Shades of Darkness

This two-disc collection of standalone episodes culled from the PBS-aired series Mystery! includes supernaturally tinged stories by authors such as Edith Wharton, May Sinclair, and Elizabeth Bowen. Period pieces all, the half dozen yarns here deal with witchcraft, murder, apparitions, ghosts, and all sorts of eerie happenings. Hailing from 1983, these strikingly well-produced mysteries feature casts studded with future stars, among them Hugh Grant, Miranda Richardson, Eileen Atkins, and Francesca Annis. In fact, one of the best is “The Maze,” based on the story by C.H.B. Kitchin, in which Annis plays a woman who returns to her ancestral home, still afraid of the huge maze of hedges in the garden—and even more so when her eight-year-old daughter wanders into it with a stranger. In Bowen's “The Demon Lover,” Grant and Richardson play young romantics—separated after his induction into the Army during World War I—who have sworn to reunite no matter what happens, a vow that Richardson will have cause to regret. Intelligently written and stylishly mounted, these exceptionally fine literary adaptations are spooky fun and sure to find favor with fans of the supernatural and macabre. Highly recommended. (E. Hulse)