Tales from a gas-lit graveyard

Assembled by an authority on vintage thrillers, these 17 Victorian-era stories of the macabre include works from around the world by both popular and lesser-known authors.

Ambrose Bierce, Robert Barr, R. Murray Gilchrist, Mrs. H. H. Riddell, Richard Marsh, and Guy Boothby are among the more celebrated contributors to this collection — and the excellence of their tales is rivaled by rediscovered works by several long-neglected Gothic masters.Hume Nisbet’s “The Haunted Station” unfolds amid an eerie setting in the Australian outback, while Bernard Capes’ stories center on a haunted prison cell and a green bottle with a soul trapped inside.

Lady Dilke cautions against the hazards of seeking the solutions to life’s riddles, and Robert Barr’s “The Hour and the Man” demonstrates that revenge is not what it seems.Discerning lovers of horror and suspense will take particular pleasure in the rarity of these tales, none of which have been reprinted since their original publication.