I got this paperback from Better World Books. It's a Halloween-themed anthology, with entries from a variety of authors old and new, and includes some dandy stories. Among my favorites:

"Monsters" by Ed McBain, about an old man coping with increasingly-vicious teenage criminals posing as trick-or-treaters - plenty of real-world fears here.

"The Lemures" by Steven Saylor, featuring his ancient-Rome detective Gordianus the Finder, who is tasked with two separate cases involving lemures (a type of hungry or vengeful spirit) - though as Gordianus doesn't believe in spirits he starts looking for real-world explanations and uncovers a complicated plot.

"The Odstock Curse" by Peter Lovesey is based on an actual rural legend about a gypsy curse on the local church; in the story, a lecturer/historian tries to debunk the myth, but winds up falling foul of it himself.

Edgar Allan Poe's "The Black Cat" is as chilling as ever - and hard to read for cat-lovers, though in the end the cat wins suitable vengeance.

"The Cloak" by Robert Bloch features a temptingly authentic vampire cloak with disturbing side effects.

"Trick or Treat" by Judith Garner is a little chiller about an American child in England introducing trick-or-treat customs to her new neighbors.

Anthony Boucher's "Trick-or-Treat" is a police-procedural murder investigation told inside out, more or less, with some entertaining twists regarding Halloween costumes as disguises for killers - and a nice touch re the trauma of crime on unwitting witnesses.

I left this book in the Little Free Library outside the Adult Learning Center on this lovely day; hope someone enjoys it!

[See other recent releases in NH here.]

*** Released for the 2019 October Spooktacular release challenge. ***

*** Released for the 2019 Tick Tock release challenge. ***