I thought I'd take a chance on this collection; figuring I couldn't be too disappointed by RCH. So far, I haven't been:
1. Run for the Tunnel - Ray and Joan briefly discuss time travel. Then on a June day in 1986, she mysteriously disappears while running down the stairs into a railway station, in front of Ray and other witnesses. Thirty years later, still heartbroken Ray feels compelled to find out more. This collection is off to a flying start.
2. Night Sister - Ruth is one of Old Martha's hospital roommates, back in the days when people were kept in hospital for 2 weeks and more after operations. Old Martha is a delusional permanent resident, who believes her sister Matilda is on her way to 'settle the hash" of everybody inhabiting "her" ward. Matilda, who murdered their parents and little brother by giving them a poisous toadstool omelette before killing herself. No prizes for guessing the dark and ominous figure Ruth starts to see at night, next to Old Martha's bed.
3. Acquiring A Family - Thanks to an inheritance from an uncle, middle-ages Celia Watson buys a house and moves in. Then she starts hearing and seeing ghostly children, who go from benign to unpleasant fairly quickly.
4. Shades of Yesterday - Vincent Armitage reads the inscription on the gravestone of Elizabeth Webb, who died in 1799. He happens to meet a descendant nearby, who tells him of the legend of Elizabeth's ghost, appearing in the wedding gown she was wearing when she suddenly died. Vinnie decides to pay a visit to the house Elizabeth lived in, encountering Mrs. Campbell and her daughter. More of a sweet, melancholic love story than anything else.
5. The Passing of An Ordinary Man - Harry Wheatland mysteriously disappears one August evening while out for a stroll. His clothes remain, "as though their owner hadsuddenly evaporated and departed from them in a cloud of steam.". I won't say any more other than that I still enjoyed this 8pg story despite what some might call a major shortcoming.
6. The Carrier - While leaving Canwell Park underground station, a medium accosts Martin and tells him an earth-bound spirit has attached himself to him, and that he'll most likely be bringing him home. Martin's ditzy wife Susan thinks this is rather interesting, until the ghost tears her dress and slaps her arm as she and hubby try to "have dessert". Marital relations go downhill from then on.
7. Long Long Ago - The unnamed narrator is a man who died in the 1740s. The afterlife seems to consist of walking along an unending road, occasionally meeting others along the way. At some point, he meets Movina, a 20yr old woman who died in 1985 after being hit by a car. She convinces him to somehow get inside an odd building they see along the way, and shortly after they finds themselves inside a modern (ie 1986) home. For me, this one is forgettable.
8. A Rational Explanation - Little Jennifer's daddy is dead. One day, in the garden, she hears his voice telling her he's coming home soon. Of course, her mom Karen tells her again that Daddy isn't coming home for a very long time. Jennifer returns to the garden and sees her daddy's head with a mysterious red gash on his forehead. Karen and "Uncle Charlie" think they can continue to spend lots of time together, unless of course Jennifer opens the door for Daddy like he asks...
9. Clavering Retreat - The Buxton family live at No. 27 Sinclair Avenue ("Highwayman's Rest") on the Clavering Retreat estate. Daughter Pat, 16, fell in love as a child with the magnificent beech tree "not twelve feet from her bedroom window". Well, not the tree, apparently, but the ghost of Thomas Sinclair in the tree, who died in 1688. For a few years, due to increasing maturity, her psychic channel with the tree closes. Then situations arise which make her runs to the tree spirit again for comfort. Mostly, arguments with her mother, whom Thomas offers to manifest for, and not in a nice way...
10. The Man on the Frame - In the driving snow, a wanderer stumbles across Windy Folly, a house in the middle of a large moor.
Brian Matthews, "gentleman tramp", is let in by Sebastine Blackstone, the owner. For a remarkably small fee, he is offered dinner and a bed for the night. Before going in to dinner, Brian dozes off and has an encounter with Leonie Rothbury, who was murdered at 18. Dinner proves to be a wonderful meal: unidentifiable meat and vegetables followed by "enriched" bright red jelly and "enriched" coffee. Sleep comes quickly once Brian goes to bed, only to be interrupted by another more intimate encounter with Leonie. This story actually doesn't go the way you'd expect it to and has a neat twist at the end.
From the back flap "The discerning reader will also find more Chetwynd-Hayes own stories tucked away in the the collections of other editors. It is therefore with some justification he has been called "Britain's Prince of Chill"..."
4.
On the whole I'm glad I bought this and happy to keep it. Burl Veneer's comments are a welcome complement to mine.