seeks shelter and food at a workhouse in Fulham. He is, however, denied, and in the dark and rain walks on looking for another place to stay. Holt comes upon a house in terrible state, with opened window, and invites himself in. This proves to be a mistake, as he comes face to face with what the beetle, and gets hypnotized into paralysis. The beetle takes human form as an Arab, and starts making a use of Holt.

Madge and Ella are two young ladies who have taken up residence at Clover Cottage, the former home of Tom Ossington, a house that has long stood empty with a bad reputation for being haunted. Not believing in such things, Madge and Ella rented it and lived there for about six weeks, when a strange woman showed up claiming that the house belongs to her, and that her husband, the landlord, is a ghost.