Over a short weekend business trip, I read a Leisure’s recent original paperback anthology titled FOUR DARK NIGHTS. It is comprised of four novellas, each of which take place over the course of (more or less) one single, spooky night.

It begins with the best: Bentley Little’s “The Circle,” which hooks you from the start as a suburban woman’s home is invaded by a boy in a loincloth who bursts in and proceeds to poop diamonds. Yes, poop diamonds. Talk about a home invasion. It’s just the start of one nightmarish evening for this suburb that also involves swarms of bugs and a witch who lives down the lane.

Christopher Golden’s “Pyre” is almost as good, with a college girl who deals with the death of her absentee father by digging him up and taking his corpse to a mysterious island, while Douglas Clegg’s “The Words” has two high school losers experimenting (and succeeding) with summoning up dark forces while out partying.

Only Tom Piccirilli’s “Jonah Arose” – a presumably pointless story of freaks in search of a lost child – wasn’t worth the time, too fractured in its narrative to be effective on any level. But hey, three outta four ain’t bad, making this slim volume perfect for a mindless fall afternoon read.