Probably only scary if you suffer from a nervous psychological disorder, 01 Aug 2008
Some books are so bad that you just can't finish them. This isn't one of those books. Which is unforunate as when you read it you constantly wish you weren't. It's just so average. It doesn't have the ability to sweep you back into the Victorian world that a Dickens, Collins or Conan Doyle does. The ghost stories are not at all spine-chilling. They just feel very tepid. Le Fanu also falls into the habit of a lot of 19th Century writers of constructing incredibly arcane, unnecessarily-long sentences, meticulously grammatical at the expense of clarity, and separated by so many commas that by the time one reaches the end of the sentence, should one manage to hold one's attention to that point, one has already forgotten what was being conveyed at the sentence's beginning.

However I reserve my strongest condemnation for the notes. First* of all I* find it extremely distracting* to read when every other* word is marked* with an asterisk*. What confounded my annoyance is that the editor finds it necessary to explain words and concepts which really do not need explaining. So you think he has something of importance to explain and stop your reading to turn to the notes, search for the relevant point and then are left irritated as he tells you that such-and-such was written very slightly differently in an earlier version or defines a term that any fool would understand.

So why did I finish it? I think it has merits in having a place in the history of gothic fiction. Le Fanu occasionally finds interesting concepts and every now and then has a clever turn of phrase. But overall I would say this was a disappointing read, and if it had been a modern novel snobbery probably would have made me put it down.

read on..., 30 Nov 2007
This is a superb collection. Green tea is probably the least good but still good. The Familiar is a great tale of a man haunted by his past and eventually destroyed by it. Mr Justice Harbottle is very endearing and one of my favourite ghost stories. The Room in The Dragon Volant is long but well worth it - what could have been the perfect crime, if only...Carmilla, the vampire tale, is to my mind superior to Stoker's overlong Dracula, and was its inspiration.

An Apt Title., 15 Jun 2007
Whatever the merits of Le Fanu's collection of short stories, the Wordsworth edition is dismal.

The typesetting errors are so frequent that it was only after some investigation that I began to believe that mine is not a bootlegged copy. The most common faults are wandering sem;i-colons, and all exclamation marks replaced with a space followed by a personal pronoun I this can cause confusion when placed in the middle of a sentence, as Le Fanu's old prose does not include capital letters following an exclamation mark.

Undoubtedly cheap, but only really worth it as an excercise in deciphering.

Five of Le Fanu's longer short stories, 23 Dec 2006
'In a Glass Darkly' is a collection of hair-raising tales selected from those recorded by Dr Martin Hesselius during the many years he spent working to understand and explain the seemingly supernatural incidents that came to his attention. The stories are:

1) 'Green Tea' - a clergyman believes himself persecuted by a malevolent monkey.

2) 'The Familiar' - an ex-naval captain is threatened by an aggrieved ghost from his past.

3) 'Mr Justice Harbottle' - a respectable gentleman is driven from his lodgings by the activity of a mean old judge who has been dead for some years.

4) 'The Room in Le Dragon Volant' - a rich English man on tour becomes enmeshed in an extraordinary scam whilst travelling from Brussels to Paris.

5) 'Carmilla' - the daughter of an English father, living in a schloss in Styria, is befriended by a young lady who has unusually needle-sharp teeth.

As Henry James quite rightly suggested, Le Fanu's stories are the ideal reading material after the chimes of midnight. These five stories provide a wonderful chill before snuggling down to sleep. They are longer than the tales in Le Fanu's 'Madam Crowl's Ghost' collection, where the stories are between 10 and 25 pages in length. The tales in this collection vary in length between about 30 and 100 pages.

I recommend 'In a Glass Darkly' to anyone who enjoys old-fashioned ghost stories.


superficial tales- real or imagination?, 06 Jun 2002
The classic in the ghost story genre. Most of his
followers as M.R. James or E.F. Benson admitt that they were highly inspired by J.S. LeFanu. One
of his main works where his fame comes from is "In a glass darkly" wherein five ghost stories are told by a german doctor/analyst. LeFanu leaves it to the reader to decide weather the incidents were real or the main characters suffer from brain damages.

Probably only scary if you suffer from a nervous psychological disorder, 01 Aug 2008
Some books are so bad that you just can't finish them. This isn't one of those books. Which is unforunate as when you read it you constantly wish you weren't. It's just so average. It doesn't have the ability to sweep you back into the Victorian world that a Dickens, Collins or Conan Doyle does. The ghost stories are not at all spine-chilling. They just feel very tepid. Le Fanu also falls into the habit of a lot of 19th Century writers of constructing incredibly arcane, unnecessarily-long sentences, meticulously grammatical at the expense of clarity, and separated by so many commas that by the time one reaches the end of the sentence, should one manage to hold one's attention to that point, one has already forgotten what was being conveyed at the sentence's beginning.

However I reserve my strongest condemnation for the notes. First* of all I* find it extremely distracting* to read when every other* word is marked* with an asterisk*. What confounded my annoyance is that the editor finds it necessary to explain words and concepts which really do not need explaining. So you think he has something of importance to explain and stop your reading to turn to the notes, search for the relevant point and then are left irritated as he tells you that such-and-such was written very slightly differently in an earlier version or defines a term that any fool would understand.

So why did I finish it? I think it has merits in having a place in the history of gothic fiction. Le Fanu occasionally finds interesting concepts and every now and then has a clever turn of phrase. But overall I would say this was a disappointing read, and if it had been a modern novel snobbery probably would have made me put it down.

read on..., 30 Nov 2007
This is a superb collection. Green tea is probably the least good but still good. The Familiar is a great tale of a man haunted by his past and eventually destroyed by it. Mr Justice Harbottle is very endearing and one of my favourite ghost stories. The Room in The Dragon Volant is long but well worth it - what could have been the perfect crime, if only...Carmilla, the vampire tale, is to my mind superior to Stoker's overlong Dracula, and was its inspiration.

An Apt Title., 15 Jun 2007
Whatever the merits of Le Fanu's collection of short stories, the Wordsworth edition is dismal.

The typesetting errors are so frequent that it was only after some investigation that I began to believe that mine is not a bootlegged copy. The most common faults are wandering sem;i-colons, and all exclamation marks replaced with a space followed by a personal pronoun I this can cause confusion when placed in the middle of a sentence, as Le Fanu's old prose does not include capital letters following an exclamation mark.

Undoubtedly cheap, but only really worth it as an excercise in deciphering.

Five of Le Fanu's longer short stories, 23 Dec 2006
'In a Glass Darkly' is a collection of hair-raising tales selected from those recorded by Dr Martin Hesselius during the many years he spent working to understand and explain the seemingly supernatural incidents that came to his attention. The stories are:

1) 'Green Tea' - a clergyman believes himself persecuted by a malevolent monkey.

2) 'The Familiar' - an ex-naval captain is threatened by an aggrieved ghost from his past.

3) 'Mr Justice Harbottle' - a respectable gentleman is driven from his lodgings by the activity of a mean old judge who has been dead for some years.

4) 'The Room in Le Dragon Volant' - a rich English man on tour becomes enmeshed in an extraordinary scam whilst travelling from Brussels to Paris.

5) 'Carmilla' - the daughter of an English father, living in a schloss in Styria, is befriended by a young lady who has unusually needle-sharp teeth.

As Henry James quite rightly suggested, Le Fanu's stories are the ideal reading material after the chimes of midnight. These five stories provide a wonderful chill before snuggling down to sleep. They are longer than the tales in Le Fanu's 'Madam Crowl's Ghost' collection, where the stories are between 10 and 25 pages in length. The tales in this collection vary in length between about 30 and 100 pages.

I recommend 'In a Glass Darkly' to anyone who enjoys old-fashioned ghost stories.


superficial tales- real or imagination?, 06 Jun 2002
The classic in the ghost story genre. Most of his
followers as M.R. James or E.F. Benson admitt that they were highly inspired by J.S. LeFanu. One
of his main works where his fame comes from is "In a glass darkly" wherein five ghost stories are told by a german doctor/analyst. LeFanu leaves it to the reader to decide weather the incidents were real or the main characters suffer from brain damages.

If you work in a library, you'll love it!, 01 Nov 2000
I'm sure kids will love it, but if you've ever worked in a library you'll love it too! I bought this as a joke prezzie for my boss and everyone who works in our library read it and had a good chuckle. We like the idea of laminating people who talk loudly and having 'overdue' stamps on the soles of our shoes! It'll cheer you up after a hard day saying 'ssshhh!'.

Funniest book in the Black Lagoon Series, 30 May 1999
This book made me laugh a loud. The librarian laminates kids who talk. For story time she reads the card catalog. It's cute and funny!

Probably only scary if you suffer from a nervous psychological disorder, 01 Aug 2008
Some books are so bad that you just can't finish them. This isn't one of those books. Which is unforunate as when you read it you constantly wish you weren't. It's just so average. It doesn't have the ability to sweep you back into the Victorian world that a Dickens, Collins or Conan Doyle does. The ghost stories are not at all spine-chilling. They just feel very tepid. Le Fanu also falls into the habit of a lot of 19th Century writers of constructing incredibly arcane, unnecessarily-long sentences, meticulously grammatical at the expense of clarity, and separated by so many commas that by the time one reaches the end of the sentence, should one manage to hold one's attention to that point, one has already forgotten what was being conveyed at the sentence's beginning.

However I reserve my strongest condemnation for the notes. First* of all I* find it extremely distracting* to read when every other* word is marked* with an asterisk*. What confounded my annoyance is that the editor finds it necessary to explain words and concepts which really do not need explaining. So you think he has something of importance to explain and stop your reading to turn to the notes, search for the relevant point and then are left irritated as he tells you that such-and-such was written very slightly differently in an earlier version or defines a term that any fool would understand.

So why did I finish it? I think it has merits in having a place in the history of gothic fiction. Le Fanu occasionally finds interesting concepts and every now and then has a clever turn of phrase. But overall I would say this was a disappointing read, and if it had been a modern novel snobbery probably would have made me put it down.

read on..., 30 Nov 2007
This is a superb collection. Green tea is probably the least good but still good. The Familiar is a great tale of a man haunted by his past and eventually destroyed by it. Mr Justice Harbottle is very endearing and one of my favourite ghost stories. The Room in The Dragon Volant is long but well worth it - what could have been the perfect crime, if only...Carmilla, the vampire tale, is to my mind superior to Stoker's overlong Dracula, and was its inspiration.

An Apt Title., 15 Jun 2007
Whatever the merits of Le Fanu's collection of short stories, the Wordsworth edition is dismal.

The typesetting errors are so frequent that it was only after some investigation that I began to believe that mine is not a bootlegged copy. The most common faults are wandering sem;i-colons, and all exclamation marks replaced with a space followed by a personal pronoun I this can cause confusion when placed in the middle of a sentence, as Le Fanu's old prose does not include capital letters following an exclamation mark.

Undoubtedly cheap, but only really worth it as an excercise in deciphering.

Five of Le Fanu's longer short stories, 23 Dec 2006
'In a Glass Darkly' is a collection of hair-raising tales selected from those recorded by Dr Martin Hesselius during the many years he spent working to understand and explain the seemingly supernatural incidents that came to his attention. The stories are:

1) 'Green Tea' - a clergyman believes himself persecuted by a malevolent monkey.

2) 'The Familiar' - an ex-naval captain is threatened by an aggrieved ghost from his past.

3) 'Mr Justice Harbottle' - a respectable gentleman is driven from his lodgings by the activity of a mean old judge who has been dead for some years.

4) 'The Room in Le Dragon Volant' - a rich English man on tour becomes enmeshed in an extraordinary scam whilst travelling from Brussels to Paris.

5) 'Carmilla' - the daughter of an English father, living in a schloss in Styria, is befriended by a young lady who has unusually needle-sharp teeth.

As Henry James quite rightly suggested, Le Fanu's stories are the ideal reading material after the chimes of midnight. These five stories provide a wonderful chill before snuggling down to sleep. They are longer than the tales in Le Fanu's 'Madam Crowl's Ghost' collection, where the stories are between 10 and 25 pages in length. The tales in this collection vary in length between about 30 and 100 pages.

I recommend 'In a Glass Darkly' to anyone who enjoys old-fashioned ghost stories.


superficial tales- real or imagination?, 06 Jun 2002
The classic in the ghost story genre. Most of his
followers as M.R. James or E.F. Benson admitt that they were highly inspired by J.S. LeFanu. One
of his main works where his fame comes from is "In a glass darkly" wherein five ghost stories are told by a german doctor/analyst. LeFanu leaves it to the reader to decide weather the incidents were real or the main characters suffer from brain damages.

If you work in a library, you'll love it!, 01 Nov 2000
I'm sure kids will love it, but if you've ever worked in a library you'll love it too! I bought this as a joke prezzie for my boss and everyone who works in our library read it and had a good chuckle. We like the idea of laminating people who talk loudly and having 'overdue' stamps on the soles of our shoes! It'll cheer you up after a hard day saying 'ssshhh!'.

Funniest book in the Black Lagoon Series, 30 May 1999
This book made me laugh a loud. The librarian laminates kids who talk. For story time she reads the card catalog. It's cute and funny!

Synopsis from back cover, 20 Nov 2008
It's the summer of 1935 and, in a sleepy New England town, people are talking about the epidemic of accidents up at the Perry's house. Vining and Russell Perry, man and boy, mysteriously killed. Another boy drowned in a skating tragedy.

Vining's widow fallen downstairs... Accidents?

Vining's sons are an odd pair, mocking withdrawn Holland and nice generous Niles. Involved in a telepathy game with their Russian grandmother. A game that might be getting horribly out of hand.....

Probably only scary if you suffer from a nervous psychological disorder, 01 Aug 2008
Some books are so bad that you just can't finish them. This isn't one of those books. Which is unforunate as when you read it you constantly wish you weren't. It's just so average. It doesn't have the ability to sweep you back into the Victorian world that a Dickens, Collins or Conan Doyle does. The ghost stories are not at all spine-chilling. They just feel very tepid. Le Fanu also falls into the habit of a lot of 19th Century writers of constructing incredibly arcane, unnecessarily-long sentences, meticulously grammatical at the expense of clarity, and separated by so many commas that by the time one reaches the end of the sentence, should one manage to hold one's attention to that point, one has already forgotten what was being conveyed at the sentence's beginning.

However I reserve my strongest condemnation for the notes. First* of all I* find it extremely distracting* to read when every other* word is marked* with an asterisk*. What confounded my annoyance is that the editor finds it necessary to explain words and concepts which really do not need explaining. So you think he has something of importance to explain and stop your reading to turn to the notes, search for the relevant point and then are left irritated as he tells you that such-and-such was written very slightly differently in an earlier version or defines a term that any fool would understand.

So why did I finish it? I think it has merits in having a place in the history of gothic fiction. Le Fanu occasionally finds interesting concepts and every now and then has a clever turn of phrase. But overall I would say this was a disappointing read, and if it had been a modern novel snobbery probably would have made me put it down.

read on..., 30 Nov 2007
This is a superb collection. Green tea is probably the least good but still good. The Familiar is a great tale of a man haunted by his past and eventually destroyed by it. Mr Justice Harbottle is very endearing and one of my favourite ghost stories. The Room in The Dragon Volant is long but well worth it - what could have been the perfect crime, if only...Carmilla, the vampire tale, is to my mind superior to Stoker's overlong Dracula, and was its inspiration.

An Apt Title., 15 Jun 2007
Whatever the merits of Le Fanu's collection of short stories, the Wordsworth edition is dismal.

The typesetting errors are so frequent that it was only after some investigation that I began to believe that mine is not a bootlegged copy. The most common faults are wandering sem;i-colons, and all exclamation marks replaced with a space followed by a personal pronoun I this can cause confusion when placed in the middle of a sentence, as Le Fanu's old prose does not include capital letters following an exclamation mark.

Undoubtedly cheap, but only really worth it as an excercise in deciphering.

Five of Le Fanu's longer short stories, 23 Dec 2006
'In a Glass Darkly' is a collection of hair-raising tales selected from those recorded by Dr Martin Hesselius during the many years he spent working to understand and explain the seemingly supernatural incidents that came to his attention. The stories are:

1) 'Green Tea' - a clergyman believes himself persecuted by a malevolent monkey.

2) 'The Familiar' - an ex-naval captain is threatened by an aggrieved ghost from his past.

3) 'Mr Justice Harbottle' - a respectable gentleman is driven from his lodgings by the activity of a mean old judge who has been dead for some years.

4) 'The Room in Le Dragon Volant' - a rich English man on tour becomes enmeshed in an extraordinary scam whilst travelling from Brussels to Paris.

5) 'Carmilla' - the daughter of an English father, living in a schloss in Styria, is befriended by a young lady who has unusually needle-sharp teeth.

As Henry James quite rightly suggested, Le Fanu's stories are the ideal reading material after the chimes of midnight. These five stories provide a wonderful chill before snuggling down to sleep. They are longer than the tales in Le Fanu's 'Madam Crowl's Ghost' collection, where the stories are between 10 and 25 pages in length. The tales in this collection vary in length between about 30 and 100 pages.

I recommend 'In a Glass Darkly' to anyone who enjoys old-fashioned ghost stories.


superficial tales- real or imagination?, 06 Jun 2002
The classic in the ghost story genre. Most of his
followers as M.R. James or E.F. Benson admitt that they were highly inspired by J.S. LeFanu. One
of his main works where his fame comes from is "In a glass darkly" wherein five ghost stories are told by a german doctor/analyst. LeFanu leaves it to the reader to decide weather the incidents were real or the main characters suffer from brain damages.

If you work in a library, you'll love it!, 01 Nov 2000
I'm sure kids will love it, but if you've ever worked in a library you'll love it too! I bought this as a joke prezzie for my boss and everyone who works in our library read it and had a good chuckle. We like the idea of laminating people who talk loudly and having 'overdue' stamps on the soles of our shoes! It'll cheer you up after a hard day saying 'ssshhh!'.

Funniest book in the Black Lagoon Series, 30 May 1999
This book made me laugh a loud. The librarian laminates kids who talk. For story time she reads the card catalog. It's cute and funny!

Synopsis from back cover, 20 Nov 2008
It's the summer of 1935 and, in a sleepy New England town, people are talking about the epidemic of accidents up at the Perry's house. Vining and Russell Perry, man and boy, mysteriously killed. Another boy drowned in a skating tragedy.

Vining's widow fallen downstairs... Accidents?

Vining's sons are an odd pair, mocking withdrawn Holland and nice generous Niles. Involved in a telepathy game with their Russian grandmother. A game that might be getting horribly out of hand.....

"Entertaining read", 02 Mar 2008
I have only recently discovered CT's books, and am slowly reading through them, she gives you plenty of characters who you think could be the
murderer, and in this book I thought I had sussed who the killer was,
until they were inconveniently attacked themselves, leaving me to work
through the numerous characters left who could have "done it"! Once again
she has created a story that keeps you up into the night. A very entertaining read and well worthwhile the money spent.

DON'T CLOSE YOUR EYES, 26 Aug 2003
AN ENJOYABLE READ, I FOUND THE STORYLNE VERY GOOD AND THE TWIST AND TURNS MADE IT AN UNFORGETABLE. I RECOMEND THIS VERY HIGHLY.I LOOK FORWARD TO READING MORE CARLENE THOMPSON NOVELS.

CARLENE THOMPSON ROCKS!..., 01 Dec 2002
This is yet another well written, page turning, suspenseful read by Carlene Thompson. As far as I am concerned, Ms. Thompson is the maven for this genre. I have read all of her books to date, and she has yet to miss. This is a definite hit.

Here, twenty nine year old veterinarian Natalie St. John, reeling from a broken heart, returns to her childhood home in hopes of finding solace. On the heels of her arrival, an old time friend is cruelly murdered, and Natalie is thrust into a situation for which she did not bargain.

As the plot thickens, so does the danger to Natalie, as people she knows meet violent deaths. The killer remains at large and seems to want to include Natalie among the dearly departed. Consequently, Natalie is thrust into the vortex of the investigation, which is spearheaded by an attractive and available sheriff.

Who is the killer? That is the question that the reader will enjoy trying to answer, given the twists and turns in the book.

CARLENE THOMPSON ROCKS!, 27 Sep 2001
This is yet another well written, page turning, suspenseful read by Carlene Thompson. As far as I am concerned, Ms. Thompson is the maven for this genre. I have read all of her books to date, and she has yet to miss. This is a definite hit.

Here, twenty nine year old veterinarian Natalie St. John, reeling from a broken heart, returns to her childhood home in hopes of finding solace. On the heels of her arrival, an old time friend is cruelly murdered, and Natalie is thrust into a situation for which she did not bargain.

As the plot thickens, so does the danger to Natalie, as people she knows meet violent deaths. The killer remains at large and seems to want to include Natalie among the dearly departed. Consequently, Natalie is thrust into the vortex of the investigation which is spearheaded by an attractive and available sheriff.

Who is the killer? That is the question that the reader will enjoy trying to answer, given the twists and turns in the book.

Probably only scary if you suffer from a nervous psychological disorder, 01 Aug 2008
Some books are so bad that you just can't finish them. This isn't one of those books. Which is unforunate as when you read it you constantly wish you weren't. It's just so average. It doesn't have the ability to sweep you back into the Victorian world that a Dickens, Collins or Conan Doyle does. The ghost stories are not at all spine-chilling. They just feel very tepid. Le Fanu also falls into the habit of a lot of 19th Century writers of constructing incredibly arcane, unnecessarily-long sentences, meticulously grammatical at the expense of clarity, and separated by so many commas that by the time one reaches the end of the sentence, should one manage to hold one's attention to that point, one has already forgotten what was being conveyed at the sentence's beginning.

However I reserve my strongest condemnation for the notes. First* of all I* find it extremely distracting* to read when every other* word is marked* with an asterisk*. What confounded my annoyance is that the editor finds it necessary to explain words and concepts which really do not need explaining. So you think he has something of importance to explain and stop your reading to turn to the notes, search for the relevant point and then are left irritated as he tells you that such-and-such was written very slightly differently in an earlier version or defines a term that any fool would understand.

So why did I finish it? I think it has merits in having a place in the history of gothic fiction. Le Fanu occasionally finds interesting concepts and every now and then has a clever turn of phrase. But overall I would say this was a disappointing read, and if it had been a modern novel snobbery probably would have made me put it down.

read on..., 30 Nov 2007
This is a superb collection. Green tea is probably the least good but still good. The Familiar is a great tale of a man haunted by his past and eventually destroyed by it. Mr Justice Harbottle is very endearing and one of my favourite ghost stories. The Room in The Dragon Volant is long but well worth it - what could have been the perfect crime, if only...Carmilla, the vampire tale, is to my mind superior to Stoker's overlong Dracula, and was its inspiration.

An Apt Title., 15 Jun 2007
Whatever the merits of Le Fanu's collection of short stories, the Wordsworth edition is dismal.

The typesetting errors are so frequent that it was only after some investigation that I began to believe that mine is not a bootlegged copy. The most common faults are wandering sem;i-colons, and all exclamation marks replaced with a space followed by a personal pronoun I this can cause confusion when placed in the middle of a sentence, as Le Fanu's old prose does not include capital letters following an exclamation mark.

Undoubtedly cheap, but only really worth it as an excercise in deciphering.

Five of Le Fanu's longer short stories, 23 Dec 2006
'In a Glass Darkly' is a collection of hair-raising tales selected from those recorded by Dr Martin Hesselius during the many years he spent working to understand and explain the seemingly supernatural incidents that came to his attention. The stories are:

1) 'Green Tea' - a clergyman believes himself persecuted by a malevolent monkey.

2) 'The Familiar' - an ex-naval captain is threatened by an aggrieved ghost from his past.

3) 'Mr Justice Harbottle' - a respectable gentleman is driven from his lodgings by the activity of a mean old judge who has been dead for some years.

4) 'The Room in Le Dragon Volant' - a rich English man on tour becomes enmeshed in an extraordinary scam whilst travelling from Brussels to Paris.

5) 'Carmilla' - the daughter of an English father, living in a schloss in Styria, is befriended by a young lady who has unusually needle-sharp teeth.

As Henry James quite rightly suggested, Le Fanu's stories are the ideal reading material after the chimes of midnight. These five stories provide a wonderful chill before snuggling down to sleep. They are longer than the tales in Le Fanu's 'Madam Crowl's Ghost' collection, where the stories are between 10 and 25 pages in length. The tales in this collection vary in length between about 30 and 100 pages.

I recommend 'In a Glass Darkly' to anyone who enjoys old-fashioned ghost stories.


superficial tales- real or imagination?, 06 Jun 2002
The classic in the ghost story genre. Most of his
followers as M.R. James or E.F. Benson admitt that they were highly inspired by J.S. LeFanu. One
of his main works where his fame comes from is "In a glass darkly" wherein five ghost stories are told by a german doctor/analyst. LeFanu leaves it to the reader to decide weather the incidents were real or the main characters suffer from brain damages.

If you work in a library, you'll love it!, 01 Nov 2000
I'm sure kids will love it, but if you've ever worked in a library you'll love it too! I bought this as a joke prezzie for my boss and everyone who works in our library read it and had a good chuckle. We like the idea of laminating people who talk loudly and having 'overdue' stamps on the soles of our shoes! It'll cheer you up after a hard day saying 'ssshhh!'.

Funniest book in the Black Lagoon Series, 30 May 1999
This book made me laugh a loud. The librarian laminates kids who talk. For story time she reads the card catalog. It's cute and funny!

Synopsis from back cover, 20 Nov 2008
It's the summer of 1935 and, in a sleepy New England town, people are talking about the epidemic of accidents up at the Perry's house. Vining and Russell Perry, man and boy, mysteriously killed. Another boy drowned in a skating tragedy.

Vining's widow fallen downstairs... Accidents?

Vining's sons are an odd pair, mocking withdrawn Holland and nice generous Niles. Involved in a telepathy game with their Russian grandmother. A game that might be getting horribly out of hand.....

"Entertaining read", 02 Mar 2008
I have only recently discovered CT's books, and am slowly reading through them, she gives you plenty of characters who you think could be the
murderer, and in this book I thought I had sussed who the killer was,
until they were inconveniently attacked themselves, leaving me to work
through the numerous characters left who could have "done it"! Once again
she has created a story that keeps you up into the night. A very entertaining read and well worthwhile the money spent.

DON'T CLOSE YOUR EYES, 26 Aug 2003
AN ENJOYABLE READ, I FOUND THE STORYLNE VERY GOOD AND THE TWIST AND TURNS MADE IT AN UNFORGETABLE. I RECOMEND THIS VERY HIGHLY.I LOOK FORWARD TO READING MORE CARLENE THOMPSON NOVELS.

CARLENE THOMPSON ROCKS!..., 01 Dec 2002
This is yet another well written, page turning, suspenseful read by Carlene Thompson. As far as I am concerned, Ms. Thompson is the maven for this genre. I have read all of her books to date, and she has yet to miss. This is a definite hit.

Here, twenty nine year old veterinarian Natalie St. John, reeling from a broken heart, returns to her childhood home in hopes of finding solace. On the heels of her arrival, an old time friend is cruelly murdered, and Natalie is thrust into a situation for which she did not bargain.

As the plot thickens, so does the danger to Natalie, as people she knows meet violent deaths. The killer remains at large and seems to want to include Natalie among the dearly departed. Consequently, Natalie is thrust into the vortex of the investigation, which is spearheaded by an attractive and available sheriff.

Who is the killer? That is the question that the reader will enjoy trying to answer, given the twists and turns in the book.

CARLENE THOMPSON ROCKS!, 27 Sep 2001
This is yet another well written, page turning, suspenseful read by Carlene Thompson. As far as I am concerned, Ms. Thompson is the maven for this genre. I have read all of her books to date, and she has yet to miss. This is a definite hit.

Here, twenty nine year old veterinarian Natalie St. John, reeling from a broken heart, returns to her childhood home in hopes of finding solace. On the heels of her arrival, an old time friend is cruelly murdered, and Natalie is thrust into a situation for which she did not bargain.

As the plot thickens, so does the danger to Natalie, as people she knows meet violent deaths. The killer remains at large and seems to want to include Natalie among the dearly departed. Consequently, Natalie is thrust into the vortex of the investigation which is spearheaded by an attractive and available sheriff.

Who is the killer? That is the question that the reader will enjoy trying to answer, given the twists and turns in the book.

Decent read, 29 Nov 1998
Fans of Lovecraft will have a good time with this book. It's par for the course as these sorts of collections go, nothing groundbreaking, but a nice way to spend a weekend. I found only maybe 1 or 2 stories not worth the trouble, and for the most part all the authors did a workmanlike job.

Probably only scary if you suffer from a nervous psychological disorder, 01 Aug 2008
Some books are so bad that you just can't finish them. This isn't one of those books. Which is unforunate as when you read it you constantly wish you weren't. It's just so average. It doesn't have the ability to sweep you back into the Victorian world that a Dickens, Collins or Conan Doyle does. The ghost stories are not at all spine-chilling. They just feel very tepid. Le Fanu also falls into the habit of a lot of 19th Century writers of constructing incredibly arcane, unnecessarily-long sentences, meticulously grammatical at the expense of clarity, and separated by so many commas that by the time one reaches the end of the sentence, should one manage to hold one's attention to that point, one has already forgotten what was being conveyed at the sentence's beginning.

However I reserve my strongest condemnation for the notes. First* of all I* find it extremely distracting* to read when every other* word is marked* with an asterisk*. What confounded my annoyance is that the editor finds it necessary to explain words and concepts which really do not need explaining. So you think he has something of importance to explain and stop your reading to turn to the notes, search for the relevant point and then are left irritated as he tells you that such-and-such was written very slightly differently in an earlier version or defines a term that any fool would understand.

So why did I finish it? I think it has merits in having a place in the history of gothic fiction. Le Fanu occasionally finds interesting concepts and every now and then has a clever turn of phrase. But overall I would say this was a disappointing read, and if it had been a modern novel snobbery probably would have made me put it down.

read on..., 30 Nov 2007
This is a superb collection. Green tea is probably the least good but still good. The Familiar is a great tale of a man haunted by his past and eventually destroyed by it. Mr Justice Harbottle is very endearing and one of my favourite ghost stories. The Room in The Dragon Volant is long but well worth it - what could have been the perfect crime, if only...Carmilla, the vampire tale, is to my mind superior to Stoker's overlong Dracula, and was its inspiration.

An Apt Title., 15 Jun 2007
Whatever the merits of Le Fanu's collection of short stories, the Wordsworth edition is dismal.

The typesetting errors are so frequent that it was only after some investigation that I began to believe that mine is not a bootlegged copy. The most common faults are wandering sem;i-colons, and all exclamation marks replaced with a space followed by a personal pronoun I this can cause confusion when placed in the middle of a sentence, as Le Fanu's old prose does not include capital letters following an exclamation mark.

Undoubtedly cheap, but only really worth it as an excercise in deciphering.

Five of Le Fanu's longer short stories, 23 Dec 2006
'In a Glass Darkly' is a collection of hair-raising tales selected from those recorded by Dr Martin Hesselius during the many years he spent working to understand and explain the seemingly supernatural incidents that came to his attention. The stories are:

1) 'Green Tea' - a clergyman believes himself persecuted by a malevolent monkey.

2) 'The Familiar' - an ex-naval captain is threatened by an aggrieved ghost from his past.

3) 'Mr Justice Harbottle' - a respectable gentleman is driven from his lodgings by the activity of a mean old judge who has been dead for some years.

4) 'The Room in Le Dragon Volant' - a rich English man on tour becomes enmeshed in an extraordinary scam whilst travelling from Brussels to Paris.

5) 'Carmilla' - the daughter of an English father, living in a schloss in Styria, is befriended by a young lady who has unusually needle-sharp teeth.

As Henry James quite rightly suggested, Le Fanu's stories are the ideal reading material after the chimes of midnight. These five stories provide a wonderful chill before snuggling down to sleep. They are longer than the tales in Le Fanu's 'Madam Crowl's Ghost' collection, where the stories are between 10 and 25 pages in length. The tales in this collection vary in length between about 30 and 100 pages.

I recommend 'In a Glass Darkly' to anyone who enjoys old-fashioned ghost stories.


superficial tales- real or imagination?, 06 Jun 2002
The classic in the ghost story genre. Most of his
followers as M.R. James or E.F. Benson admitt that they were highly inspired by J.S. LeFanu. One
of his main works where his fame comes from is "In a glass darkly" wherein five ghost stories are told by a german doctor/analyst. LeFanu leaves it to the reader to decide weather the incidents were real or the main characters suffer from brain damages.

If you work in a library, you'll love it!, 01 Nov 2000
I'm sure kids will love it, but if you've ever worked in a library you'll love it too! I bought this as a joke prezzie for my boss and everyone who works in our library read it and had a good chuckle. We like the idea of laminating people who talk loudly and having 'overdue' stamps on the soles of our shoes! It'll cheer you up after a hard day saying 'ssshhh!'.

Funniest book in the Black Lagoon Series, 30 May 1999
This book made me laugh a loud. The librarian laminates kids who talk. For story time she reads the card catalog. It's cute and funny!

Synopsis from back cover, 20 Nov 2008
It's the summer of 1935 and, in a sleepy New England town, people are talking about the epidemic of accidents up at the Perry's house. Vining and Russell Perry, man and boy, mysteriously killed. Another boy drowned in a skating tragedy.

Vining's widow fallen downstairs... Accidents?

Vining's sons are an odd pair, mocking withdrawn Holland and nice generous Niles. Involved in a telepathy game with their Russian grandmother. A game that might be getting horribly out of hand.....

"Entertaining read", 02 Mar 2008
I have only recently discovered CT's books, and am slowly reading through them, she gives you plenty of characters who you think could be the
murderer, and in this book I thought I had sussed who the killer was,
until they were inconveniently attacked themselves, leaving me to work
through the numerous characters left who could have "done it"! Once again
she has created a story that keeps you up into the night. A very entertaining read and well worthwhile the money spent.

DON'T CLOSE YOUR EYES, 26 Aug 2003
AN ENJOYABLE READ, I FOUND THE STORYLNE VERY GOOD AND THE TWIST AND TURNS MADE IT AN UNFORGETABLE. I RECOMEND THIS VERY HIGHLY.I LOOK FORWARD TO READING MORE CARLENE THOMPSON NOVELS.

CARLENE THOMPSON ROCKS!..., 01 Dec 2002
This is yet another well written, page turning, suspenseful read by Carlene Thompson. As far as I am concerned, Ms. Thompson is the maven for this genre. I have read all of her books to date, and she has yet to miss. This is a definite hit.

Here, twenty nine year old veterinarian Natalie St. John, reeling from a broken heart, returns to her childhood home in hopes of finding solace. On the heels of her arrival, an old time friend is cruelly murdered, and Natalie is thrust into a situation for which she did not bargain.

As the plot thickens, so does the danger to Natalie, as people she knows meet violent deaths. The killer remains at large and seems to want to include Natalie among the dearly departed. Consequently, Natalie is thrust into the vortex of the investigation, which is spearheaded by an attractive and available sheriff.

Who is the killer? That is the question that the reader will enjoy trying to answer, given the twists and turns in the book.

CARLENE THOMPSON ROCKS!, 27 Sep 2001
This is yet another well written, page turning, suspenseful read by Carlene Thompson. As far as I am concerned, Ms. Thompson is the maven for this genre. I have read all of her books to date, and she has yet to miss. This is a definite hit.

Here, twenty nine year old veterinarian Natalie St. John, reeling from a broken heart, returns to her childhood home in hopes of finding solace. On the heels of her arrival, an old time friend is cruelly murdered, and Natalie is thrust into a situation for which she did not bargain.

As the plot thickens, so does the danger to Natalie, as people she knows meet violent deaths. The killer remains at large and seems to want to include Natalie among the dearly departed. Consequently, Natalie is thrust into the vortex of the investigation which is spearheaded by an attractive and available sheriff.

Who is the killer? That is the question that the reader will enjoy trying to answer, given the twists and turns in the book.

Decent read, 29 Nov 1998
Fans of Lovecraft will have a good time with this book. It's par for the course as these sorts of collections go, nothing groundbreaking, but a nice way to spend a weekend. I found only maybe 1 or 2 stories not worth the trouble, and for the most part all the authors did a workmanlike job.

NIGHTRUNNERS BACK IN PRINT, 08 May 2008
This is actually an anthology, and contains the original novella "The Nightrunners", which takes up the bulk of the book, plus 5 other short stories inspired by that book and written by the author whilst he was waiting to get it published originally. So, all the stories are actaully old, apart from one which was written specifically for this compilation I believe. However, if like myself you have not had the chance to read these early Lansdale works because they are long out of print, now is the perfect opportunity. This is real fast paced, hard hitting, flat out nasty stuff. No other way of putting it! The Nightrunners has somewhat of a reputation as being one of the high points of 80's horror, and has apparently been a great inspiration to many authors & gained a cult following. It is easy to see why, and is a simple exercise in just how dark the human psyche can reach, and the horrific aftermath of events on the poor victims. The plot just rockets along toward the final inevitable confrontation, once the God of the Razor has been introduced as the driving force behind what turns Man to be able to committ such horrible crimes. Not an easy read, but pure adrenalin. The rest of the stories are very short, but a good read. One of them, "Not from Detriot", is actually quite humerous, and even has a pleasant mood to it, which is a stark comparison to The Nightrunners itself. This compilation is well worth searching out.

Probably only scary if you suffer from a nervous psychological disorder, 01 Aug 2008
Some books are so bad that you just can't finish them. This isn't one of those books. Which is unforunate as when you read it you constantly wish you weren't. It's just so average. It doesn't have the ability to sweep you back into the Victorian world that a Dickens, Collins or Conan Doyle does. The ghost stories are not at all spine-chilling. They just feel very tepid. Le Fanu also falls into the habit of a lot of 19th Century writers of constructing incredibly arcane, unnecessarily-long sentences, meticulously grammatical at the expense of clarity, and separated by so many commas that by the time one reaches the end of the sentence, should one manage to hold one's attention to that point, one has already forgotten what was being conveyed at the sentence's beginning.

However I reserve my strongest condemnation for the notes. First* of all I* find it extremely distracting* to read when every other* word is marked* with an asterisk*. What confounded my annoyance is that the editor finds it necessary to explain words and concepts which really do not need explaining. So you think he has something of importance to explain and stop your reading to turn to the notes, search for the relevant point and then are left irritated as he tells you that such-and-such was written very slightly differently in an earlier version or defines a term that any fool would understand.

So why did I finish it? I think it has merits in having a place in the history of gothic fiction. Le Fanu occasionally finds interesting concepts and every now and then has a clever turn of phrase. But overall I would say this was a disappointing read, and if it had been a modern novel snobbery probably would have made me put it down.

read on..., 30 Nov 2007
This is a superb collection. Green tea is probably the least good but still good. The Familiar is a great tale of a man haunted by his past and eventually destroyed by it. Mr Justice Harbottle is very endearing and one of my favourite ghost stories. The Room in The Dragon Volant is long but well worth it - what could have been the perfect crime, if only...Carmilla, the vampire tale, is to my mind superior to Stoker's overlong Dracula, and was its inspiration.

An Apt Title., 15 Jun 2007
Whatever the merits of Le Fanu's collection of short stories, the Wordsworth edition is dismal.

The typesetting errors are so frequent that it was only after some investigation that I began to believe that mine is not a bootlegged copy. The most common faults are wandering sem;i-colons, and all exclamation marks replaced with a space followed by a personal pronoun I this can cause confusion when placed in the middle of a sentence, as Le Fanu's old prose does not include capital letters following an exclamation mark.

Undoubtedly cheap, but only really worth it as an excercise in deciphering.

Five of Le Fanu's longer short stories, 23 Dec 2006
'In a Glass Darkly' is a collection of hair-raising tales selected from those recorded by Dr Martin Hesselius during the many years he spent working to understand and explain the seemingly supernatural incidents that came to his attention. The stories are:

1) 'Green Tea' - a clergyman believes himself persecuted by a malevolent monkey.

2) 'The Familiar' - an ex-naval captain is threatened by an aggrieved ghost from his past.

3) 'Mr Justice Harbottle' - a respectable gentleman is driven from his lodgings by the activity of a mean old judge who has been dead for some years.

4) 'The Room in Le Dragon Volant' - a rich English man on tour becomes enmeshed in an extraordinary scam whilst travelling from Brussels to Paris.

5) 'Carmilla' - the daughter of an English father, living in a schloss in Styria, is befriended by a young lady who has unusually needle-sharp teeth.

As Henry James quite rightly suggested, Le Fanu's stories are the ideal reading material after the chimes of midnight. These five stories provide a wonderful chill before snuggling down to sleep. They are longer than the tales in Le Fanu's 'Madam Crowl's Ghost' collection, where the stories are between 10 and 25 pages in length. The tales in this collection vary in length between about 30 and 100 pages.

I recommend 'In a Glass Darkly' to anyone who enjoys old-fashioned ghost stories.


superficial tales- real or imagination?, 06 Jun 2002
The classic in the ghost story genre. Most of his
followers as M.R. James or E.F. Benson admitt that they were highly inspired by J.S. LeFanu. One
of his main works where his fame comes from is "In a glass darkly" wherein five ghost stories are told by a german doctor/analyst. LeFanu leaves it to the reader to decide weather the incidents were real or the main characters suffer from brain damages.

If you work in a library, you'll love it!, 01 Nov 2000
I'm sure kids will love it, but if you've ever worked in a library you'll love it too! I bought this as a joke prezzie for my boss and everyone who works in our library read it and had a good chuckle. We like the idea of laminating people who talk loudly and having 'overdue' stamps on the soles of our shoes! It'll cheer you up after a hard day saying 'ssshhh!'.

Funniest book in the Black Lagoon Series, 30 May 1999
This book made me laugh a loud. The librarian laminates kids who talk. For story time she reads the card catalog. It's cute and funny!

Synopsis from back cover, 20 Nov 2008
It's the summer of 1935 and, in a sleepy New England town, people are talking about the epidemic of accidents up at the Perry's house. Vining and Russell Perry, man and boy, mysteriously killed. Another boy drowned in a skating tragedy.

Vining's widow fallen downstairs... Accidents?

Vining's sons are an odd pair, mocking withdrawn Holland and nice generous Niles. Involved in a telepathy game with their Russian grandmother. A game that might be getting horribly out of hand.....

"Entertaining read", 02 Mar 2008
I have only recently discovered CT's books, and am slowly reading through them, she gives you plenty of characters who you think could be the
murderer, and in this book I thought I had sussed who the killer was,
until they were inconveniently attacked themselves, leaving me to work
through the numerous characters left who could have "done it"! Once again
she has created a story that keeps you up into the night. A very entertaining read and well worthwhile the money spent.

DON'T CLOSE YOUR EYES, 26 Aug 2003
AN ENJOYABLE READ, I FOUND THE STORYLNE VERY GOOD AND THE TWIST AND TURNS MADE IT AN UNFORGETABLE. I RECOMEND THIS VERY HIGHLY.I LOOK FORWARD TO READING MORE CARLENE THOMPSON NOVELS.

CARLENE THOMPSON ROCKS!..., 01 Dec 2002
This is yet another well written, page turning, suspenseful read by Carlene Thompson. As far as I am concerned, Ms. Thompson is the maven for this genre. I have read all of her books to date, and she has yet to miss. This is a definite hit.

Here, twenty nine year old veterinarian Natalie St. John, reeling from a broken heart, returns to her childhood home in hopes of finding solace. On the heels of her arrival, an old time friend is cruelly murdered, and Natalie is thrust into a situation for which she did not bargain.

As the plot thickens, so does the danger to Natalie, as people she knows meet violent deaths. The killer remains at large and seems to want to include Natalie among the dearly departed. Consequently, Natalie is thrust into the vortex of the investigation, which is spearheaded by an attractive and available sheriff.

Who is the killer? That is the question that the reader will enjoy trying to answer, given the twists and turns in the book.

CARLENE THOMPSON ROCKS!, 27 Sep 2001
This is yet another well written, page turning, suspenseful read by Carlene Thompson. As far as I am concerned, Ms. Thompson is the maven for this genre. I have read all of her books to date, and she has yet to miss. This is a definite hit.

Here, twenty nine year old veterinarian Natalie St. John, reeling from a broken heart, returns to her childhood home in hopes of finding solace. On the heels of her arrival, an old time friend is cruelly murdered, and Natalie is thrust into a situation for which she did not bargain.

As the plot thickens, so does the danger to Natalie, as people she knows meet violent deaths. The killer remains at large and seems to want to include Natalie among the dearly departed. Consequently, Natalie is thrust into the vortex of the investigation which is spearheaded by an attractive and available sheriff.

Who is the killer? That is the question that the reader will enjoy trying to answer, given the twists and turns in the book.

Decent read, 29 Nov 1998
Fans of Lovecraft will have a good time with this book. It's par for the course as these sorts of collections go, nothing groundbreaking, but a nice way to spend a weekend. I found only maybe 1 or 2 stories not worth the trouble, and for the most part all the authors did a workmanlike job.

NIGHTRUNNERS BACK IN PRINT, 08 May 2008
This is actually an anthology, and contains the original novella "The Nightrunners", which takes up the bulk of the book, plus 5 other short stories inspired by that book and written by the author whilst he was waiting to get it published originally. So, all the stories are actaully old, apart from one which was written specifically for this compilation I believe. However, if like myself you have not had the chance to read these early Lansdale works because they are long out of print, now is the perfect opportunity. This is real fast paced, hard hitting, flat out nasty stuff. No other way of putting it! The Nightrunners has somewhat of a reputation as being one of the high points of 80's horror, and has apparently been a great inspiration to many authors & gained a cult following. It is easy to see why, and is a simple exercise in just how dark the human psyche can reach, and the horrific aftermath of events on the poor victims. The plot just rockets along toward the final inevitable confrontation, once the God of the Razor has been introduced as the driving force behind what turns Man to be able to committ such horrible crimes. Not an easy read, but pure adrenalin. The rest of the stories are very short, but a good read. One of them, "Not from Detriot", is actually quite humerous, and even has a pleasant mood to it, which is a stark comparison to The Nightrunners itself. This compilation is well worth searching out.

Shockingly wonderful, 25 May 2007
I read this many years ago. It still haunts me. The story progresses in odd but believable steps until you are in a nightmare where people are killed by 'nice' people for no particular reason, and you almost expect to be on the receiving end the next time you go outside your door. Sex, as ever, is involved but not as much as you might at first think. Killing seems like a way to spend your time. Shocking but wonderful

Probably only scary if you suffer from a nervous psychological disorder, 01 Aug 2008
Some books are so bad that you just can't finish them. This isn't one of those books. Which is unforunate as when you read it you constantly wish you weren't. It's just so average. It doesn't have the ability to sweep you back into the Victorian world that a Dickens, Collins or Conan Doyle does. The ghost stories are not at all spine-chilling. They just feel very tepid. Le Fanu also falls into the habit of a lot of 19th Century writers of constructing incredibly arcane, unnecessarily-long sentences, meticulously grammatical at the expense of clarity, and separated by so many commas that by the time one reaches the end of the sentence, should one manage to hold one's attention to that point, one has already forgotten what was being conveyed at the sentence's beginning.

However I reserve my strongest condemnation for the notes. First* of all I* find it extremely distracting* to read when every other* word is marked* with an asterisk*. What confounded my annoyance is that the editor finds it necessary to explain words and concepts which really do not need explaining. So you think he has something of importance to explain and stop your reading to turn to the notes, search for the relevant point and then are left irritated as he tells you that such-and-such was written very slightly differently in an earlier version or defines a term that any fool would understand.

So why did I finish it? I think it has merits in having a place in the history of gothic fiction. Le Fanu occasionally finds interesting concepts and every now and then has a clever turn of phrase. But overall I would say this was a disappointing read, and if it had been a modern novel snobbery probably would have made me put it down.

read on..., 30 Nov 2007
This is a superb collection. Green tea is probably the least good but still good. The Familiar is a great tale of a man haunted by his past and eventually destroyed by it. Mr Justice Harbottle is very endearing and one of my favourite ghost stories. The Room in The Dragon Volant is long but well worth it - what could have been the perfect crime, if only...Carmilla, the vampire tale, is to my mind superior to Stoker's overlong Dracula, and was its inspiration.

An Apt Title., 15 Jun 2007
Whatever the merits of Le Fanu's collection of short stories, the Wordsworth edition is dismal.

The typesetting errors are so frequent that it was only after some investigation that I began to believe that mine is not a bootlegged copy. The most common faults are wandering sem;i-colons, and all exclamation marks replaced with a space followed by a personal pronoun I this can cause confusion when placed in the middle of a sentence, as Le Fanu's old prose does not include capital letters following an exclamation mark.

Undoubtedly cheap, but only really worth it as an excercise in deciphering.

Five of Le Fanu's longer short stories, 23 Dec 2006
'In a Glass Darkly' is a collection of hair-raising tales selected from those recorded by Dr Martin Hesselius during the many years he spent working to understand and explain the seemingly supernatural incidents that came to his attention. The stories are:

1) 'Green Tea' - a clergyman believes himself persecuted by a malevolent monkey.

2) 'The Familiar' - an ex-naval captain is threatened by an aggrieved ghost from his past.

3) 'Mr Justice Harbottle' - a respectable gentleman is driven from his lodgings by the activity of a mean old judge who has been dead for some years.

4) 'The Room in Le Dragon Volant' - a rich English man on tour becomes enmeshed in an extraordinary scam whilst travelling from Brussels to Paris.

5) 'Carmilla' - the daughter of an English father, living in a schloss in Styria, is befriended by a young lady who has unusually needle-sharp teeth.

As Henry James quite rightly suggested, Le Fanu's stories are the ideal reading material after the chimes of midnight. These five stories provide a wonderful chill before snuggling down to sleep. They are longer than the tales in Le Fanu's 'Madam Crowl's Ghost' collection, where the stories are between 10 and 25 pages in length. The tales in this collection vary in length between about 30 and 100 pages.

I recommend 'In a Glass Darkly' to anyone who enjoys old-fashioned ghost stories.


superficial tales- real or imagination?, 06 Jun 2002
The classic in the ghost story genre. Most of his
followers as M.R. James or E.F. Benson admitt that they were highly inspired by J.S. LeFanu. One
of his main works where his fame comes from is "In a glass darkly" wherein five ghost stories are told by a german doctor/analyst. LeFanu leaves it to the reader to decide weather the incidents were real or the main characters suffer from brain damages.

If you work in a library, you'll love it!, 01 Nov 2000
I'm sure kids will love it, but if you've ever worked in a library you'll love it too! I bought this as a joke prezzie for my boss and everyone who works in our library read it and had a good chuckle. We like the idea of laminating people who talk loudly and having 'overdue' stamps on the soles of our shoes! It'll cheer you up after a hard day saying 'ssshhh!'.

Funniest book in the Black Lagoon Series, 30 May 1999
This book made me laugh a loud. The librarian laminates kids who talk. For story time she reads the card catalog. It's cute and funny!

Synopsis from back cover, 20 Nov 2008
It's the summer of 1935 and, in a sleepy New England town, people are talking about the epidemic of accidents up at the Perry's house. Vining and Russell Perry, man and boy, mysteriously killed. Another boy drowned in a skating tragedy.

Vining's widow fallen downstairs... Accidents?

Vining's sons are an odd pair, mocking withdrawn Holland and nice generous Niles. Involved in a telepathy game with their Russian grandmother. A game that might be getting horribly out of hand.....

"Entertaining read", 02 Mar 2008
I have only recently discovered CT's books, and am slowly reading through them, she gives you plenty of characters who you think could be the
murderer, and in this book I thought I had sussed who the killer was,
until they were inconveniently attacked themselves, leaving me to work
through the numerous characters left who could have "done it"! Once again
she has created a story that keeps you up into the night. A very entertaining read and well worthwhile the money spent.

DON'T CLOSE YOUR EYES, 26 Aug 2003
AN ENJOYABLE READ, I FOUND THE STORYLNE VERY GOOD AND THE TWIST AND TURNS MADE IT AN UNFORGETABLE. I RECOMEND THIS VERY HIGHLY.I LOOK FORWARD TO READING MORE CARLENE THOMPSON NOVELS.

CARLENE THOMPSON ROCKS!..., 01 Dec 2002
This is yet another well written, page turning, suspenseful read by Carlene Thompson. As far as I am concerned, Ms. Thompson is the maven for this genre. I have read all of her books to date, and she has yet to miss. This is a definite hit.

Here, twenty nine year old veterinarian Natalie St. John, reeling from a broken heart, returns to her childhood home in hopes of finding solace. On the heels of her arrival, an old time friend is cruelly murdered, and Natalie is thrust into a situation for which she did not bargain.

As the plot thickens, so does the danger to Natalie, as people she knows meet violent deaths. The killer remains at large and seems to want to include Natalie among the dearly departed. Consequently, Natalie is thrust into the vortex of the investigation, which is spearheaded by an attractive and available sheriff.

Who is the killer? That is the question that the reader will enjoy trying to answer, given the twists and turns in the book.

CARLENE THOMPSON ROCKS!, 27 Sep 2001
This is yet another well written, page turning, suspenseful read by Carlene Thompson. As far as I am concerned, Ms. Thompson is the maven for this genre. I have read all of her books to date, and she has yet to miss. This is a definite hit.

Here, twenty nine year old veterinarian Natalie St. John, reeling from a broken heart, returns to her childhood home in hopes of finding solace. On the heels of her arrival, an old time friend is cruelly murdered, and Natalie is thrust into a situation for which she did not bargain.

As the plot thickens, so does the danger to Natalie, as people she knows meet violent deaths. The killer remains at large and seems to want to include Natalie among the dearly departed. Consequently, Natalie is thrust into the vortex of the investigation which is spearheaded by an attractive and available sheriff.

Who is the killer? That is the question that the reader will enjoy trying to answer, given the twists and turns in the book.

Decent read, 29 Nov 1998
Fans of Lovecraft will have a good time with this book. It's par for the course as these sorts of collections go, nothing groundbreaking, but a nice way to spend a weekend. I found only maybe 1 or 2 stories not worth the trouble, and for the most part all the authors did a workmanlike job.

NIGHTRUNNERS BACK IN PRINT, 08 May 2008
This is actually an anthology, and contains the original novella "The Nightrunners", which takes up the bulk of the book, plus 5 other short stories inspired by that book and written by the author whilst he was waiting to get it published originally. So, all the stories are actaully old, apart from one which was written specifically for this compilation I believe. However, if like myself you have not had the chance to read these early Lansdale works because they are long out of print, now is the perfect opportunity. This is real fast paced, hard hitting, flat out nasty stuff. No other way of putting it! The Nightrunners has somewhat of a reputation as being one of the high points of 80's horror, and has apparently been a great inspiration to many authors & gained a cult following. It is easy to see why, and is a simple exercise in just how dark the human psyche can reach, and the horrific aftermath of events on the poor victims. The plot just rockets along toward the final inevitable confrontation, once the God of the Razor has been introduced as the driving force behind what turns Man to be able to committ such horrible crimes. Not an easy read, but pure adrenalin. The rest of the stories are very short, but a good read. One of them, "Not from Detriot", is actually quite humerous, and even has a pleasant mood to it, which is a stark comparison to The Nightrunners itself. This compilation is well worth searching out.

Shockingly wonderful, 25 May 2007
I read this many years ago. It still haunts me. The story progresses in odd but believable steps until you are in a nightmare where people are killed by 'nice' people for no particular reason, and you almost expect to be on the receiving end the next time you go outside your door. Sex, as ever, is involved but not as much as you might at first think. Killing seems like a way to spend your time. Shocking but wonderful

Courtesy of Teens Read Too, 23 Aug 2007
THE SCARY STATES OF AMERICA is a collection of 50 short stories, one for each state, about paranormal experiences ranging from ghosts and supernatural creatures to aliens and crop circles. The stories are framed by the narrative of Jason Specter, a 12-year-old collector of all things scary and bizarre. Though presented as "true" stories from readers Jason has reached through his website, both the character of Jason and the stories are fictional, though the cover notes they are "based on true events."

The variety of the stories is what makes them most appealing. Some are standard fare: the hitchhiking ghost, the aliens who kidnap people to run invasive tests on them. Many, however, are unusual takes on the familiar, like the vicious Bigfoot a bear photographer runs into and the heartbroken ghost haunting a toy store, or unique creatures and tales which will be new to most readers, like those of the skunk ape and the shadow people. Part of the enjoyment is in wondering how much of each story might really have happened, and what you would do in similar situations.

Be warned: many of the stories are quite scary, and some rather graphic when it comes to blood and gore. Many times the teller of the tale barely survives to tell about it, and some have come out of it quite a bit worse for wear. The most exciting stories are those in which Jason plays a direct part, often risking life and limb. Readers will appreciate his skeptical yet open-minded approach.

Though those hoping to catch a glimpse into real recorded paranormal events will have to look elsewhere, this book will make a fun read for those who simply like a good scare. Bring it along to your next campfire or sleepover and read a few aloud in the dark. Chills are guaranteed!

Reviewed by: Lynn Crow