This short story collection focuses on vampire hunters and investigators. There are some very good stories, several that are quite forgettable, and some odd choices. Some of these are excerpts from novels, which feel a bit out of place. Chief of these odd and out of place readings have to be the excerpt of Stoker's Dracula which is just Van Hellsing's description of vampires (because the readers who picked up this wouldn't already be familiar with basic vampiric traits?) and Haining's own "The Beefstake Room", about which the kindest thing I can is that at least it is short.

The stories I liked best in this collection were:

"Beyond Any Measure" by Karl Edward Wagner, which does a great job of transplanting many traditional gothic horror tropes into a modern tale.

"The Man Who Cast No Shadow" by Seabury Quinn combines over-the-top characters with a fast-paced mystery for a playful tragi-comic romp.

Arabella Kenealy's "A Beautiful Vampire" involves a duel of wits and trickery to bring a vampire down, and reminds me of some folk tales.

"A Week In the Unlife" by David J. Schow is a short, gory tale featuring a morally-questionable hunter.

This book is one of the starting novels in the newest round of The Vampire Bookbox

I'm claiming this from the Vampire bookbox. I do love anthologies!

Later: A decent collection, though I agree that it was uneven. I liked the informational tidbits that accompanied each story - in some cases the vintage and the author-trivia was more interesting than the stories themselves, but it was always a nice addition.

My favorites included:

"A Beautiful Vampire" by Arabella Kenealy, which had a delightfully snarky tone and an interesting variant on vampire-hunting - the use of cosmetics to fake the vampire into thinking that her power over her victims was waning!

"The Last Grave of Lill Warren" by Manly Wade Wellman, while not one of my favorite Wellman stories, still has its points, from his lyrical prose about the hill country and folk customs to the poignant relationship between the scruffy, solitary Pos and the late, unlamented-by-everyone-but-him Lill.

Jeff Rice's "The Night Stalker" was fun, more for its reminder of Darren McGavin in the TV series than for the actual story - I could hear the dialogue in McGavin's dry delivery and that added a lot.

I'd read "Beyond Any Measure" by Karl Edward Wagner in another anthology, and was glad to find it here; its modern-day, artsy/club-kid setting combines the traditional decadent-vampire notes with a solid psychological thriller.

David J. Schow's "A Week in the Unlife" was a nicely chilling twist on the vampire-hunter theme.

Another memorable tale was "The Broken Fang" by Uel Key, not so much for its quality (though the mix of vampire and mummy with a WWII setting had possibilities) but for its blatant over-the-top jingoism regarding naturalized German citizens in the UK. Granted, during the war there were very real concerns about spies and sleeper agents, but some of the terminology here - by the main character, yet - advocates interning ALL German-heritage residents, and reminded me of current-day anti-Moslem rhetoric.

[For more stories about vampire hunters, I recommend The Many Faces of Van Helsing, which includes wildly varied takes on the ur vampire-hunter.]

I plan to leave this book on a bench near the historic cemetery next to Monument Square at around 3 or so; hope the finder enjoys it!

*** Released as part of the 2016 Keep Them Moving release challenge. ***