The Temple of Death

Title: The Temple of Death
Authors: A.C. Benson & R.H. Benson
Publication: Wordsworth Editions Ltd (10 Sep 2007)
Paperback:  240 pages 
Rating: 3 out of 5

Don’t be fooled by the lurid title – the less famous brothers of E.F. Benson are much too preoccupied with religion and proselytizing their beliefs to actually write anything bloody or gory. I prefer R.H. Benson’s 7 short tales to each of A.C. Benson’s longish, ridiculous and extremely obvious tales. The latter has a tendency to come up with utterly uninspired ‘ghost stories’ that it is a chore not to yawn. The Uttermost Farthing passes muster as it borrows from M.R. James in style but the rest are dreadfully wishy-washy.

My favourite stories by R.H. Benson are Consolatrix Afflictorum, which is more of a Catholic mystical weepy than a ghost story, and The Traveller. This story successfully imagines the afterlife of the murderers of Thomas a Becket and it’s great when you read it on a rainy night with a cup of tea by your side.