Though the townsfolk give way to a mindless idolization, the Gospel Singer is tormented by the extent of his deception and is forced to admit his corrupt activities.

    Gathered for the annual charity fete at Backwater Hall in Mortshire, the host Lord Wherewithal is dead, Horace Gallop cavorts with Victoria Scone, and someone has offended decorum by disembowelling a stuffed thisby belonging to the Earl of Thump.

    In her gothic visions of small-town America, Jackson, the author of such masterworks as The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle, turns an ordinary world into a supernatural nightmare. This eclectic collection goes beyond her horror writing, revealing the full spectrum of her literary genius. In addition to Come Along with Me, Jackson's unfinished novel about the quirky inner life of a lonely widow, it features sixteen short stories and three lectures she delivered during her last years.

    But the séance conducted in Ruth's elegant Georgetown home calls something back; something unwelcome ... and palpably evil. Suddenly Sara is speaking in a voice not her own, transformed into a miserable, whimpering creature so unlike her normal, sensible self. No tricks or talismans will dispel the malevolence that now plagues the inhabitants of this haunted place -- until a dark history of treachery, lust, and violence is exposed. But the cost might well be the sanity and the lives of the living.

    Upon hearing her sing, Jasper Ankle becomes her deepest admirer, undaunted by perilous weather and abject poverty in his quest to hear her sing. As Ortenzia's star rises, Jasper sinks further into despair, until performer and fan collide in true Edward Gorey fashion. Exquisitely illustrated with Gorey's signature pen-and-ink crosshatching, The Blue Aspic is a heart-wrenching and oddly hilarious tale of unrequited love and the dangers of celebrity.Treasured by adoring fans since its original release in 1968, The Blue Aspic remains an iconic masterpiece from the one and only great Mr. Gorey.

    But as Eugenia learns more of the ruthlessly ambitious man she has married and the rugged land he has brought her to, the very elegance and delicacy her husband prized in her soon prove liabilities. She is appalled by many aspects of plantation life - the convict slave laborers, the suffocating summer heat, the merciless winters. It is a maid who seems to be the real mistress of Yarrabee.

    Discovering her brother's lie, she sets forth alone to find her son. Both brother and sister wander through a countryside being scourged by three terrifying strangers, toward an apocalyptic resolution.

    I was caught upon a chessboard, a helpless pawn in a game of life and death, and the green rook was hunting me. That tall rook of green-black yew who had it in his power to destroy the king and end the game..." When Eve North returns to Athmore after three years' separation from her husband Justin, she finds the great estate-and Justin himself-vastly changed. Eve too has changed. She knows now the mistakes she made in her marriage in the past, and she now dares to win back the love of her own husband. Like another Eve, she wanders into the gardens of Athmore, unsuspecting. Yet she has reason to fear. Justin's brother Marc had once before placed her in a compromising position in that place of secrets-the green velvet room. Justin had believed Marc and never forgiven her. Now Marc waits for her at Athmore. Then, too, she has been warned that Justin has made up his mind at last to divorce her in order to marry Alicia Daven-the cool, serene Alicia whose quiet assurance comes from generations at Grovesend, and who has always taunted the American Eve with her tempting of Justin. Old Daniel-just before he is sent to his death-tries to warn Eve. It is he who carved from the green-black yew a topiary garden, one of the marvels of Athmore. The dark trees are clipped into the shape of chessmen, at a game forever in play. The black rook stands poised in readiness, like a hunter ready for the kill, challenging the white king. Daniel cries to Eve, "It's the black rook's play!"--but he dies before Eve can learn his fateful meaning. Eve finds herself entrapped on a chessboard of evil, unsure of her next move, yet aware that the black rook will move again-this time to destroy her.

    A chance to escape from the grey darkness of England. A chance to visit her happy childhood home at the Castle of the Rock, and above all the opportunity to escape the petty tyranny of her stepmother and reconnect with other family members. However, her visit to Portugal became unexpectedly dangerous - and unexpectedly romantic...

    Staying at her cousin's house while her mother is in the hospital, Polly Devenish begins to have strange dreams in which she becomes a sad, frightened young girl who lived in the same house long ago.

    The marriage grew even stranger, day by day. -- Why did Damon treat her as a child, not as a wife? What was hidden behind the walls of the garden? Why were the villagers afraid to work at the Abbey? And was the hooded figure she glimpsed in the mist only her imagination, or was he real?Tessa knew that she must solve the mystery that haunted the Abbey, or she could never truly be Damon's wife. And suddenly, she wanted that more than anything in the world.

     Rose walks into a web of secrets and lies when she accepts an invitation from unknown relatives to the ancient family home of Endel, in a remote and misty marshland village. Rose is welcomed by her handsome cousin, Robert, and his wife, June. They are keen to make amends for a family quarrel from generations past. But the friendly atmosphere is shattered by the mysterious David Lofthouse. Rose recognises him from her recent trip to Austria, where she almost lost her life in a freak accident. Or was it? Why has David come to Endel? Is Rose safe under the same roof as her cousin's house guest? After a series of eerie and near-fatal events, the shocking truth will be revealed to Rose.

    Peggy discovered a handsome neighbor, a mysterious grave, and a fiendish plot. Some one would do anything to keep Peggy from the secret of Blue Devil Suite.

    But she found more to fear than human jealousy. Someone in the old house was trying to drive her to madness and death. Was it really the ghost of Rachel Hawkins, a long-dead ancestor, as local gossip claimed? Or was it something more human? Jean began to doubt her own sanity in the evil old house where she could trust no one, not even her own father.

    In a shock of intuition she realizes that here is no ordinary castle....and that she will be no usual housekeeper. It takes but one step across the moat to involve her in the strange happenings in the place she has agreed to oversee: the eerie estate with its abbey, its vault, and its legend of The Black Abbess.