Downloads and Free Reading Options

1Phantom of the Opera

By Gaston Leroux

An old theatre under new management; a diva who thinks she can sing; a young ingenue who really can; a masked man who wreaks havoc if he doesn't get his own way. Secrets, intrigues, falling chandeliers! The Phantom of the Opera is here! (Summary by Karen Savage)

2Mystery of the Yellow Room

By Gaston Leroux

This crime novel was possibly the first to involve a 'locked room mystery', in which an attempted murder takes place, but with no obvious way for the perpetrator to have escaped. The author, Gaston Leroux, is better known as the author of <i>The Phantom of the Opera</i>: prepare to feel the hairs standing up on the back of your neck... <br/>(Summary by Stuart Bell)

Le mystère est grand. On a essayé de tuer mademoiselle Stangerson dans une chambre fermée de l'intérieur, aucun accès visible, volets clos... Qui a voulu perpétrer ce meurtre et surtout, comment a-t-il procédé ? (Résumé par Naf Brusa)<br/><br/>Book Coordinators: Nadine Eckert-Boulet, Naf<br/> Proof-Listeners: Grabielle, ani poirier

4Fauteuil Hante

By Gaston Leroux

L'intrigue se déroule sous la coupole de l'Académie française. À la suite de la mort de Mgr d'Abbeville, chaque nouveau candidat à l'immortalité qui est désigné pour occuper son fauteuil, meurt lors du discours d'hommage à son prédécesseur. Hippolyte Patard, secrétaire perpétuel commence à désespérer, personne ne voulant être le successeur de Mgr d'Abbeville, craignant une malédiction lancée par un mage, dont on n'aurait pas voulu comme académicien. C'est alors qu'arrive Gaspard Lalouette, simple antiquaire et marchand.(Wikipedia)

5Phantom of the Opera (version 2)

By Gaston Leroux

Christine Daae was brought up in the Paris Opera house. Her musician father suddenly dies, telling her he will send her an angel of music to look after her. She grows up and discovers that she is hearing a voice, telling her and teaching her to sing. She believes he is the angel of music but he is known in the Opera House simply as The Phantom. Although she is fascinated and drawn towards the phantom, she falls in love with her childhood sweetheart, The Vicomte de Chagny - or Raoul - but the Phantom won't take this lightly... (Summary by Ralph Snelson)

6Secret of the Night

By Gaston Leroux

Gaston Leroux, perhaps best known as the author of The Phantom of the Opera in its novel form, was also the author of a popular series of mystery novels featuring a young journalist cum detective named Joseph Rouletabille. It is most likely that Leroux styled his hero after himself. Rouletabille was in the tradition of other great detectives who solved their cases by pure deductive reasoning. Much as Sherlock Holmes, who eliminated the impossible and concluded that whatever remained, however improbable must be the truth, Rouletabille included the known facts about the case and eliminated everything that was not a known fact, no matter how much it appeared to relate to the case. In The Secret of the Night, the names of the characters are often challengingly Russian and the plot involves, appropriately, both the Czar and the Nihilists. Introduction by Don W. Jenkins)

7Phantom of the Opera (version 3 dramatic reading)

By Gaston Leroux

Over the years, strange things have been happening at the Paris Opéra House. The new owners, M. Moncharmin and M. Richard don't know what to do about the mysterious "Opera Ghost" demanding money, nor the tragic death of the chief scene-shifter. Now the young Soprano, Christine Daae, has been kidnapped and her lover, the Vicomte de Chagny, is going mad. The opera house is falling to pieces. Could this all be the work of the mysterious Phantom of the Opera? (Summary by Charlotte Duckett)<br><br><strong>Cast</strong>:<br>Narrator/Jammes: <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/7679">Libby Gohn</a><br>General D--: <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/3470">Jason Mills</a><br>Sorelli: <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/6947">Grace</a><br>Meg Giry: <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/7131">Eden Rea-Hedrick</a><br>A little ballerina: <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/7246">Lyn Silva</a><br>Joseph Buquet/Erik, the Phantom of the Opera/Gabriel: <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/6754">ToddHW</a><br>Mrs. Jammes/Mme. Maniera/Young Christine/A friend of Carlotta's: <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/7492">Scheherazade</a><br>M. Moncharmin: <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/7040">Chris Marcellus</a><br>Philippe, the Comte de Chagny: <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/7799">Lani Small</a><br>Mercier: <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/7008">John Trevithick</a><br>Raoul, the Vicomte de Chagny: <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/1492">mb</a><br>The doctor/Daddy Daae/The valet/Remy/Darius: <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/7603">Wupperhippo</a><br>Christine Daae: <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/7315">Charlotte Duckett</a><br>A workman: <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/2825">Ernst Pattynama</a><br>M. Debienne: <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/1259">Elizabeth Klett</a><br>M. Poligny/Servant: <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/4267">Ric F</a><br>M. Richard: <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/7822">Oxenhandler</a><br>M. Mifroid: <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/7079">Chuck Williamson</a><br>M. Maniera/Doorkeeper/Young Raoul/Lachenel: <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/7122">Nathanial W.C. Higgins</a><br>Mme. Giry: <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/6544">Amanda Friday</a><br>Fonta: <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/7170">Alan Mapstone</a><br>Carlotta: <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/7138">CaprishaPage</a><br>Landlady: <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/7171">April Gonzales</a><br>Stage Manager: <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/2911">David Lawrence</a><br>Mme. Valerius: <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/3536">Arielle Lipshaw</a><br>The Persian: <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/4705">Algy Pug</a><br><br><strong>Audio edited by:</strong> Charlotte Duckett

La ficción detectivesca es un subgénero de la novela negra, y paradójicamente también su antecesor. Básicamente podemos definirla como una historia lineal en donde un investigador, oficial o aficionado, estudia un crimen determinado, a menudo un asesinato. El primer detective reconocido mundialmente fue C. Auguste Dupin, de E.A. Poe. Su perfil definió lo que el lector espera de un investigador: intelectualmente brillante, excéntrico, solitario, sin apegos emocionales de ningún tipo. Algunas décadas después, más precisamente en 1887, aparecería otro ícono del cuento de detectives: Sherlock Holmes, de Arthur Conan Doyle. En el género policíaco los seres y objetos situados en el espacio literario están puestos con algún fin concreto, nada es aleatorio, porque todo va dirigido a un fin determinado que es la resolución del enigma presentado, y, además, todos son signos que deben ser interpretados por el detective y, en el caso de los relatos clásicos, también por el lector. En este sentido, los espacios se presentan en la novela por medio de las sensaciones y consiguientes interpretaciones de los mismos por parte de la mirada subjetiva del narrador —ya sea el acompañante del detective, que se limitará a hablar del caso y de lo relacionado con éste a través de las interpretaciones que el detective comparte con él y de las suyas propias, ya el propio detective, que a través de su mirada nos sumergirá en el mundo narrativo, o bien un narrador heterodiegético omnisciente— y de los personajes. En este sentido, la disposición del espacio en el relato y las relaciones que se establecen entre éste y los personajes da lugar a la percepción subjetiva que se expresa a través de la mirada, que constituirá la sensación más trascendente en la interpretación de la realidad narrativa y de los signos que dan coherencia a la historia. Summary by Phileas Fogg

9The Dark Road: Further Adventures of Chéri-Bibi

By Gaston Leroux

One of a series of exciting adventure stories featuring Leroux's criminal mastermind Chéri-Bibi. When the story starts the "astonishing bandit", Chéri-Bibi, is languishing in a penal colony, somewhere in the darkest regions of the French empire. In the colony he has befriended a more noble type of prisoner, Raoul de Saint-Dalmas, known colloquially as the Nut. The dastardly forces of the Parisian, the Burglar, the Joker and the Caid get their enjoyment from interfering in our heroes' lives. Then there are the Chief and his warders, Pernambouc the Executioner and his assistant Monsieur Desiré, for Chéri-Bibi and the Nut, to contend with. An incredible adventure begins from here. The author, Gaston Leroux, (born in Paris in 1868, died in Nice in 1927) wrote many, many other stories the chief of which, has spawned so many celebrated performances on Broadway and in London's West End, as The Phantom of the Opera. (Summary by afinevoice)

10Man with the Black Feather

By Gaston Leroux

Theophrastus Longuet is a retired manufacturer of rubber stamps in Paris. He now spends his days relaxing, safe from life’s vicissitudes. with his lovely wife Marceline and long time friend M. Lecamus. However into every life a little rain must fall and it becomes apparent that a perfect storm is about to arrive in the lives of our tranquil threesome. The malevolent spirit of a murdering brigand named Cartouche, who was executed in Paris in 1721, is about to disrupt their perfect lives, in a way that will change them all forever. Not even the enigmatic Mage, M. Eliphas de Saint-Elme de Taillebourg de la Nox, in his mysterious underground crypt, may be enough to save them all. (Summary by afinevoice)

El fantasma de la ópera es una novela gótica, basada en hechos reales, que nos cuenta la historia de Erik. Un ser extraño y horripilante que habita en los bajos fondos del palacio de la Ópera de París y que tiene aterrorizado a todo el personal del palacio. Erik se enamora de una cantante Christine Daaé a la que da clases de canto; ella piensa que este ser es “el ángel de la música” del que tanto le había hablado su padre. Christine se enamora del vizconde Raoul de Chagny pero a la vez se siente fascinada por el fantasma al que nunca ha visto la cara pues siempre lleva una careta.<br> Cuando Erik descubre que Christine está enamorada de Raoul monta en cólera…<br> Esta obra ha sido llevada al cine y al teatro en múltiples ocasiones.<br> (Introducción por Montserrat González)

Vers 1900, des événements surnaturels se déroulent à l'Opéra Garnier. Les directeurs de l'Opéra constatent qu’un fantôme ou un homme machiavélique nommé Erik hante le théâtre et leur demande une rançon. Le « Fantôme » tombe passionnément amoureux d’une jeune chanteuse orpheline nommée Christine qui est appelée à remplacer une diva malade. Elle confesse au vicomte Raoul de Chagny, également secrètement amoureux d'elle, qu’une voix mélodieuse l'appelle la nuit ce qui inspire son chant. Le « Fantôme » enlève Christine et l'emprisonne dans les sombres profondeurs de l'Opéra. Raoul de Chagny, affronte une série de pièges diaboliques pour sauver sa bien-aimée et conduire Erik au repentir. (Résumé par Bidou)