The Continental Classics, Volume XVIII., Mystery Tales Including Stories by Feodor Mikhailovitch Dostoyevsky, Jörgen Wilhelm Bergsöe and Bernhard Severin Ingemann

"The Continental Classics, Volume XVIII, Mystery Tales" by Various, is a collection of suspenseful tales from different authors, emphasizing the dark aspects of human nature. It features both famous writers such as Feodor Dostoevsky and less well-known authors from Russian and Hungarian stories. Opening the collection, "The Queen of Spades," introduces a young engineer named Hermann at a card party. Hermann becomes obsessed with the secret of winning at cards, held by a mysterious Countess. His fascination with this secret drives him, and he confronts themes of greed and the supernatural. The story builds suspense, as it pulls readers into the social lives of the characters while foreshadowing the moral issues that run throughout the entire collection.