De la Mare's supernatural horror writings were a favourite of H. P. Lovecraft, who in his classic study "Supernatural Horror in Literature" remarked that "he is able to put into his occasional fear-studies a keen potency which only a rare master can achieve", especially praising his short stories "Seaton's Aunt", "The Tree", "Out of the Deep", "Mr Kempe", "A Recluse" and "All Hallows", along with his novel "The Return". Gary William Crawford has described de la Mare's supernatural fiction for adults as being "among the finest to appear in the first half of this century", whilst noting the disparity between the high quality and low quantity of de la Mare's mature horror stories. Other notable de la Mare ghost/horror stories are "A:B:O", "Crewe", "The Green Room" and "Winter".