The Arbor House Necropolis

Rating:
Summary: An excellent horror compendium.
Review: This book collects, in one volume, two previously published horror anthologies, on Voodoo and Mummies, along with a new section collecting stories on the subject of Ghouls.

Pronzini introduces each of the 3 sections with a concise essay on the subject along with a primer on the literature of each. On top of that, additional introductory matter accompanies each story. This content alone is worth the price of admission.

The quality of stories chosen to represent each subject leaves little to be desired. The authors comprise a diverse cross section of world literature, from the obligatory Edgar Allan Poe and Stephen King to the unlikely Tennessee Williams. In between you will find selections by the well-known -- Cornell Woolrich, Robert Bloch, Fredric Brown -- and by those whose names might never be known by most readers except through anthologies such as this one -- C. M. Eddy, Henry Slesar, Henry S. Whitehead, John Russell.

While the "creepy" factor of each story, as may be expected, varies considerably, the writing is of uniformly high quality. And where some may fail to raise your hackles, they all succeed in entertaining.