M. R. James is probably the finest ghost-story writer England has ever produced. These tales are not only classics of their genre, but are also superb examples of beautifully-paced understatement, convincing background and chilling terror. As well as the preface, there is a fascinating tail-piece by M. R. James, Stories I Have Tried to Write, which accompanies these thi M. R. James is probably the finest ghost-story writer England has ever produced. These tales are not only classics of their genre, but are also superb examples of beautifully-paced understatement, convincing background and chilling terror. As well as the preface, there is a fascinating tail-piece by M. R. James, Stories I Have Tried to Write, which accompanies these thirty tales. Among them are Casting the Runes, Oh, Whistle and Ill Come to You, My Lad, The Tractate Middoth, The Ash Tree and Canon Alberics Scrapbook. There are some authors one wishes one had never read in order to have the joy of reading them for the first time. For me, M. R. James is one of these. Ruth Rendall Contents: Canon Alberics Scrapbook (1895) Lost Hearts (1895) The Mezzotint (1904) The Ash-Tree (1904) Number 13 (1904) Count Magnus (1904) Oh, Whistle, and Ill Come to You, My Lad (1904) The Treasure of Abbot Thomas (1904) A School Story (1911) The Rose Garden (1911) The Tractate Middoth (1911) Casting the Runes (1911) The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral (1910) Martins Close (1911) Mr. Humphreys and His Inheritance (1911) The Residence at Whitminster (1919) The Diary of Mr. Poynter (1919) An Episode of Cathedral History (1914) The Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance (1913) Two Doctors (1919) The Haunted Dolls House (1923) The Uncommon Prayer-Book (1925) A Neighbours Landmark (1924) A View from a Hill (1925) A Warning to the Curious (1925) An Evenings Entertainment (1925) There Was a Man Dwelt by a Churchyard (1924) Rats (1929) After Dark in the Playing Fields (1924) Wailing Well (1928)