A readers' advisory for this collection of nine stories forecasts widely scattered ghosts with a chance of rain. Caution is urged at the following uncertain places: an abandoned mental hospital, the woods behind a pleasant subdivision, a small fishing village, a mountain lake, a long-closed theater undergoing restoration, a feared bridge over a swampy river, a historic district street at dusk, the bedroom of a girl who waited until the last minute to write her book report from an allegedly dead author, and the woods near a conjure woman's house. In effect from the words "light of the harvest moon was brilliant" until the last phrase "forever rest in peace," this advisory includes-but may not be limited to-the Florida Panhandle, northwest Montana, central Illinois, and eastern Missouri.