Pledged to the Dead (Annotated): Short Stories

by Seabury Quinn

A tale of a lover who was pledged to a sweetheart who had been in her grave for more than a century, and of the striking death that menaced him—a story of Jules de Grandin.

Genres: Horror, Fantasy, Short Stories, Ebooks

48 pages, Paperback

Published May 27, 2021

About the author

Best know as an American pulp author for Weird Tales, for which he wrote a series of stories about occult detective Jules de Grandin. He was the author of non-fiction legal and medical texts and editor of Casket & Sunnyside, a trade journal for mortuary jurisprudence. He also published fiction for Embalming Magazine, another mortuary periodical.

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ned has a little flirt with an extremely beautiful girl clad in an old fashioned dress as he's on a trip to New Orleans. What's so special about Julie? His girl friend from back home and to friends-to-the family doctors are trying to save him from the girl and her jealous governess. Can the overcome the black magic of the old voodoo queen who is able to turn into a snake at will? If you know New Orleans (I do) and can imagine French quarter, a Southern Belle and a deserted old cemetery this is the story for you. I extremely liked reading it and can highly recommend it! Great pageturner.

[Sharon Barrow Wilfong · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story, if quaint in its delivery. A woman comes to a doctor and desperately asks him to cure her fiancee. It turns out the fiancee, while visiting New Orleans, became entangled with a mysterious, beautiful woman and he has pledged his heart to her. Not because he wanted to, but because it turns out she is a ghost who cannot be released until she marries someone who truly loves her.

This would not be such a problem, since, after all, she's not alive, but unfortunately she has an undead servant who comes in the form of a snake and kills anyone who goes back on his word to her mistress. Thus, his dilemma.

I won't reveal anything, but the doctor does come to the rescue and you can read the book to see how everything resolves.

[Joseph · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't think this is the first Jules de Grandin story I've read? These were big back in the 1920s & 1930s -- Jules de Grandin is an occult detective; the stories are narrated by one Dr. Trowbridge, who acts as Watson to his Holmes.

This particular story has a young man who, through no (well, relatively little) fault of his own, got himself into supernatural trouble in New Orleans. (And really, which of us hasn't done the same at one point or another?)

Not especially memorable, necessarily, but still quite readable.

[David Elkin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really a very long short story. A fun free ebook that calls back to a different time when horror was more imagined than gory. A quick lark.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short book about a man visiting New Orleans, who finds himself.........pledged to the dead.

[Alexia Salinas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Extraño sin duda pero con una buena trama, no conecté del todo con la forma de escribir pero quiero echarle la culpa a qué leer en digital últimamente me cuesta un poco más. .

[Noah Stevens · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short and sweet. A story, really.

I don't know what the publication date was, but this may be in the running for the first love/vampire/ghost Nola story I know of

[Ronald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good Jules de Grandin re. New Orleans; fiance has old flame who just won't let go- from the grave!