Tales of Horror and Tales of Mystery and Horror are audio books released on cassette in the UK. They feature stories by Edgar Allan Poe, read by Christopher lee.

Tales of Horror was first released in 1979 on the Listen for Pleasure label, which specialised in audio books at the time. Supplied on two cassette tapes, the packaging was an oversized, thick card cover with artwork based on The Pit and the Pendulum. The other stories included were The Fall of the House of Usher, The Cask of Amontillado and The Black Cat.

Lee was the perfect choice for these stories, given them both a gravitas and a sense of the dramatic. For many younger British people, these tapes provided their first introduction to Poe’s writing.

This collection was popular enough to ensure a follow-up in 1985 - Tales of Mystery and Horror featured Lee reading Hop Frog, The Raven, Masque of the Red Death, The Tell-Tale Heart and Murders in the Rue Morgue (the latter story split into two parts).

While these and other audio books in the Listen for Pleasure series were hugely popular at the time, they have never been re-released on CD or MP3.

DF

Categories: 1970s, 1980s, actors and actresses, book, gothic, novel, novelist

Tags: 1979, 1985, American horror, audio book, Black Cat, British horror, Cask of Amontillado, cassette tape, Christopher Lee, Egdar Allan Poe, Fall of the House of Usher, Hop Frog, Listen for Pleasure, masque of the Red Death, Murders in the Rue Morgue, pit and the pendulum, Tales of Horror, Tales of Mystery and Horror, Tell Tale Heart, The Raven