The Story of a Terribly Strange Bed (Fantasy and Horror Classics)

The Story of a Terribly Strange Bed follows the young, wealthy gentleman Faulkner, a reckless Englishman traveling in Paris. After a night of heavy gambling, he finds himself indebted and accepts a seemingly generous offer to sleep at the very gambling house to settle his debts. He is shown to a lavish, secluded chamber containing a massive, antique four-poster bed. As the night deepens, Faulkner realises that the bed is not merely old, but is the central component of a horrifying, mechanical murder plot. He must use every ounce of cunning and nerve to survive the night against an unseen, crushing mechanism designed to ensure that those who sleep there never wake.

From the mind of Wilkie Collins, the legendary Victorian author and "Father of the English Detective Novel," comes a chilling tale of insidious peril and classic suspense.

This masterful short story is a quintessential example of the Victorian sensation novel, building unbearable suspense from a single, confined setting. It is essential reading for fans of classic mystery fiction and tightly wound, claustrophobic thrillers.