Scare-master Robert San Souci serves up ten chilling tales about untraditional haunted houses: a mansion full of pirate treasure, a ghost trapped in a mysterious dollhouse, a boy whose vacation house comes complete with people-eating spiders, and many more. But beware because not all of the protagonists in these stories get out alive. “Outright skinpricklers . . . Offer this to those who already know San Souci's work or who want follow-ups for Alvin Schwartz's Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark series, should it somehow stay on the shelf long enough to want company.” ― Booklist “Well-paced and satisfyingly startling . . . this book won't stay on the shelves for long. Murphy and Revoy's black-and-white illustrations heighten the fright factor, making San Souci's collection even more riveting.” ― School Library Journal “These original tales are not for the fainthearted: Many of the stories' protagonists end their tales dead--or worse. By turns poignant and downright scary, this is a solid addition for stouthearted middle-grade readers.” ― Kirkus Reviews Robert San Souci is the award-winning author of many picture books based on folk tales from around the world, including The Talking Eggs, Kate Shelley, Haunted Houses , and the bestselling Short & Shivery series. A native Californian, he lived in San Francisco. Kelly Murphy  has illustrated many books for children including Masterpiece , Alex and the Amazing Time Machine , and the Nathaniel Fludd, Beastologist books. She lives in Providence, Rhode Island. Antoine Revoy is an award-winning French writer, artist and designer, raised in Tokyo, Japan and Mexico City, Mexico. Revoy has created illustrations for clients such as The New York Times , Der Spiegel and Harvard University, and is the creator of graphic novels ANIMUS (2018) and The Harrowing Game (2025), published by First Second Books. He teaches visual storytelling and comics-making courses at the Rhode Island School of Design and is a thesis mentor at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Revoy lives in Providence, RI, with his wife, author-illustrator Kelly Murphy, and their many animal companions. Haunted Houses By Robert D. San Souci Square Fish Copyright © 2012 Robert D. San Souci All right reserved. ISBN: 9780312551360 Chimera House“It is the scariest place ever,” said Demond. His girlfriend, Rachelle, sitting next to him, just rolled her eyes. “Uh-huh,” Demetrius, his brother, called Little D, responded—being cool, not playing along. He was angry, stuck in between Antoine and Lorelle—both of them hefty. For all they played at being in love, they didn’t want to middle-seat it where a metal bar made riding a real pain. This was especially true when Demond, the world’s worst driver in Little D’s mind, hit a pothole or bump at full speed. Then the boy felt like he was getting mashed between two rolled mattresses. Every part of this trip seemed stupid. Demond, put off by his little brother’s attitude, continued. “It’s five stories high—each floor scarier than the last one. You get your money back if you get through floor five.” “How much does it cost?” asked Antoine. “Twenty-five.” Antoine whistled. “That’s scary enough! But it’s got a money-back guarantee, you said.” Demond hawked out a laugh. “They say it’s so scary no one ever got all the way through.” “What, afraid of plastic skeletons and cardboard monsters and glow-in-the-dark ghosts?” “It’s much scarier than that,” Demond insisted. “How do you know so much?” challenged Little D. “You been there?” “No—ain’t that many people ever been there. You got to know somebody.” “So who do you know?” asked Rachelle. “You never told me.” “Toussaint. Couple of weeks ago, we were taking care of a little business. And I got to asking him about that voodoo stuff he messes with. Then we got to talking about other scary stuff. I asked him if he’d ever seen a ghost. Yeah, he said, and plenty of other things. That’s when he told me about this place. He said it’s scary as all get-out—and it might really be haunted, too.” Before Rachelle could say anything, Lorelle piped up. “Toussaint!” Lorelle made no effort to hide the disgust in her voice. “That is one crazy dude. We’re on a wild-goose chase, for sure.” “Wild ghost chase, you mean,” said Antoine, cracking up at his own joke. Lorelle just grunted, folded her arms, and stared out the window. But Little D heard her mutter, “This is going to be one big waste of time.” “Funny. I ain’t seen Toussaint for almost a week,” said Rachelle. “Toussaint, he always turns up sometime,” Demond said. Little D knew that was wrong. Toussaint had crossed Jamal Machado, a bad man to cross. Unknown to Demond, Little D had begun working for Jamal as a watcher on street corners, using his cell to alert Jamal if he spotted a police car in the area where Jamal was conducting his illegal business. The man, knowing the friendship between Little D’s brother and Toussaint, had paid the boy extra to lu