This gothic novel by the French writer Gaston Leroux was first published in 1909. The author himself referred his work to the genre of historical detective fiction.

Unlike its popular screen version and musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, the novel doesn't have any mystic elements: the ghost turns out to be a real man of flesh and blood, who is ugly, but has an extraordinary mind and many talents. He makes people believe that he is a phantom and uses it for his own purposes. In the movie and musical this character is presented as a musician, who sold his soul to the devil.