I stumbled upon this guy (James) thanks to the Folio Society's inclusion of his ghost stories into their considerable canon (for those who don't know, the Folio Society is to books what the Criterion Collection is to movies -- killer renditions of classics and forgotten treasures for inflated-but-worth-it prices).

I'll lead with the weaknesses: Like the work of James' contemporary (and advocate) H. P. Lovecraft, the stories here are formulaic and the writing is often counter-intuitive (POVs/voices will shift, as will tenses, and the author will often insert himself at awkward times).

And now, the strengths: these stories creeped the expletive-deleted outta me. One even inspired a nightmare, making me hesitate to revisit the stories on the following evening.

James' formula is simple: a curious, bookish type pursues his line of questioning too far and unlocks a demonic secret, resulting in a life-changing (or -ending) encounter with the best-left-unknown. If anything about this template appeals to you, then you're already perusing Amazon or your local library's database for an M.R. James fix. If you find this a silly paradigm on which to hang a dozen or so stories -- or prefer rational explanations and/or more viscera in your horror -- skip it.

The stories are all similar enough to kind of run together after a marathon reading of them over the holidays, so I won't delve too much into the specifics. I did make note of the standouts: Canon Alberic's Scrapbook, Casting the Runes, and Oh, Whistle and I'll Come to You My Lad are all the best intersection of James' (limited) literary talents and (superb) storytelling.

An aside: Unlike Lovecraft (and some of his more creepy contemporaries like Robert W. Chambers), James (at least here) doesn't indulge in the racism of the day (though Catholics and Irish get a bit of a drubbing from some of the characters). What's more, there's a sense that James never took this enterprise too seriously (his day job found him doing more important scholarly work, so these stories were no doubt a welcome change in pace). There's an underlying sense of humor throughout. As the third person narrator, he often takes amusing pot shots at the banal small talk of some of his provincial characters. And he seems to hate golf, for which I'm awarding him an extra half star in each category.

For this collection (which also, by the way, contains a fun and infinitely-more-incisive-than-this-review introduction by Queen of Crime Ruth Rendell) :

Writing: ***
Story: ****
Reread?: Absolutely; on a cold winter's night, with a fire in the hearth and a trusted companion nearby. These are written to be reread, maybe even aloud. ( )