Haunted Serenade by Anna M. Taylor has the creepy tone a reader hopes for in a Halloween tale. This story told in a first-person narrative works well because Anora, the speaker, recognizes her part in the family’s difficulties. Anora is a single parent. She takes her daughter to visit her mother’s house, fully committed to remaining estranged from her mother. Besides the standard haunting themes of cold and banging doors and suicide, Taylor introduces the women’s shared history of being abandoned by the men they love. The women also struggle as light-skinned blacks with their identities. Their personal decisions to pass as white or live as black has driven them apart. Taylor has woven multiple themes into the story to produce a haunting tale.