Three Men in the Dark

A collection of rare horror stories that will thrill fans of classic writers such as M. R. James, Bram Stoker, Edgar Allan Poe and E. F. Benson.

Jerome K. Jerome’s reputation as a humorist, renowned for his comic novel Three Men in a Boat, has thrown into undeserved obscurity his fine efforts in the ghost story genre.

Three Men in the Dark collects Jerome’s major horror stories, together with a selection from two of his friends with whom he founded the magazines The Idler and Today – the journalist Robert Barr and the humorist Barry Pain. Like Jerome, their stories of terror and the supernatural have been overlooked for many years.

Edited and introduced by veteran anthologist Hugh Lamb, this new edition includes as an extra bonus the long-lost novelette, ‘The Mystery of Black Rock Creek’. Written in five parts by Jerome K. Jerome, Barry Pain, Eden Phillpotts, E. F. Benson and Bram Stoker’s brother-in-law Frank Frankfort Moore, it rounds off one of the most unusual and entertaining anthologies of the macabre of recent years.

Reviews

‘One of the features of [the October issue of The Idler] is a limited liability romance, entitled The Mystery of Black Rock Creek, in which five well-known writers take shares, Jerome K Jerome, Eden Philpotts [sic], E F Benson, E Frankfort Moore [sic], and Barry Pain are each responsible for a chapter. The result is a thrilling combination of mysterious horrors which will yield terrific delight to every lover of sensational romance.’ The Arbroath Herald, 11 Oct 1894

‘The Mystery of Black Rock Creek … is an Australian story, full of interest. The unravelling of the mystery is exceedingly cleverly done by Messrs J K Jerome, Eden Philpot [sic], E F Benson, E F Moore [sic] and Barry Pain, each of whom contributes a chapter.’ The Star [Guernsey], 9 Oct 1894

About the author

Hugh Lamb has spent over forty years delving into weird fiction. Tired of anthologies reprinting the same old stories, he tried his hand at editing his own. His main area of research is Victorian ghost stories and he has published five anthologies of these: Victorian Tales of Terror, Terror by Gaslight, Victorian Nightmares, Tales from a Gaslit Graveyard, and Gaslit Nightmares. A freelance journalist by profession, Hugh Lamb lives in Sutton, Surrey.