Thirty hours with a corpse and other tales of the Grand Guignol

"Characterized by gratuitous acts of brutality and surprise endings, these tales of obsession and violence are the creations of a 20th-century French writer whose works were staged by the legendary Théâtre du Grand-Guignol of Paris. The precursors of modern thrillers and slasher films, the nearly 40 stories have been selected and introduced by horror specialist S. T. Joshi"--