A spooky collection of stories chosen by Sayers, and the majority are very good choices. The stories range from the wittiness of Saki's "The Open Window", in which a high-strung young man visits new neighbors on an important anniversary, to the sinister story of an artist in"August Heat" by W.F. Harvey. There's the well-known classic "The Monkey's Paw" and a wonderfully ghastly story by E.F. Benson called "Mrs. Amsworth". ( )

How do you cull a collection of "Stories of the Supernatural" from a larger book called "The Omnibus of Crime"? You stretch the definition significantly. This is a very mixed bag of stories, mostly written in a very old-fashioned manner and one of which ("Proof" by Naomi Royde-Smith) is so obtuse that it would probably take a couple of those 5-hour energy drinks to stay awake enough to make sense of it. The only real classic in the collection, Saki's "The Open Window" is neither supernatural nor about a crime. "The Monkey's Paw" may also be considered sort of a classic, but is marred by the poor planning in making the fateful wish. E.F. Benson's "Mrs. Amworth" is an oft-anthologized vampire story that, despite its slow pacing, is nicely written, but has absolutely nothing original to say. Likewise, Arthur Machen's "The Novel of the Black Seal" goes on way too long for its meager payload. May Sinclair's "Where Their Fire is Not Quenched" has its moments, but its old-fashioned point of view and morality are difficult to appreciate. On the other hand, Edward Lucas White's "Lukundoo" is an effective shocker despite its colonial trappings, and Morley Roberts' "The Anticipator" is well done. The remaining two stories, "The Trial for Murder" by Charles Allston Collins and Charles Dickens, and "The Seventh Man" by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch are predictable.

I don't mean to condemn stories of this vintage as a whole--I have many other anthologies of such stories that are good from start to finish. Of course, when this anthology was originally published (in 1931 I believe), I assume the stories didn't seem so dated. In any case, most of these tales have not aged well. ( )