"One of the most famous ghost stories that no one has actually read" (New York Times), The Phantom of the Opera is the first in the Haunted Library Horror Classics series presented by the Horror Writers Association. An unabridged edition of the novel that inspired the famous Andrew Lloyd Webber musical.
Deep beneath the Paris Opera House, a masked man lives in silence…
Every night at the Palais Garnier, hundreds of guests sit on the edge of velvet-covered seats, waiting for prima donna La Carlotta to take the stage. But when her voice fails her, La Carlotta is replaced with unknown understudy Christine Daaé, a young soprano whose vibrant singing fills every corner of the house and wins her a slew of admirers, including an old childhood friend who soon professes his love for her. But unknown to Christine is another man, who lurks out of sight behind the heavy curtains of the opera, who can move about the building undetected, who will do anything to make sure Christine will keep singing just for him…
This curated edition of The Phantom of the Opera, based on the original 1911 English translation by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos, brings an iconic story of love and obsession to today's readers and illuminates the timeless appeal of Leroux's masterpiece.
Gaston Louis Alfred Leroux (May 1868–Apr. 1927) was born in Paris, France to a respected and moderately well-to-do family. He turned to writing and became a theatre critic and, later, a highly-respected international newspaper correspondent. In 1907 Leroux suddenly and without explanation quit journalism and began writing fiction, prolifically penning thirty-seven novels and a number of short stories. Leroux’s most famous individual work, The Phantom of the Opera, was serialized in 1909 through 1910, and would go on to become one of the most recognized titles in the genre of horror writing.
LESLIE S. KLINGER is the two-time Edgar® winning editor of New Annotated Sherlock Holmes and Classic American Crime Fiction of the 1920s. He has also edited two anthologies of classic mysteries and, with Laurie R. King, five anthologies of stories inspired by the Sherlock Holmes Canon. Klinger is the series editor of Library of Congress Crime Classics, a partnership of the Library of Congress and Poisoned Pen Press/Sourcebooks. He is a former Chapter President of the SoCal Chapter of the Mystery Writers of America and lives in Malibu, California.
