IN HIS FIRST TWO collections of supernatural tales, The Dreams of Cardinal Vittorini, and The Complete Symphonies of Adolf Hitler, playwright, actor, and theatre director Reggie Oliver demonstrated his mastery of the classic ghost story. Now, in his eagerly anticipated third collection, Masques of Satan, Oliver shows why he is being hailed as one of the best and freshest new voices to emerge in the genre in recent years.

Many of the tales in the collection draw on the author's theatrical background, and in such stories as 'Mmm-Delicious', 'Puss-Cat', 'Blind Man's Box', 'Grab a Granny Night', 'Mr Poo-Poo', 'The Road from Damascus', and the stunning novella 'Shades of the Prison House' he takes us backstage into a world of easy friendship and a surface glamour which conceals something much more dark and desperate. Oliver's talent for pastiche shines in 'The Silver Cord', which won the Arthur Machen Short Story Competition, while 'The Children of Monte Rosa' turns a friendly invitation to a holiday villa into something deeply disturbing.

All of these tales, as well as the four others collected in this volume, makes Masques of Satan Oliver's richest and most satisfying book to date, one that deserves to be on the shelf of every reader who appreciates fine writing and is searching for chills as literate as they are frightening.