This bewitching collection of short fiction navigates art, movies, literature and life, often exploring real-life figures in fictional form. In 'Dream of a Clean Slate' Jackson Pollock struggles with the separation he feels from Jackson Pollock the artist; 'The Judgement of Psycho' uncovers the sexual dynamic of Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins in Psycho, and then delves into the relationship between Hector and Paris in the Iliad; and Orson Welles presides over 'Crimes of Midnight', a tense evocation of desire and its consequences. The Hottentot Venus, Joan of Arc, Glenn Gould, a circus elephant executed for killing a man - all become strands in Haskell's ingeniously woven tales. Intellectually searching but gilded with a light touch and outstanding imaginative reach, Haskell's collection is a charming, innovative and moving series of myths for modern times.