Invest just a few minutes in a great short story and you may be rewarded with a lesson or memory that lasts a lifetime. And it’s not just the short stories； the authors can also surprise you. We hope that you will return to this collection again and again； to re-read these classic favorites and train your literature mind.

Eugène François Vidocq (July 24, 1775 – May 11, 1857) was a French criminal and criminalist whose life story inspired several writers, including Victor Hugo and Honoré de Balzac. The former criminal became the founder and first director of the crime-detection Sûreté Nationale as well as the head of the first known private detective agency, Vidocq is considered to be the father of modern criminology and of the French police department. He is also regarded as the first private detective.