THE FAR FORESTS

The signature is unmistakable. In "Furry Night," Sir Murdoch, an aging lycanthropist, erupts in sharp-toothed frenzy until a long-lost daughter challenges his wolfish paternity; in "The Cold Flame," a deceased poet rings up a friend in an effort to thwart his mother's chilling love; and in "Sultan's Splash," the diary of a dear departed aunt provides a bathtub solution for turning a man into a crocodile. Yes, Joan Aiken's at large again with a handful of quiet horrors, crossing everyday happenings with slightly shivery surprises. There's a widow stuck with a maddening in-law, chugging whisky and chocolate on the sly until she does him in with a carefully timed blast of hot water ("The Story about Caruso"); a prime case of double identities—a favorite in this world and the other ("A Taxi to Solitude"); and an array of transformations, concealments, and diverting backwater eccentrics. Nothing spectacular, but a few notables and all (fifteen) with the distinct imprint of that practiced hand.