Review originally published in 2012 on www.bookshelfbombshells.com

As with any anthology, there's hits and there's misses, but overall, this collection had more hits.

Standouts for me:
"Calypso in Berlin," Elizabeth Hand
"In the Cold, Dark Time," Joe R. Lansdale
"She's Not There," Pat Cadigan
"My Lady of the Hearth," Storm Constantine
"Nunc Dimittis," Tanith Lee
"The Girl with Hungry Eyes," Fritz Leiber
"An Apiary of White Bees," Lee Thomas

Even the stories I liked less were still good -- but Calypso in Berlin is the strongest of the collection, even if Lansdale gets top billing.

Despite the tawdry title, this is an interesting and surprising anthology, all taking obsession as their theme, not necessarily romantic obsession but generally something darker. I particularly liked the stories by Charles de Lint and Tanith Lee. Joe Lansdale's contribution is a classic, and Elizabeth Hand and Lawrence Block are always good. Fritz Leiber's story is spooky, and you know what you're getting with Poe. The rest of the stories suit the tone well.

DNF'ed so quickly I'm not even sure where it happened - somewhere between Lawrence Block and Nancy Holder. I expected some dark tales, but this verged on making me feel paranoid. While I had read Poe's story before (who hasn't thanks to school) I had originally picked up this collection for the other names I recognized. Then I quickly put it down again because I was not comfortable with the subject matter in most cases.