Hangman's Hotel And Other Stories Paperback – 1 Aug. 2014

Well written stories. A good writer, sadly missed by his many fans.

A collection of mostly supernatural horror stories by Britain's greatest (well, to me anyway) pulp horror author.There are 14 stories in total, by the title I have given a brief synopsis to help you understand if the book is for you or not.1) Hangman's Hotel. - A nasty old judge visits the prison (now a hotel) where he sent many men to be hanged. Reminded me a little of The House Of Whipcord.2) The Black Druid. - Our nearest and dearest may not be all that we believe them to be.3) Crabs: The Survivor. - Local hunter catches crabs.4) Savage Safari. - Safari hunter's face a lost world of jurassic mayhem. Cryptozoology fun.5) Zombie Gunfighter. - A lynching and an embittered medicine man lends itself to a town's destruction.6) Dead on Cue. - A Christmas time hunt goes wrong with ghostly echoes from the past causing modern repercussions.*7) Devil of the Dark Forest. - A Christmas time hunt goes wrong with ghostly echoes from the past causing modern repercussions.8) The Witch of Warsaw. - Sabat Vs Polish communist occultists.*9) Death in the Snow. - A Christmas time hunt goes wrong with ghostly echoes from the past causing modern repercussions.*10) Beast in the Mist. - A Christmas time hunt goes wrong with ghostly echoes from the past causing modern repercussions.*11) The House in the Wood. - A Christmas time hunt goes wrong with ghostly echoes from the past causing modern repercussions.*12) Winged Evil. - A Christmas time hunt goes wrong with ghostly echoes from the past causing modern repercussions.*13) Poacher's Curse. - A Christmas time hunt goes wrong with ghostly echoes from the past causing modern repercussions.14) Dwellers of the Dark. - Guy N Smith is haunted by a big cat.The titles marked with an asterisk (*) all previously appeared in Country Life magazine.The biggest issue I had with this collection is that many of the stories share very similar themes. Which left me sat there thinking 'for heaven's sake, not another story about hunters and ghostly animals!'. As you can see from my synopses at least half of the stories follow very similar themes, which is a shame because I know Guy's a big fan of hunting but that doesn't necessarily mean I want to read about poachers and gamekeepers in every short story I read by him..Clearly this is because his target audience for almost half the stories in here were aimed at his readership in Country Life.Oddly it is his other stories that truly stand out, with Hangman's Hotel, Crabs: The Survivor, The Witch of Warsaw, Savage Safari and Zombie Gunfighter probably my favourites.Needless to say that the Crabs story and the Sabat story (Witch of Warsaw) are worth reading this collection for alone. Both of those are really quite gruesome and fans will appreciate them.Overall verdict for Hangman's Hotel: Average. Don't get me wrong there're a few crackers in here but probably best read in small chunks because otherwise I felt it was a bit samey.