THE CANTERVILLE GHOST AND OTHER STORIES

When the Americans Mr and Mrs Otis and their four children move into Canterville Chase its previous occupant Lord Canterville warns them that the ghost of his ancestor still haunts the house Their disbelief is soon shattered by the nightly sound of rattling chains in the hallways and the appearance of mysterious bloodstains in the living room However the ghost struggles to intimidate his new victims as they counter his ghoulish behaviour with typically transatlantic pragmatism offering lubricator for his chains and cleaning up the stains with detergent As the spirit is deserted by his capacity to scare Virginia the Otises daughter gets to know him and learns the tragic tale behind his sad fate Sparkling with his trademark wit this classic tale is one of Oscar Wilde s finest stories and is presented here with three other comic mystery stories Lord Arthur Savile s Crime The Sphinx without a Secret and The Model Millionaire all of which were first published together in 1891