Book Review 61
The Dead of Winter:
Ten Classic Tales for Chilling Nights
by Various Authors
Not everything that goes bump in the night brings gifts ...
As the nights draw in, the veil between worlds thins, and all sorts of ghosts and ghouls come tumbling in. In the shadows, under the bed, in wind-whipped snowy landscapes and in rooms lit by guttering candles, the dead of winter are waiting for us ... and their hearts are cold as ice.
From the mysterious occupant of an ancient tomb to the Christmas visitor who is troubled by violent dreams, these are ten ghost stories from the masters of the genre that will chill your blood and haunt your dreams through the darkest months of the year.
With stories from Lennox Robinson, M. Burrage, Ruth Rendell, E.F. Benson, Arthur Conan Doyle, H. Russell Wakefield, M.R. James, Margaret Irwin, Algernon Blackwood and W.W. Jacobs
This book does what it says on the tin. It is what it is: a book of winter related somewhat supernatural short stories. A couple of them were actual Christmas related stories, the rest were just stories set in winter. Several of the authors are well known to me, albeit not necessarily as 'supernatural story writers'; a couple I recognise the name, but a couple I don't think I have come across before or at least I don't remember it.
Seven of the stories were new to me, three I had read in previous anthologies. Somewhat bemusingly to me was that the stories I had already read, appeared one after the other; they were the last three stories in the book.
Overall I really enjoyed all the stories. There wasn't any single story that was outstanding; nor was there any that was a complete dud. I thoroughly enjoyed most of them, a couple were more 'meh', but it was good, solid book of short winter with a supernatural bent stories. When it comes down to it, what more can one ask for? As caffyolay and I have said many times, who wants to be wowed with and love every book? It would get very tiring.
I really do love the cover. It is very well chosen and does have a 'spooky' feel to it. Definitely 'dead of winter'.