Timperley took over from James Turner (who'd taken over from Cynthia Asquith) as editor for volumes 5-9. I'll give each volume its own thread, starting with:
The Fifth Ghost Book (Pan Books, 1971)
Lawrie Wyman - Phantom of the Screen
Winifred Wilkinson - Nothing
James Turner - Double Take
Rosemary Timperley - The Mistress in Black
Avery Taylor - Remember the Roses
Paul Tabori - The Congregation of Rabbi Nachman
Shelley Smith - The Follower
Maggie Ross - The Man Across the River
Jennifer Phillips - Dog in a Chip Shop
Peter Ibbotson - On a Hallowe'en in Suffolk
John Hynam - Four and One More
L.P. Hartley - The Shadow on the Wall
Elizabeth Fancett - When Morning Comes
Richard Davis - A Day Out
Ernest Corbyn - The Tip Off
George Mackay Brown - Mister Scarecrow
Denys Val Baker - The Girl on the Beach
Joan Aiken - The Cold Flame
My copy just arrived so let's get started (feeling deprived that my hardcover has no creepy photo)....
1. Lawrie Wyman - Phantom of the Screen
The droll narrator relates the tale of his new tv set and the appearance of his brother in a yacht (which he doesn't and has never owned) on the screen during the nightly programming.
2. Wilfred Wilkinson - Nothing
English newly-weds spend their first night in a house near Le Havre, owned by their American friends and formerly the home of a Baron, his unloved wife and their family. Naturally, all sorts of unpleasantness happens.
3. James Turner - Double-Take
James accompanies much older historian/writer Alison Gordon to her dilapidated childhood home one afternoon. An unexplanable event occurs but that's not really enough to save this story from dullness.
4. Rosemary Timperley - The Mistress in Black
The narrator, Miss Anderson, arrives at a school for a job interview. She's offered a teaching job and of course, the school is haunted. Rosemary does a good job with this one.
5. Avery Taylor - Remember The Roses
Captain Robert Phillips is sent to Rouen to help or more likely kill kill Paul Renard, a resistance member captured by the Gestapo, before he can reveal the place of the planned Allied landings the following week. He's almost captured upon arrival and would have been captured if not for the help of a young woman fighter. A wonderful story; I guessed what was going on pretty quickly and still enjoyed it; if you don't then you should enjoy it all the more.
6. Paul Tabori - The Congregation of Rabbi Nachman
Three disciples drag their sick and dying Rabbi in a cart across what is now Poland for many weeks. Exhausted, the Rabbi tells them he is expected in a place over the brow of the hill, the place where he will die. They take shelter in the decrepit home of an old woman, who recounts a terrible event.
7. Shelley Smith - The Follower
Mrs. Sale sees a little boy staring at her in the supermarket. Suddenly, she starts seeing him everywhere. But nobody else can see him, and her husband insists she see a psychiatrist. Gradually she comes to believe he's a projection of subconcious repressed guilt.
8. Maggie Ross - The Man Across The River
An unnamed man in an unhappy marriage starts to communicate with a man on the other side of the river near his home. Not badly written but not one I particularly enjoyed.
9. Jennifer Phillips - Dog In A Chip Shop
Tim and Dilly run the local chip shop. They're no longer young and one day, Tom dies in his chair while peeling an apple. But his faithful dog and then Dilly can still see him.
10. Peter Ibbotson - On A Hallowe'en In Suffolk
A teacher and his girlfriend/fiancee/student are traipsing around East Anglia during a week's holiday in October. They make a stop at the oddly named Pluckhazel Pennyworth. They visit a detached tower near the vicarage and find themselves buttonholed by a talkative sexton. Personally I enjoyed the dialect the author gives him, although I'm sure others won't ("Thass not often we get visitors this time of yare (sic)") Suddenly he disappears, and then things get even weirder.
11. John Hynam - Four and One More
Told in the form of a letter to his wife; a French jazz musician describes the rise and fall of the band he joins and manages.
12. L. P. Hartley - The Shadow On The Wall
"Mildred Fanshawe was a bachelor woman in her early forties. She was an interior decorator, and valued as such by quite a wide circle of customers and friends" Mildred goes to spend the weekend at the home of friend and customer Joanna Bostock. Joanna warns her several times that another guest, Count Olmutz (you'll have to imagine the umlaut on the "u" as my keyboard is sadly lacking one. No relation to Count Alucard) is a guest who comes and goes as he pleases. Mildly scary, I didn't really get the ending of this one.
13. Elizabeth Fancett - When Morning Comes
A fairly creepy story, although not without flaws. The Right Honorable Sir William Wellborn is trying to get his Abortion Bill passed. This will make abortion legally binding on all doctors to perform when requested and also "to enforce in cases where those forbidden to procreate insist on breaking the compulsory contraception law." His main opponent, Bishop Duval, labels him "Herod!" and soon after, Wellborn starts hears that word while staying late in the House. Naturally, that's just the beginning.
14. Richard Davis - A Day Out
Isn't it annoying when you invite your girlfriend to come from London to enjoy a day at the seaside where you're managing an Arcade, and she brings the whole family with her? So much for privacy. Still, they all have a good time and the author feels slightly smug at his good deed. But he's in for a surprise. One of the better stories in this collection.
15. Ernest Corbyn - The Tip-Off
The features editor of a newspaper and his wife are on their way home from a European holiday via the Ostende ferry. A strange man politely asks if he can ride in their car on and off as he's missed his passenger ferry. They agree and expect to never meet again. But Mr. Fred Thompson shows up the next day at the newspaper office with a story to tell. He claims he was butler to a man murdered by his wife so she could enjoy a life of luxury with her lover; obviously he wants the crime exposed.
16. George Mackay Brown - Mister Scarecrow
Another story set in the Orkneys. Ally Groundwater is a blacksmith as well as a philanderer, a drunkard and (I think) bankrupt. A mysterious stranger keeps appearing wanting him to do something about the daughter Ally's impregnated. I didn't much care for the author's story in The Ninth Ghost Book, and I care much less for this one. The title has little or nothing to do with the story; my hopes for a ravaging blood-soaked scarecrow bent on revenge sadly came to nought.
17. Denys Val Baker - The Girl On The Beach
The author goes down to Cornwall for peace and quiet to write in an inexpensive chalet he's rented near St. Ives. After a short time, he gets the feeling he's being watched. One night he finds out who it is, a wildly fierce young woman.
18. Joan Aiken - The Cold Flame
Patrick was a poet who fell into the volcano he was lying on the edge of, writing a poem. As you do. He phones Miss Ellis Bell at 3am asking for his works to be published. One is left to assume they were friends. As his mother has cleaned out Patrick's apartment, she's forced to drive down to his parent's country home and plead for the poems.
