The Wyvern Mystery

The foremost teller of scary stories in his day and a profound influence on both the novelists and filmmakers of the 20th century, Anglo-Irish author JOSEPH THOMAS SHERIDAN LE FANU (18141873) has, sadly, fallen out of scholarly and popular favor, and unfairly so. To this day, contemporary readers who happen across his works praise his talent for weaving a tense literary atmosphere tinged by the supernatural and bolstered by hints of ambiguous magic.

An exceptional example of the sensation novela genre that was wildly popular in the Victorian era, with its focus on lurid crime invading previously cheerful, ordinary, and domestic placesthis 1869 classic gives us a rural estate in 1820s England, a happy new bride, and an ancient myth of a wyvern dragon to spoil the tranquility. Or perhaps theres a more rationaland yet more sinisterexplanation for the distress afflicting poor Alice Fairfield, ne Maybell, lady of Carwell Grange? Redolent of future works including the tales of Sherlock Holmes and the thrillers of Stephen King, The Wyvern Mystery continues to enthrall 21st-century readers.

With a series of new editions of Le Fanus works, Cosimo is proud to reintroduce modern book lovers to the writings of the early master of suspense fiction who pioneered the concept of psychological horror.