I neither expect nor solicit that you believe the very wild, and yet very homely, story that I am about to write. I'd be crazy to expect it, in a case where even my senses reject their own evidence. However, I am not crazy, and with great certainty I can say that I am not dreaming. But tomorrow I will die, and today I will ease my soul."
Thus begins the story of "The Black Cat." In it —as in "The well and the pendulum" and "The premature burial", stories that make up this selection—, the everyday is invaded by a dark and disconcerting nature. Rational understanding is revealed to be meager in the face of the power of the improbable and the irruption of the supernatural element. The stories gathered here are worked by a pen that enhances the most atrocious and gloomy features.

The illustrations by the famous Argentine artist Luis Scafati explore the play of chiaroscuro in compositions where the ink stains are confused with those of blood, and recreate the atmospheres and macabre characters of the darkness of Poe's universe.