Fighters of Fear

A Retrospective Collection of Classic Occult and Supernatural Detective Stories by Some of the Field’s Greatest and Best-Known Weird Fiction Authors Since the gaslit nights at the end of the nineteenth century, the occult detective has been a beloved and recurring archetype. Mixing the best aspects of the detective tale and weird or supernatural fiction, and capitalizing in part on the massive popularity of Sherlock Holmes, these stories portrayed men and women pitted against surreal and horrifying foes, usually with little to defend them but their own savvy, experience, and know-how. From William Hope Hodgson’s Thomas Carnacki, to Seabury Quinn’s fearless Frenchman Jules de Grandin, to Jessica Salmonson’s Penelope Pettiweather, the occult detective has taken a variety of forms, investigated a wide array of supernatural and otherworldly cases, and entertained generations of readers. This new collection compiles thirty-one all-time classic occult detective stories as it traces the genre’s growth from its nineteenth-century origins to the late twentieth century, showcasing the work of acclaimed pioneers of weird tales alongside cult favorites and exciting modern talents. So, step into the shadows, join us on this journey into the dark, and become a fighter of fear . . . CONTENTS Introduction, Mike Ashley Green Tea, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu The Shining Pyramid, Arthur Machen The Haunted Child, Arabella Kenealy The Mystery of the Felwyn Tunnel, L. T. Meade & Robert Eustace The Story of Yand Manor House, E. & H. Heron The Tapping on the Wainscott, Allan Upward Samaris, Robert W. Chambers The Whistling Room, William Hope Hodgson The Woman with the Crooked Nose, Victor Rousseau The Sorcerer of Arjuzanx, Max Rittenberg The Ivory Statue, Sax Rohmer The Stranger, Claude & Alice Askew The Swaying Vision, Jessie Douglas Kerruish The Sanatorium, F. Tennyson Jesse The Villa on the Borderive Road, Rose Champion de Crespigny The Room of Fear, Ella Scrymsour The Seven Fires, Philippa Forest The Subletting of the Mansion, Dion Fortune The Jest of Warburg Tantavul, Seabury Quinn The Soldier, A. M. Burrage The Horror of the Height, Sydney Horler The Mystery of Iniquity, L. Adams Beck The Thought-Monster, Amelia Reynold Long The Shut Room, Henry S. Whitehead Dr. Muncing, Exorcist, Gordon MacCreagh The Case of the Haunted Cathedral, Margery Lawrence The Shonokins, Manly Wade Wellman The Dead of Winter Apparition, Joseph Payne Brennan The Garden of Paris, Eric Williams St. Michael and All Angels, Mark Valentine Jeremiah, Jessica Amanda Salmonson