Customer Reviews

Both Sides of the Veil

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For a real treat, go straight to the last story, "The Disappearance of Mrs. Macrecham." Here is Richard Marsh at his best - imaginative, witty and an accomplished prose stylist. The story revolves around a bit of amateur magic that misfires. I loved every sentence of it.

Another great story, "A Set of Chessmen," concerns a chess fanatic who can't stop playing even after death. The slow build-up is wholly absorbing and the dénouement perfect.

There are several good stories about games. I enjoyed the description of an incredibly muddy and violent game of rugby, although I'm not sure what the point was. Marsh also writes engagingly about whist. I know nothing about whist, but the portrait of these old cronies who've been playing together for decades is quite amusing.

If you've read Curios, you'll recognize Mr. Pugh and Mr. Tress in one story. These rival collectors are fighting over an antique poison ring with perilous results. The humor is very vintage.

Other stories present us with a ghost who ends up in court, a homoerotic pact with the devil, an uncomfortable night on a houseboat - and an eccentric rich man who returns from the East with shocking powers. Frankly I found some of the supernatural fireworks and effects in these stories a bit cheesy. But the chess-playing ghost, the houseboat adventure and Mrs. Macrecham more than made up for the less polished stories in the collection.

If you're looking for short stories by Richard Marsh, I'd recommend reading The Seen and the Unseen first, and then this book. If you're new to March, I'd suggest reading his novels first. His most famous is The Beetle. I also loved The Joss and Phillip Bennion's Death.

This collection of stories was first published in 1901.