The book is named after a fictional play with the same title which recurs as a motif through some of the stories. The first half of the book features highly esteemed weird stories, and the book is described by S.T. Joshi as a classic in the field of the supernatural. There are 10 stories, the first four of which, "The Repairer of Reputations," "The Mask," "In the Court of the Dragon" and "The Yellow Sign," mention The King in Yellow, a forbidden play which induces despair or madness in those who read it.