Antique Dust : Ghost Stories

Rating:
Summary: A masterly homage to the short stories of M.R. James.
Review: English author Robert Westall is probably best known for his excellent children's books, many of which have supernatural themes. With "Antique Dust," the author sets out deliberately, and largely successfully, to replicate the mood and quality of M.R. James' ghost stories. Several of Westall's stories are linked by a protagonist who is a dealer in antiques, a reasonable facsimile of the scholarly collectors who populate such wonderful James chillers as "The Mezzotint," "Canon Alberic's Scrapbook," and "Casting the Runes." Despite the relatively modern settings of his stories, Westall somehow captures James' rare ability to juxtapose "real life" and rather humdrum pursuits with the excitingly obscure world of paranormal beings. "Antique Dust" is a superb read for those who appreciate the pleasant shiver provided by the traditional English ghost story-an art which, sadly, is dying away amid the current rage for unsettling epics about sadistic serial killers, flesh-melting viruses, and inevitably gory apocalypse.