Although known as a western and historical writer, Paul Dayton Bailey managed to turn out one genuine over-the-top creepy novel in 1946, Deliver Me from Eva. It’s listed on the 100 Best Modern Horror Novels collection.
“#8 Melmoth the Wanderer. The greatest of the Gothic novels, proving that Gothic and psychological horrors are doubly effective when combined.”
– Karl Edward Wagner, “13 Best Supernatural Horror Novels” (Twilight Zone Magazine, 1983)
The Top Suspense Group has unleashed on the public their latest anthology. In a collection which would do Jim Thompson proud, this is a hard boiled collection for fans of the genre.
#7 The Yellow Mistletoe. A wild one. Masterman was another of those detective writers who at times broke away from formula. This one reads like a cross between Monk Lewis and Sax Rohmer.
-Karl Edward Wagner, “13 Best Supernatural Horror Novels” (Twilight Zone Magazine, 1983)
“#2 Psycho. Can you ever feel safe in a shower again? I think there may have been a film adaptation by Alfred Hitchcock.”
-Karl Edward Wagner, “13 Best Non Supernatural Horror Novels” (Twilight Zone Magazine, 1983)
“#4 The Screaming Mimi. Brown at his terrifying best, and again with a psychotic killer.This was filmed twice; once as The Screaming Mimi and more recently as The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (a/k/a The Phantom of Terror)”
– Karl Edward Wagner, “13 Best Non-Supernatural Horror Novels” (Twilight Zone Magazine, 1983)
“#1 The Deadly Percheron. The opening chapter defies description. Imagine one of those 1930s screwball comedies with the crazy situations, but substitute malevolence for humor.”
-Karl Edward Wagner, 13 Best Non-Supernatural Horror Novels” (Twilight Zone Magazine, 1983)
“#3 Here Comes a Candle. Brown, Like Bloch, could be extremely funny when he chose, or extremely frightening. This time he wasn’t kidding.”
-Karl Edward Wagner, “13 Best Non-Supernatural Horror Novels” (Twilight Zone Magazine, 1983)
“#12 Master of the Day of Judgement. Is it real or is it hashish? But what is reality? It’s all relative, isn’t it? This one is strange even for Perutz.”
-Karl Edward Wagner, “13 Best Non-Supernatural Horror Novels” (Twilight Zone Magazine, 1983)
“#9 Fully Dressed and in His Right Mind. Like John Franklin Bardin [The Deadly Percheron], Fressier takes a screwball situation and adroitly twists it into something evil.”
-Karl Edward Wagner, “13 Best Non-Supernatural Horror Novels” (Twilight Zone Magazine, 1983)