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Hugh Walpole (1884-1941) was one of the most popular and prolific English authors of his time, best known for his historical fiction and novels for boys. But it was in the field of the macabre and supernatural that Walpole was at his best, and this collection of sixteen tales contains many of his finest, including the classic werewolf story 'Tarnhelm'; the oft-anthologized 'The Little Ghost'; 'The Snow', a chilling story of vengeance from beyond the grave; and perhaps the highlight of the collection, 'The Silver Mask', which one critic has called 'a masterpiece, a classic example of how a tale can be truly terrible and ghostly with no ghost and only the wispiest hint of the supernatural.'

This new edition, which reprints the unabridged text of the 1933 first edition and includes a new introduction by John Howard, will allow a new generation of readers to discover an unjustly forgotten master of the eerie and macabre.

Contents:

Introduction (All Souls' Night) - essay by John Howard
A Carnation for an Old Man - (1929) - short story
Lilac - (1933) - short story
Mr. Oddy - (1933) - short story
Mrs. Lunt - (1926) - short story
Portrait In Shadow - (1933) - short story
Seashore Macabre - (1933) - short story
Sentimental But True - (1933) - short story
Spanish Dusk - (1933) - short story
Tarnhelm - (1929) - short story
The Little Ghost - (1922) - short story (variant of A Little Ghost)
The Oldest Talland - (1933) - short story
The Ruby Glass - (1933) - short story
The Silver Mask - (1932) - short story
The Snow - (1929) - short story
The Staircase - (1933) - short story
The Whistle - (1933) - short story

The Killer and the Slain

Hugh Walpole

As boys, Jimmie Tunstall was John Talbot's implacable foe, never ceasing to taunt, torment, and bully him. Years later, John is married and living in a small coastal town when he learns, much to his chagrin, that his old adversary has just moved to the same town. Before long the harassment begins anew until finally, driven to desperation, John murders his tormentor. Soon he starts to suffer from frightening hallucinations and his personality and physical appearance begin to alter, causing him increasingly to resemble the man he killed. Is it merely the psychological effect of his guilt, or is it the manifestation of something supernatural - and evil? The tension builds until the chilling final scene, when the horrifying truth will be revealed about the killer - and the slain.

The works of the prolific and phenomenally popular Sir Hugh Walpole (1884-1941) have been neglected since his death, but his "macabre" tales, of which The Killer and the Slain (1942) is the best, deserve rediscovery. A psychological horror story in the tradition of The Turn of the Screw and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Walpole's posthumous novel is reprinted for the first time in this new edition, which features an introduction by John Howard.

"[An] exercise in the macabre, the bizarre, the psychologically unaccountable... worked out with conspicuous craft and dexterity... ingenious, accomplished." - Times Literary Supplement

"[A] masterful blending of suspense, horror and deep-etched character... spine-chilling." - Publishers Weekly

"Well done, with more sex than one associates with Walpole... belongs in the gallery of pathological horror stories." - Kirkus Reviews

"[W]ill entangle the imaginative reader. It is undoubtedly macabre. Maturity and assurance of style add to its impressiveness." - Sydney Morning Herald