The Real Opera Ghost is very terse (only 3 pages) and merely background to The Phantom of the Opera. The tales are all rather macabre, some almost disgusting if you apply your imagination diligently. The main tale is The Haunted Chair: the 40th chair at the French Academy and the murder of its successive occupants. Actually a novella in length, in droned on and on: I was pleased to be done with it. The remaining tales, however, are brief. A Terrible Tale reminds me somewhat of James Norman Halls Dr. Dogbodys Leg, in this case an arm, but in no way in any of the manners described in Dogbodys perfidy. I am also reminded of other stories, however to elucidate would spoil the plot. The Inn of Terror is possibly the most disturbing: a tale worthy of De Sade. Enough said. The Woman With the Velvet Collar, although much shorter, is similar to Dumas pères The Woman With the Velvet Necklace, and just as disturbing. The remaining tales are The Mystery of the Four Husbands, The Crime on Christmas Night, In Letters of Fire, The Golden Axe, and The Waxwork Museum. All have a twist at the end: some are predictable, others are not. In all this is an enjoyable book for those of you have had enough of Stephen King, et al. Its a pity that Leroux his works mostly out of print and that he is relatively unknown. Ask anyone who wrote and The Phantom of the Opera and you will most likely hear Andrew Lloyd Weber.

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