Handle with Care: Frightening Stories

Kahn's name is all a shudder fan needs to see on a book. The editor has introduced innumerable masters of mystery to readers of all ages and her unerring judgment is evident in this collection. Barbara Williamson's elegance disarms the reader of ""The Toy Killer,'' epithet for young Bobby whose highborn parents Eva and Robert LaSalle, are nearly desperate. Every toy Bobby swears to cherish is found mutilated. The grieving child doesn't remember destroying his treasures and the solution to the puzzle comes like a blow to the heart. Never-fail Agatha Christie is represented by the unearthly ``The Dressmaker's Doll,'' so troubling that its owners are tempted to burn it as a witch. There are 14 remarkable frisson makers in the book, each by an expert at turning the screw that extra, shocking bit and abundantly fulfilling Kahn's claim: ``the authors are a very skillful, if very terrifying, lot.'' (12up)