These are blamed for the first near-death, a young man wasted away to a ‘skin-clad skeleton.’ His occult studier is both wary of and fascinated by the woman.īiting gnats disturb the peace. Benson talks of her as a larger than life character, with youthful looks. The story is similar in tone and description and characters to Mapp and Lucia, except for mention of the occult in which one of the characters take an interest.Ī new inhabitant arrives Mrs Amworth, recently widowed in India.

“Most of the inhabitants of Maxley never leave at all,” Benson says, injecting horror while pretending not to. The gentle sound of the chirping laughter of village women and the labourers at work. “Mrs Amworth” again sets up an idyllic village, drawing the scent of flowers and perhaps scones to us. The first I much admire, the second not so much. Two other classic Benson vampire tales are “Mrs Amworth” and “The Room in the Tower”. Oddness emerges no birds are seen or heard. You could be trapped there and imagine this was heaven if that’s your idea of it. Here’s Nigella’s recipe for the lobster! Lobster recipe.Īnd No Bird Sings sets up a beautiful place. I adore the Mapp and Lucia series, all thin veneer of civilization, lobster a la Riseholm and barely-concealed venom. There are a lot of great stories in this book. I’ve always loved his anthologies and dreamed of being in one. The anthology I’ve read most often is ‘ The Midnight People’ by Peter Haining.

I’ve read a lot of vampire stories, and the best ones manage to work outside the standards of the genre. None of these carried on into the final story, but certainly helped in its development. I love the thought of altruistic vampires, looking out for each other in order to survive. Vampire bats starve after two nights without blood, so they food share. Self-esteem is something to be envied and worked at the idea of being able to steal it is quite attractive. I added the note Robin Cook, being fairly certain that the medical thriller writer has covered this. Some of my early notes: Dead bodies drained of blood for needed blood supplies. I’ve recently been thinking more about vampires than I normally would, because I’m writing a story for a themed anthology.

Vampires at Midnight by Peter Haining