Wilkie Collins was a prolific writer of short stories. Always original, his combination of cleverly constructed plots and believable characters has made him one of our most widely read authors. In 'The Dead Hand', a visitor to Doncaster in race week is forced by circumstances to spend the night at an inauspicious inn; while an evening at a Paris gambling-house ends in near tragedy for the narrator in 'A Terribly Strange Bed'. In 'The Dream Woman', a nightmarish apparition exerts a sinister blight on a man's life. This collection is read for you by Richard Mitchley, who has worked in theatre throughout Britain as well as directing and acting with his Mayfly theatre company and Ian Holm, one of England's finest actors.