Demons and Shadows: The Ghostly Best Stories of Robert Westall

Cats, old churches, antiques and antique dealers: these are a few of the creatures, settings, items and individuals that crop up again and again in this posthumous collection of Westall's fiendishly clever, spine-tingling short fiction. In ``Graveyard Shift,'' a story which has not previously appeared in print, a cemetery superintendent whose duties include ushering the recently departed into the next world encounters a sinister, modern-day vampire. The book's 10 other entries are culled from various collections of the author's work. ``A Walk on the Wild Side'' is the chronicle of a shape-shifting cat's attempts to monopolize the affections of her owner. Felines also figure in ``The Creatures in the House,'' in which a motley crew of strays star in an uproarious slapstick scene and save the soul of the woman who rescued them. ``The Last Day of Miss Dorinda Molyneaux,'' the tale of a haunted church, shares a common theme with Westall's recent novel The Stones of Muncaster Cathedral. Besides being genuinely creepy, these stories are witty, wise and laced with insight. Ages 10-up. (Oct.)