Stig Abell, chair of the judges for the BBC National Short Story Award 2018, introduces three tales which share a sense of suspense, something the short story can evoke so brilliantly.

Deborah Findlay voices a magnificent re-telling of Beauty and the Beast in Angela Carter's The Courtship of Mr Lyon, a contemporary take on that classic fairytale.

In Daphne du Maurier's Tame Cat, we hear a rather creepy account of a love triangle involving a young woman, an older man and her mother.

And in Louise Welsh's Summer Ghosts: The Queen of Craigielee, strange things happen on a condemned estate in Glasgow. Tracy Wiles adds just the right tone of intrigue.

Produced by Belinda Naylor. Show less