Detours into the Macabre

Peter Haining (Editor)

• ISBN10: 0330241516
• ISBN13: 9780330241519
• Publish Date: November 1974
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 8 April 1992
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Pan Macmillan
• Imprint: Macmillan
• Edition: New edition
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 264
• Language: English

Reviews

[Cameron Trost]

"Detours into the Macabre" is an anthology of dark tales penned by famous authors who made their names in less macabre genres of fiction. The book is split into two sections, the first featuring British authors and the second American.
A number of the tales were either very predictable or unoriginal to the point of being pointless, even considering their age, and the contributions of a couple of writers I greatly admire (Agatha Christie, Somerset Maugham) were far from their best.
There were, however, a handful of notable contributions. As far as I'm concerned, Patricia Highsmith's "The Snail Watcher" is one of the finest short stories ever written. To put it bluntly, it was a shame to see this perfect example of the short story in this anthology. Another excellent tale, which I had also read previously, was "A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner. G. K. Chesterton's "The Angry Street" was original, well-written, and thought-provoking. "Earth to Earth" by Robert Graves wasn't bad either, and quite creepy. John Steinbeck's "The Affair at 7 rue de M-" was frightening and funny... or frighteningly funny.
So, a bit of a mixed bag really. I'd be interested in hearing what others think of it.