These are elegantly written, as Hill's stories always are but lack the chill of her best ghostly work. We do get to see the range of her imagination from the Victorian setting of 'The Travelling Bag' to the unusual 1950s suburbia of 'The Front Room', the weakest of the tales.

'Boy Number 21' is gorgeously melancholic as two lonely boys form an undying friendship, and 'Alice Baker' is a mildly humorous take on the office story, though with a frisson underlying it.

Nicely told and crafted, but don't expect to be looking over your shoulder with these.