Gaston Leroux

Set in the Paris opera house in 1881, The Phantom of the Opera contrasts reality and fantasy, good and evil. A dark psychological tale of obsession and redemption in which the Phantom can be seen as anyone's superego -- Leroux's masterpiece has been too long in the shadows.

Gaston Leroux's classic tale of tragedy, grand opera, romance and horror has been masterfully adapted by Ken Hill, the author of Mummy's Tomb and The Curse of the Werewolf, into a musical play which preserves all of the excitement and passion of the much-loved original, underscored by a strong current of comedy as well. The Phantom, born with a monstrously disfigured face but the voice of an angel, haunts the Paris Opera House and falls in love with Christine, a young chorus girl. He terrorizes the management in order to further Christine's career, while preying upon her childlike innocence to force her to love him in return. But Raoul, Christine's true love, intends to fight for her to the end...9 women, 13 men

The thrilling story of the 'Opera Ghost', legendary for making performers at the Paris Opera House apprehensive when they sit in their dressing-rooms or walk alone in the building's corridors. But it isn't until the triumphant performance the sensual Christine and her startling disappearance that a sense of dread begins to pervade. In an ever increasing pattern of fear and violence, the phantom of the opera begins to strike, but always with the beautiful young singer at the centre of his macabre desires. Filled with the colour and theatrical spectacle of the Paris Opera House and the fascination of love transformed into murderous obsession, this classic work of suspense remains a rivetting journey into the dark regions of the human heart. Abridged for Puffin Classics.

The lights dim at the Paris Opera House. The exquisite Christine Daae enraptures the audience with her mellifluous voice. Immediately, Raoul de Chagny falls deeply in love. But the legend of the disfigured "opera ghost" haunts the performance, and as Raoul begins his pursuit of Christine, he is pulled into the depths of the opera house, and into the depths of human emotions. Soon Raoul discovers that the ghost is real and that he wields a terrifying power over Christine—a power as unimaginable as the ghost's masked face. As Raoul and the ghost vie for Christine's love, a journey begins into the dark recesses of the human heart, where desire, vulnerability, fear, and violence unravel in a tragic confrontation.

Erik has the voice of an angel, but the face of a monster. When he takes off his mask, people scream and run away. So he hides himself away in the darkness below an opera house. There, he falls in love with a beautiful singer. But will she be able to return his love?

The novel that inspired the Lon Chaney film and the hit musical. "The wildest and most fantastic of tales .""--New York Times Book Review."

This is novel, written by the same person who created the "Phantom of the Opera" is reportedly on of the best 'locked-room' mysteries written during the 1900's, and inspired Agatha Christie to write her first book. The sleuth is a young journalist named Joseph Rouletabille, who uses reasoning and logic to solve the crime of the scientist's daughter who is the victim of an attempted murder that takes place in a room with bars on the windows, a double-locked door, making it impossible for the perpetrator to have committed the crime and escaped. In a 1935 novel, John Dickson Carr, the master of locked-room mysteries, declared the Yellow Room Mystery to be the 'best detective tale ever written.' it was voted the third best locked room mystery of all time. Another one that may come close to this book is one of the Peter Sharp Legal Mysteries, "The Magician's Legacy" by Gene Grossman - also available from Amazon.com as item number 3332825.

The Phantom of the Opera (French: Le Fant me de l'Op ra) is a novel by French writer Gaston Leroux. It was first published as a serialization in Le Gaulois from 23 September 1909, to 8 January 1910. It was published in volume form in late March 1910 by Pierre Lafitte. 1] The novel is partly inspired by historical events at the Paris Opera during the nineteenth century and an apocryphal tale concerning the use of a former ballet pupil's skeleton in Carl Maria von Weber's 1841 production of Der Freisch tz. It has been successfully adapted into various stage and film adaptations, most notable of which are the 1925 film depiction featuring Lon Chaney. In Paris in the 1890s, the Palais Garnier opera house is believed to be haunted by an entity known as the Phantom of the Opera, or simply the Opera Ghost. A stagehand named Joseph Buquet is found hanged and the rope around his neck goes missing. At a gala performance for the retirement of the opera house's two managers, a young little-known Swedish soprano, Christine Daa , is called upon to sing in the place of the Opera's leading soprano, Carlotta, who is ill, and her performance is an astonishing success. The Vicomte Raoul de Chagny, who was present at the performance, recognises her as his childhood playmate, and recalls his love for her. He attempts to visit her backstage, where he hears a man complimenting her from inside her dressing room. He investigates the room once Christine leaves, only to find it empty. At Perros-Guirec, Christine meets with Raoul, who confronts her about the voice he heard in her room. Christine tells him she has been tutored by the Angel of Music, whom her father used to tell them about. When Raoul suggests that she might be the victim of a prank, she storms off. Christine visits her father's grave one night, where a mysterious figure appears and plays the violin for her. Raoul attempts to confront it but is attacked and knocked out in the process. Back at the Palais Garnier, the new managers receive a letter from the Phantom demanding that they allow Christine to perform the lead role of Marguerite in Faust, and that box 5 be left empty for his use, lest they perform in a house with a curse on it. The managers ignore his demands as a prank, resulting in disastrous consequences: Carlotta ends up croaking like a toad, and the chandelier suddenly drops into the audience, killing a spectator.