John Howard (14) (1961–)

I'll give it four stars because the writing is so good. I'm not a big fan of paranormal detectives, Carnacki by William Hope Hodgson coming to mind, but the stories here are varied enough to make the entire volume interesting. At times The Connoisseur is almost incidental. Some are simply old fashioned ghost stories.

I probably read this too fast. A proper appreciation would be a savoring of each story with a gap between readings. I tend to start out short story collections this way but end up blazing through the second half of the book when I become impatient to finish.… (más)

I very much enjoyed this collection of Gothic and creepy stories originally released in the 1940's. I generally prefer short tales that pack a punch, and these are definitely not that. However, they often have a good deal of humor and that sense of atmosphere in which I love to wallow.

The standouts to me were:

A VISITOR FROM DOWN UNDER was, for me, a beautifully told ghost story/tale of revenge.

PODOLO A nice little day trip to the island of Podolo takes a nasty turn. This one reminded me that feral cats may not be worth the effort.

THE TRAVELLING GRAVE was quite the funny story involving a misunderstanding involving perambulators. (Is that word even used anymore? It's a shame if it's not because it's a word that rolls nicely off the tongue.) Anyway, the humor of the situation quickly changed to horror at the gruesome ending. Always be careful playing hide & seek!

CONRAD AND THE DRAGON I wasn't sure what to make of this fairy tale like...tale. It didn't have the usual fairy tale ending, but I found it to be totally charming.

THREE OR FOUR, FOR DINNER was another tale involving some humor and a practical joke gone wrong.

This was my first experience with L.P. Hartley and I'm so glad I gave this collection a try! Recommended!

*Thank you to Valancourt Books for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest review. This is it.*… (más)