A nice selection and translation of Guy de Maupassant's more macabre short stories. Lying somewhere between Poe and Saki they go from almost whimsical to outright bizarre, often with an ironic little barb at the end. Many of them also involve people slipping into madness and paranoia (is this really happening?!) which is interesting to note when you consider the author himself was suffering through end-stage syphilis in real life. ( )