The Ninth Ghost Book (Pan Books, 1975)
Gilbert Phelps - Who Were You With Last Night?
Christopher Hood - The White Citroen
Kit Pedler - White Caucasian Male
Maggie Ross - When the Music's Over Turn Out the Lights
Richard Selmer - The Violet Lady
L.P. Hartley - The Stain on the Chair
Kay Batchelor - The Spirit was Willing
Rosemary Timperley - Sister Varden
John Hynam - One for My Baby
James Turner - Love Me Love My Car
Jean Stubbs - Jarvey's Kingdoms
William Trevor - George and Alice and Isabel
John Burke - False Harmonic
Giles Gordon - Crampton Manor
John Moat - Chope's Retreat
George Mackay Brown - Brig-o-Dread
This just arrived, despite a raging blizzard. Without further ado, let's get started:
1. Gilbert Phelps: Who Were You With Last Night?
Law clerk Mr. Pidgeon suddenly finds himself with an unexpected, unwelcome wispy companion. Could it be his late lodger, authoritarian Old Perkins, who was not buried in Parkton Combe cemetery as he'd demanded? There's a lot more to it than this and it makes for a very good but all too short story.
2. Christopher Hood: The White Citroen
A British hitchhiker in France accepts a lift from a man driving a white Citroen. He drives very quickly and they crash. Or was it all a dream? Maybe it was and maybe it wasn't. Only 7 pages long but hard to forget.
3. Kit Pedler - White Caucasian Male
Simon Anderson is a senior lecturer in the microbiology department of a teaching hospital. He's been doing (not very good) research with a family of cells from an accident victim in San Francisco, labelled as the title suggests. He beings an experiment on a sheet of his cells which Anderson hopes will result in fame and recognition. However it seems the cells long-dead former host isn't happy about this.
4. Maggie Ross - When The Music's Over Turn Out The Lights
The neurotic and overly sensitive wife of a preoccupied optician begins to see an undulating shadowy form just behind her husband. Gradually it coalesces into a ghostly woman.
5. Richard Selmer - The Violet Lady
In the late 1950s, meteorological student Alec Hudson hears a mysterious spinet playing from the room next to his university lodgings. Eventually, the Bursar tells him what he knows of the room; this only increases Alec's interest and he moves into the supposedly haunted room.
6. L. P. Hartley - The Stain on The Chair
Not one of LP's best, I fear. Patience loves tennis and aging Hector, her husband, squash. But it takes a lot out of him and he returns home sweating despite showering, to his usual chair.
7. Kay Batchelor - The Spirit Was Willing
A delightful, unscary, story of Eve, "assigned" to haunt boring, deserted Huntley Manor, and Charles Turner, who finds himself stranded there one night after his car breaks down.
8. Rosemary Timperley - Sister Varden
The narrator, who volunteers at a hospital, becomes friends with Sister Varden. Her cousin James dies unexpectedly while diving in the Seychelles. His spirit returns to his house, which his cousin has moved into.
9. John Hynam - One For My Baby
The narrator, Joe Roll, is a young man who was adopted by an abusive farm couple. After killing them both and inheriting the farm, as well as their ghosts, he ends up dating a young woman whose favorite song is the title of the story.. His reason for writing to Ol' Blue Eyes becomes clear only at the end.
10. James Turner - Love Me, Love My Car
London-born Meg and Cornish-born Ted, newlyweds (or close enough) take a trip to Cornwall in their new second-hand Austin Countryman. One evening, Ted thinks he sees a couple making love in the back seat. It seems the previous owners are still attached to their car.
11. Jean Stubbs - Jarvey's Kingdoms
Charlie buys a building that used to house a Victorian hard-ware store, Jarvey's Kingdom. Not long after, he and his wife find Jarvey is still there.
12. William Trevor - George and Alice and Isobel
Mrs. Acland writes a letter to a name she finds in a phone book. A "guest" in a private psychiatric institution, she tells of her happy childhood, until her parents and siblings are killed in a car accident, her marriage to the much older Mr. Acland, and her home being haunted by her brother and sisters.
13. John Burke - False Harmonic
Mark Bickford accepts the post of museum curator at the former home of composer Saul Gregory. Saul's spirit is still around though, determined to taste, through others, some of the pleasures he denied himself in life.
14. Giles Gordon - Crampton Manor
Strange things are happening in Mrs. Florence Humphreys's house. First the doorbell rings without pause, then somebody phones wanting to view her house which is not for sale, then mover come to take the furniture. Her husband dies in front of their solicitor while making his will. She doesn't understand it all and frankly, neither do I. Well-written but not scary.
15. John Moat - Chope's Retreat
The story doesn't explain who Chope is, who or what he's retreating from, nor who/what the ghostly (?) figure are that seem to be watching him in/around his (?) farm. A waste of valuable reading time, in my opinion.
16. George Mackay Brown - Brig O'Dread
The story is narrated by one Arkol Andersvik; aged 50, local craftsman and business owner with a wife and son, and a city councillor in Hamnavoe (now Stromness), Orkney, Scotland. While out seal hunting with his brother, he suddenly finds himself in a bare room. After writing the prologue, the narration switches to third person. Arkol finds he's able to leave the room and goes out wandering on the moor, where he's rebuffed by all passersby. He then comes to a bridge, and his dead sister Anne. It seems he's dead too, but was it accidental, or was it....murder ? (cue malevolent laughter). Arkol's ghost returns to see what has become of his family and business.
I hope you enjoy the L. P. Hartley story better than I did; and enjoy The Spirit Was Willing. My favorites personally were "Who Were You With Last Night" and "Love Me Love My Car". I think that once I re-read those sometime in the future, I'll donate this one. 
I sure hope I like at least some of Vols 5, 6 (Pts 1 & 2) and 8 that are on their way 
