title: Whistling Past the Graveyard: And Other Tales
author:  Jonathan Maberry 
description: JONATHAN MABERRY is a NY Times bestselling novelist, five-time Bram Stoker Award winner, and comic book writer. He writes the Joe Ledger thrillers, the Rot &amp; Ruin series, the Nightsiders series, the Dead of Night series, as well as standalone novels in multiple genres. His novels include KILL SWITCH, the 8th in his best-selling Joe Ledger thriller series; VAULT OF SHADOWS, a middle-grade sf/fantasy mash-up; and MARS ONE, a standalone teen space travel novel. He is the editor of many anthologies including THE X-FILES, SCARY OUT THERE, OUT OF TUNE, and V-WARS. His comic book works include, among others, CAPTAIN AMERICA, the Bram Stoker Award-winning BAD BLOOD, ROT &amp; RUIN, V-WARS, the NY Times bests-selling MARVEL ZOMBIES RETURN, and others. His books EXTINCTION MACHINE and V-WARS are in development for TV/film. A board game version of V-WARS was released in early 2016. He is the founder of the Writers Coffeehouse, and the co-founder of The Liars Club. Prior to becoming a full-time novelist, Jonathan spent twenty-five years as a magazine feature writer, martial arts instructor and playwright. He was a featured expert on the History Channel documentary, Zombies: A Living History and a regular expert on the TV series, True Monsters. He is one third of the very popular and mildly weird Three Guys With Beards pop-culture podcast. Jonathan lives in Del Mar, California with his wife, Sara Jo. www.jonathanmaberry.com
zlib_text: About the Author
  
  
  Aline Templeton has worked in education and broadcasting. She grew up in
  Scotland, read English at Girton College, Cambridge, and now lives in
  Edinburgh. She has a grown-up son and daughter.
  
  
  _Also by Aline Templeton_
  
  
  Death is My Neighbour
  
  
  The Last Act of All
  
  
  Past Praying For
  
  
  The Trumpet Shall Sound
  
  
  Night and Silence
  
  
  Shades of Death
  
  
  ## 1
  
  
  The hens, newly released from overnight protective custody, were picking their
  way down the henhouse ladder with a sort of dreamy deliberateness, blinking in
  the watery sunshine of a January morning which was surprisingly mild even for
  this mild south-west corner of Scotland. The sound of their reflective
  crooning filled the damp air, punctuated by an occasional squawk of
  indignation as some giddy young thing jostled the dowagers in her unseemly
  haste.
  
  
  Watching them, the woman’s hazel eyes warmed in amusement as they tittuped
  fussily out across the sodden grass under the old grey-lichened apple trees,
  sharp yellow 