This collection of supernatural stories is by Henrietta Dorothy Everett or H.D. Everett, aka Theo Douglas, who was well-known in her day but mostly forgotten now. She was one of the last writers of Victorian ghost stories, and this collection reflects that–World War I is often mentioned in the stories. Sometimes the reference is incidental–a character is described as going off the war–but a couple stories directly involve the war. In “Over the Wires”, a soldier searches for his fiancee, who has gone missing in the tumult of the war. “A Perplexing Case” deals with two men injured in the war.

Everett’s stories are very readable and well-constructed. For example, in the longest story in the collection, “The Next Heir”, she effectively balances various supernatural concepts, which hasn’t always worked in some other ghost stories that I’ve read. She tends to avoid the tragic or shocking endings that are common in ghost stories–not that every ending is happy, but many violent ends that could happen given the situations don’t occur. Although the book was pleasant and went fast, I don’t know how memorable most of the stories will be except for the first one–”The Death Mask”. Although this story is short and you can tell where it’s going after a bit, it was memorably creepy. I also liked “The Crimson Blind”, which had a different take on a concept I’d seen before–various disturbing events are observed on the blind of a house. “The Water Witch” was a melancholy story about a lonely wife who is affected by the hauntings in her new house. One notable thing about that one was the rather unsympathetic, judgmental narrator, the sister-in-law of the wife–I wasn’t sure if she would have been as unsympathetic at the time the story was written. ( )

The Crimson Blind & Other Stories by H. D. Everett is an excellent collection of Victorian-style ghost stories written during the years 1896-1920. Though fairly standard themes and settings are prevalent amongst the sixteen stories, they all somehow still seem fresh and intriguing, due largely to Everett’s conversational narrative style and her flowing storytelling craft. Unsurprisingly, the ravages and human toll of World War I figure in many of the ghostly tales, that being fertile ground for the day’s authors within the supernatural genre. Standout stories in this anthology include: (1) Richard Quinton, in line to inherit a sizable estate, learns that the property comes with strange encumbrances in “The Next Heir”; (2) a young couple on holiday experiences an uncanny encounter in the heartbreaking “Anne’s Little Ghost”; (3) a widower finds that the presence of his deceased wife persists in “The Death Mask”; (4) a surprise companion joins Tom Pulteney during a dangerous trek along “The Lonely Road”; and (5) Ernest Carrington receives a eerie series of telephone calls in “Over the Wires”. ( )