For Reading Out Loud

Introducing Lord Peter Wimsey, Dorothy L. Sayers's most famous creation

W. Somerset Maugham sets sail for points east with "Straight Flush" and "The End of the Flight."

Two stories by a beloved and versatile American humorist: Robert Benchley

All about animals: stories by Colette and Lorenz.

You don't know Alice Dunbar Nelson? "M'sieu Fortier's Violin" might prove an inviting introduction.

Two tales by H. H. Munro, better known by his nom de plume Saki

What if Artificial Intelligence did the writing? Tonight, "Playing With AI."

At an Irish time of the year, a story from one of Ireland's great modern writers, James Joyce: "The Sisters," from the collection Dubliners.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's sleuth Sherlock Holmes looks into "A Case of Identity"

A magic show that isn't just about magic: Frank R. Stockton's "The Magic Egg"

Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot investigates, and his friend Captain Arthur Hastings narrates "The Mystery of the Hunter's Lodge."

In a sculptor's studio in Paris, eager young expatriates hear a tale of rootedness and creativity. Willa Cather's "The Namesake."

An intriguing story by a writer who was best known as a pioneer of detective fiction. Anna Katherine Green’s "Shall He Wed Her?”

Mark Twain dips his pen in dark comic ink for a speech to accident insurance executives and for a tale called "Cannibalism in the Cars."

G. K. Chesterton's priestly detective Father Brown examines a curse on an old and prominent Devonshire family.

A humorous and satisfying story of one man taking on the corrupt local political machine: Meredith Nicholson's "the Boulevard of Rogues"

Master storyteller Guy de Maupassant's "Théodule Sabot's Confession"

Lest we forget: George Washington's and Dwight Eisenhower farewell addresses

A young girl discovers her passion for New England country life and her love and values for the animals that inhabit it.

A Christmas story set in Poland: Eric Kelly's "In Clean Hay"

So familiar, but somehow always new and wonderful: O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi"

A fine young woman falls for a rotter. What directions might it take? Lucy Maud Montgomery's "A Redeeming Sacrifice"

About as cold as it gets: Jack London's "To Build a Fire"

A Hollywood yarn from P. G. Wodehouse: "The Nodder"

Two stories by two great wits and storytellers: Oscar Wilde and Noël Coward

Ambrose Bierce's famous and startling Civil War story, "A Horseman in the Sky"

It has been said that P. G. Wodehouse’s inimitable comic style was as hard to analyze as his emotions; one critic described the task as “taking a spade to a soufflé.” So no need to subject it to analysis, just relax and enjoy Wodehouse's "Jeeves and the Love That Purifies."

A Western tale by the gifted storyteller and illustrator Will James, "The Seeing Eye"

Off to the world of newspapers in Jesse Lynch Williams's "The City Editor's Conscience"

Rudyard Kipling's classic tale of a fearless mongoose and the family that took him in: Rikki-Tikki Tavi

Elinor Mordaunt's "Genius," a story of a brilliant, unworldly talent and its pursuit of a concert career

How to live in an uncertain or chaotic world? Two stories by W. Somerset Maugham.

Internationally famous as a naturalist and ornithologist, he also wrote novels and short stories set in his native Argentina. Tonight's story is W. H. Hudson's romance, "Story of a Piebald Horse."

Miss Marple in full flower in this early mystery from The Tuesday Night Club: "Motive Versus Opportunity"

Their fancy may take them odd directions, but fishermen are certainly entertaining company. P. G. Wodehouse's Mr. Mulliner spins a yarn in "Mulliner's Buck-U-Uppo."

Good beginnings, in film, in poetry, in fiction, are solid and memorable gold. Do you have favorites? Here are some of mine.

Stefan Zweig's intriguing classic story "The Invisible Colleciton"

On the occasion of his 175th birthday, two stories by the French Master Guy de Maupassant

A story about an amiable and resourceful small-town family by Thomas Beer, entitled simply "Tact."

Nobel Prize-winning Italian author Grazia Deledda's "The Open Door"

The second and concluding part of Ernest Thompson Seton's The Biography of a Grizzlhy

The first of two episodes: Ernest Thompson Seton, The Biography of a Grizzly

Kathleen Norris's plainly told and moving story of a young widow and mother on the fringes of a tight-knit community.

He made a preposterous bet, but don't sell Professor Van Dusen short: the conclusion of "The Problem of Cell 13" by Jacques Futrelle.

A ruthless practitioner of logic, Professor Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen accepts the challenge of escaping from a high security prison. Can his logic work its way around this concrete and iron cage?

Two short spring pieces tonight, by Jerome K. Jerome (Three Men in a Boat) and Elizabeth von Armin (The Enchanted April)

Once upon a time, before there were the Brothers Grimm, there was Charles Perrault, and he gave us (among others) the fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty. Here is the story from his collection of Mother Goose Tales, first published in 1697. His children were charmed. I hope you will enjoy it, too.

P. G. Wodehouse's Bertie Wooster tells of "Jeeves and the Kid Clementina"

Stacy Aumonier's anticipation of Alfred Hitchcock: "Miss Bracegirdle Does Her Duty"

In an age of scams, you might enjoy learning about the old “green goods” caper: O. Henry, “Shearing the Wolf.”