Antique Dust

Ghost Stories

By: Robert Westall

Narrated by: R.C. Bray

"Dealers are undertakers of a sort. When a man dies, the undertaker comes for the body, and the dealer comes for the rest. I deal in dead men's clocks, pipes and swords. Passing through my hands, they give off joy, loneliness, fear...I have known more evil in a set of false teeth than in any so-called haunted house in England."

So speaks Geoff Ashden, a regular guy trying to make an honest living as an antique dealer, but who has an uncanny knack for finding cursed objects and haunted places: a sinister Georgian clock carved with obscene and satanic designs, a hideous doll with deadly powers, a pair of old spectacles that let their wearer see a little too clearly, an ugly house with a terrifying secret, a church full of graffiti scrawled in decomposing human flesh. In this collection, award-winning children's author Robert Westall delivers a set of chilling tales for adults and proves himself, as Orrin Grey writes in the new introduction to this edition, "an obvious successor to that godfather of the English ghost story, M.R. James."

©1989 The Estate of Robert Westall (P)2016 Valancourt Books

Critic reviews

"Creepy...develops a sense of palpable evil...well worth the time of readers who prefer slyly civilized British ghost stories." ( Kirkus Reviews)"Fiendishly clever, spine-tingling short fiction" ( Publishers Weekly)"Marvelous M. R. Jamesian-style ghost stories." (Michael Dirda, Washington Post)

excellent ghost stories

good narration
The stories are reminiscent of the style of M.R. James as others have mentioned. This is a great collection of you enjoy classic subtle ghost stories.

Outstanding Collection of Linked Ghost Stories

One of the best I’ve listened to in a loooooooong time. Unfortunately the author has passed away. He wrote children’s stories almost exclusively, but this collection demonstrates his gift for traditional English Ghost stories. No gore - just great suspense and ghosts. Lots of ghosts.

great audio book.....bravo

I gave this title a 5 star!!!! NOT one of the stories lagged. It was one I wanted to continue listening to till the end. Worth the credit. only one complaint....wish it were longer!!!! awesome book!!!!! Bravo

There are some real gems in here.

I’ve always believed that old things are haunted but I never realized that the quiet little world of antique buying and selling was so cut-throat!

I listened to this collection of eerie stories on unabridged audio. They’re all stories about antique dealer Geoff Ashton, except for one or two that are stories told to him or are about a close relative. My copy was narrated by R.C. Bray whose voice is wizened and quite perfect for this book about old stuff.

The Devil and Clocky Watson

This first story introduces us to Geoff. He’s an honest dealer just trying to make a living but others, namely a shifty character named Clocky Watson, cheat the system. Geoff attempts to get back at Clocky in what he thinks is the most fitting of ways but things go awry. This tale, like all the stories that follow, is eerie and dripping with creepy atmosphere. 4.5 Stars

The Doll

Geoff realizes that old dolls = $$ and buys a large collection of them from a boozy widow for a song but trouble soon follows. Creepy dolls will always be creepy and this story is no exception. There were two points here where frighteningly loud music was piped in and it nearly made me pee my pants and overrode the narration. Beware!

This one was probably my favorite. 5 Stars

The Last Day of Miss Dorinda Molyneaux

This story was about a creepy old church, desecrated graves, unnerving goings-on and Miss Dorinda Molyneaux.

The Dumbledore

This one simply wasn’t meant for me and it more than likely comes down to a matter of taste and my lack of it. The Dumbledore was a watering hole for men during war times. It's about secrets, war heroes and a young boy named Little Tex. 3 Stars

The Woolworth Spectacles

This one features Geoff’s cousin and was much more my speed. Shy Maude's always been told that "men don't make passes at girls who wear glasses". But then she finds a pair of spectacles at Woolworth's (that's an old department store for you youngin's) left behind by an old woman and puts them on her face.


And she can see the world in wondrous detail! Initially she’s pretty thrilled but then people start looking at her differently. Crude work-men leer at her and she is unsettled. Soon, though, she finds her power over men a little intoxicating and begins to use it even to her advantage even though she knows deep down that this is very unlike her. She revels in it anyway and it leads to disaster.

I liked this story quite a bit and found Maude’s personality change both organic and frightening. 5 Stars

Portland Bill

Geoff is on vacation with his wife, who has meandered off to do things without him. Before long, he finds a beautiful and distraught woman who begs for help. Her son has gone missing and Geoff being the dirty, old, and let’s not forget MARRIED perv that he is, has lustful thoughts about her even though she’s frantic to find her son.

“My bowels moved with lust for her.”

Oh Geoff, you sexy beast, however did you convince a woman to marry you?


Despite his pervy thoughts, he’s not so bad a guy and decides to help her out. When the townsfolk and police brush him off Geoff starts to have ominous feelings about the situation.

Haunting and, like all the rest, beautifully atmospheric. 4 Stars

The Ugly House

I listened to this one twice because when I sat down to write this up, I couldn’t remember a thing about it and figured I had sleep-walked through it. Now after the 2nd listen and writing all of the above, I still can’t remember much about it besides the fact that there was a building inspector and an ugly house that Would Not Be Demolished and damned if I can remember anything else about it.


Guess it wasn’t meant for me. 3 Stars

I’d easily recommend this collection to anyone looking for slower paced, old-style horror that crawls under your skin and creeps you out.

Great Ghost stories

Where does Antique Dust rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Very well written book accentuated by RC Bray's prose

Have you listened to any of R.C. Bray’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

RC Bray is my absolutely favorite narrator. He spoke so eloquently in this book!

Who was the most memorable character of Antique Dust and why?

Clocky Watson

Any additional comments?

You need to check out RC Bray's other narrated titles. He does an amazing job with every book he does.

Hit & Miss

The stories were very well written, but I was hoping for something a little more spine-tingling. Even though it wasn't quite what I was expecting, I did enjoy three of the stories; The Dolls, Woolworth Spectacles and Portland Bill. The other half did nothing for me, so although I wouldn't say it was a complete bust, neither would I say it was worth a full credit. I will, however, admit that the narration was amazing, as are most of R.C. Bray's performances. He is the main reason I decided to give this anthology a shot, since I had never heard of Robert Westall before. His gritty voice is a near perfect match for anything in this genre and added that extra "umph" that made the stories that didn't really interest me at least entertaining enough to complete.

My first Westall book

Very well written book that kept my attention. I hated when it ended. I’ll definitely look for more books by this author. Highly recommended.

Enough to keep me interested

Straight up, if music is going to be added to an audio book, please ensure it does not overwhelm the narrators voice. There was a couple of times that it did and it was not needed at all. Obviously it was there to let you know that the story had ended but just a heads up that it is there on a couple of endings.
Other than that, I quite enjoyed these stories. Some stuck with me more than others and there really was only one that I thought was ho-hum. Each story was just long enough to give you a good little story but not too long as to lose interest.
I would listen to this again.

Truly excellent Mr James inspired stories

from an undeservedly poorly known British writer,.

Centred around the antique trade the author also incorporates his own experiences from WW2. A sign of any good book is just how sad finishing it makes you. Feeling pretty blue right now.

Really enjoyed it

Great reading for the Anglophile fan of short ghost stories in the Jamesian style. Entertaing!