In Beyond Love, Sandra Rarey’s heroine Elizabeth is in love with the ghost who haunts her home, an old Victorian house standing on a cliff that overlooks a perpetually storm-tossed sea. Angus Aberdeen has been with her since the day she moved in three years ago and their relationship couldn’t be more perfect. Except of course, that he’s been dead for more than 100 years.

Except for the dead part, Angus is the ideal man. He may not be Mr. Right, but for Elizabeth, he’s Mr. Right Now. She looks forward to coming home to a house scented with apples and cinnamon and radiant with the glow of candles he’s lighted for her. He knows what she likes because he can read her mind, and he seems devoted to keeping her happy. Best of all, Angus is a safe man. That’s important to Elizabeth, whose last lover was abusive, leaving her with a deep fear and suspicion of men. She feels safe with Angus and has even spent lonely nights imagining what it would feel like to have his arms around her. So when Duncan Munroe comes knocking on her door in a raging snowstorm, claiming to be looking for his wife’s murderer, she’s more than a little unnerved.

She is also quite dismayed to learn that he believes Angus Aberdeen is responsible for the murder, which only happened four years ago. Duncan’s story is strange and stranger still is the knowledge that although they’ve never met, he seems to know an awful lot about her. Elizabeth doesn’t want to hear what he has to say about her beloved ghost, but Duncan is … persuasive. But so is Angus, who finally materializes physically to plead his version of the story and to prove to Elizabeth that he can be the perfect lover she’s been dreaming about.

Rarey does a fine job of keeping her reader guessing what Elizabeth’s choice will be as Duncan and Angus contend for her soul. This is a smart variation on the classic “Gothic” tale, and the author is pitch perfect in her telling of it. 3 Tombstones.

Becka by Kathleen Brandt, has the feeling of a dark folk ballad, one of those songs of doomed women and desperate measures. Becka Day is a maid of constant sorrow whose life is a mess and whose man is a violent, shiftless leech who spends all the money she makes working down at the carwash as a receptionist. She’s scared of Ray and the look he gets in his flat, yellow eyes, and we know she has a good reason for that.

Becka talks “country,” and it tells us a lot about who she is and how she got herself into such a fix. It’s hard to write a character like that and not tip over into caricature, but Brandt does a good job keeping the balance. She also does a good job of putting us inside Becka’s skin—so deep that when Becka tells us that Ray needs five beers before he can say, “I love you,” we feel the hurt in our own stomachs.

We know that what goes on in Becka’s house can’t keep going on, and we know from the beginning how things must end. Or at least we think we do. The writing here is atmospheric and deceptively simple. We see everything from Becka’s point of view and she doesn’t miss much, though she is prone to denying the things she does not want to see.

This is a story that would comfortably fit into any mainstream anthology; a tale that compares favorably to any horror story out there, even without the stinger at the end. 4 Tombstones

Afraid of the Dark by Peggy Christie offers a cautionary tale that reminds us “just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get you.” David Moore is an ordinary guy with an unusual phobia. Although he’s a grown man, he’s still afraid of the dark. He keeps lights burning throughout his house and shies away from dark corners because he can see things in the shadows that he really does not want to see. Rather than compromise his lifestyle or apologize for it, David lives a solitary life with Max, his beloved wolf-dog, his only constant companion.

David is a sympathetic guy, whose relationship to his younger sister Sarah and his nephew Kevin make him even more likable. (His other siblings, disapproving Matt and Rachel, are drawn in somewhat exaggerated strokes, but their attitude toward David is completely believable.)

The creepiness of the story sneaks up on us as Christie describes David’s routines and rituals for keeping the light shining on his life. When we’re plunged into the middle of his darkest dream, it’s a visceral shock because we are there in the bed with him, dreaming along—screaming along.

When David meets copper-haired, green-eyed Veronica at a backyard barbecue given by the “Light Bringers,” a support group for people who see dark things, his life seems to take a turn for the better. She’s not as completely persuasive a character as she should be—she’s a bit of a fantasy figure—but poor David needs someone to love and be loved by, so we’re willing to accept her as the designated love interest. Once we see that Veronica has Max’s seal of approval—and he’s not a dog who warms up to most people—we figure our hero is in good hands.

The story alternates between David and Veronica’s viewpoints and Christie gives us a he said/she said view of the terror that’s camping on David’s doorstep. We also find out that not everything fearsome comes from the spirit realm and the revelation of Betty’s true nature is a shocker. She frightens us more than the creatures that emerge from the shadows.

This is a story that could easily be expanded into a novel as David and Veronica lead members of the Light Bringers into battle against the forces of darkness. We find ourselves caught up in the battle and caring how about the stakes. The ending is truly scary, with its hint of more frightening things to come. Like David, you will want to read this with the lights on. 4 Tombstones

Book Stats:

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 233 KB
• Publisher: Lyrical Press, inc. (October 20, 2008)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
• Language: English
• ASIN: B001L9J2IU

To purchase a Kindle copy of Tales From The Shadows click here.
To purchase an electronic copy of Tales From The Shadows click here.

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