My 5-Star review in entirety for 'Lac du Mort and Other Stories by Joanne Van Leerdam, posted at Amazon:

Mistress of the Macabre!

The subject of “death” in all of its macabre depictions becomes Joanne Van Leerdam--hence, my title of veneration. Her collection of eight stories in the genres of horror and dark fiction rival those penned by Edgar Allan Poe for the spine-tingling and flesh-crawling sensations they invoke in the reader.

Queasy, but never cheesy, each story delivers a lethal dose of unimaginable and imaginative gruesomeness, eloquently and effectively written. Without robbing potential readers of a thrill by handing them a spoiler on a silver platter as to what is transpiring, or from what story, I will sparingly regurgitate a few words to prove my point:

“…empty eye sockets stared back, bloodied wells in a face that had lost most of its skin and flesh. Her mouth lay open in a grim, silent scream, white teeth exposed, still set firmly into bare and bloodied gums.”

Joanne Van Leerdam, Mistress of the Macabre, also purveys a perverse sense of humor in her storytelling by tickling our funny bone with spidery fingers to elicit nervous chuckles.

I highly recommend this well-written, top-shelf collection of short stories which turns the staid precepts of horror/dark fiction on its crushed skull!