1. Daphne du Maurier: The Queen of the dark tale. It is little wonder so many of her short stories and novels have been adapted for the big screen, and by Hitchcock, no less. Anyone who ever read Rebecca is forever chasing that feeling of reading it for the first time. And if you’re a writer, chasing the need to write something that good . Try (novels) Rebecca , My Cousin Rachel ; (short stories) The Birds , Don’t Look Now. 2. Katherine Mansfield: The New Zealand