THE HOUSE OF THE WOLF

When young American professor John Coleridge arrives for a folklore-conference in 1895 Lugos (""this forsaken corner of Hungary""), he finds predictably strange doings at Castle Homolky. A villager has been ripped to death by a wolf. Nadia, voluptuous daughter of Count Homolky, tells Coleridge (author of The Essence of Lycanthropy) that she's heard wolf-snarling in the corridors of the castle! The Count confides that an evil Homolky ancestor was devoured by wack-o wolves. And when a local doctor analyzes the traces of the recent killer-wolf, he finds that ""the hairs were those of a wolf and the particles of skin those of a human being!"" So: is the ""wolf-thing"" just a nasty wolf. . . or is it a were-wolf And, if the latter, which one of the Castle residents and guests is the werewolf's human form? Those are the familiar questions--as Coleridge & Co. stalk the wolf outside and in, find another body or two, or engage in the usual chat. (""And you really believe this? Wolves and werewolves? That the entire lycanthropic legend of medieval times has been enacted beneath this roof?"") And prolific horror-man Copper, though competent and literate enough, adds surprisingly little invention or dash to this mildly atmospheric, rather plodding recycling of the werewolf-in-the-castle formula.