M.R. James is probably the finest ghost-story writer England has ever produced. The stories are classics of their genre. Among them are ‘Casting the Runes’, ‘Oh, Whistle and Ill come to you, my lad’, ‘The Tractate Middoth’, ‘The Ash Tree’ and ‘Canon Alberic’s Scrapbook’. They are all designed to instil that satisfying sensse of unease in the heart of the reader.

‘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 Rendell