In the dark of night, one light still yet burns.

Frightened fingers tremble as brittle pages turn.

Fireside Mystery Theater presents The Midnight Reading,

a special summer series of dramatic recitations of dark

masterpieces in miniature by the Masters of the Macab. Hello, I'm James Reiser. Of all the fine

writers we're featuring in our series of dark literary classics this summer, only one has the

distinction of being a recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Prepare yourself, the same author who penned the classics of mice and men,

East of Eden, travels with Charlie, and the enduring masterpiece, The Grapes of Wrath,

also wrote the following bizarre tale of terror, The Affair at Seven Rue de M.

Here to read this very rare foray into the world of the macabre by John Steinbeck is the one

and only Ali Silva.

I had hoped to withhold from public scrutiny those rather curious events which have given me some concern for the past month.

I knew, of course, that there was talk in the neighborhood. I've even heard some of the distortions current in my district.

Stories I hasten to add in which there is no particle of truth. However, my desire for privacy was shattered

yesterday by a visit of two members of the fourth estate who assured me that the story, or rather

a story, had escaped the boundaries of my arrondissement. In the light of impending publicity,

I think it only fair to issue the true details of those happenings,

which have come to be known as the affair at seven, Roudaem,

in order that nonsense may not be added to a set of circumstances which are not without their bizare.

I shall set down the events as they happened, without comment, thereby allowing

the public to judge of the situation. At the beginning of the summer, I carried my family to Paris,

...