'The lower jaw was thin - what can I call it? - shallow, like a beast's; teeth showed behind the black lips...' M. R. James is the master of the English ghost story, whose tales are inhabited not by ethereal spirits, but by terrifying, palpable forces of evil.

In these four stories figures appear in paintings, demonic voices are heard, books awaken ancient horrors - and ordinary objects and situations are transformed into inescapable nightmares. This book includes: "Canon Alberic's Scrap-Book", "The Mezzotint", "The Rose Garden", and "The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral".