The Cranes that Build the Cranes, By Jeremy Dyson

As you might expect from the co-creator of The League of Gentleman and author of the newly opened play Ghost Stories, Dyson's assured short fiction can leave the reader with a serious case of unease.

Pushing the bounderies of normal behaviour, these nine tales of the unexpected include the story of a monk's visit to a massage parlour, a security fetishist who needs to be watched as he sleeps, and a satire on exclusive gentlemen's clubs.

In the most bizarre story in the book, "Yani's Day", a homicidal bookseller terminates sloppy or errant staff on the spot. He's a writer who fuses horror and comedy in a way that catches his audience thrillingly off-guard.