What about 'A Jealous Ghost' by A.N. Wilson?

I grovel your mercy in advance, as I read you are not looking for a bunch of short stories. But since
the author IÂm going to propose to you is very well know, I thought you might forgive me.
If you wouldnÂt, tell me my punishment, and I will comply with it.
Anyway the author is Muriel Spark and the book is The Ghost Stories of Muriel Spark

grelobe (shivering)

Richard Matheson wrote some excellent spooky novels.

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James is a short novel - very famous and rightly so. Powerful stuff.

Dido

The best ghost story I have ever read is The Woman in Black by Susan Hill. Brilliant stuff. I've recommended it consistently on RP for several years, and I don't think anyone who has taken my recommendation has been disappointed.

A stage adaptation of the book has been running in the West End for nearly twenty years.

And you have reminded me that I have a copy of The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson which I really must get round to reading.

I completely second Martin's recommendations. And thanks for reviving memories that I DIDN'T want revived! Now I'm going to have to sleep the with lights on AGAIN. ;-)

Thanks to Martin's recommendation, I read The Woman in Black and have to confess that it has become one of my favorite ghost stories. I still remember breaking out in wave after wave of goosebumps while reading the last two pages. I read The Haunting of Hill House a few months ago and enjoyed it, too.

I second James' "Turn of the Screw." (It just does not get any better than this one).

Try looking into the short stories of Daphne duMaurier.

One of my favorite ghost stories is Barbara Michael's Ammie, Come Home, set in Georgetown during the 60's or so, but drawing on colonial history.

I second (or third....) The Woman in Black and The Haunting of Hill House!

Turn of the Screw is the preeminent ghost story, of course-but I bet you've read it.

oh yes, Ammie, Come Home is a good one.
as a side note, Barbara Michaels is also Elizabeth Peters, of Emerson and Amelia fame. She's written 29 gothics under the Barbara Michaels name. Don't know if any of the others are ghostish.

Two of my favorite ghost stories are actually full-length books: The Uninvited by Dorothy Macardle and Tryst by Elswyth Thane. The former was made into a movie in the 1940s that's quite all right for its time, but the book is so much better! The latter is just about the most romantic ghost story I've ever read: very 1930ish, I'd say, and that's a good thing to me! I don't know how easy it would be to acquire these books, though.

A couple of short stories that haven't been mentioned come to my mind: "Tryst with the White Lady" by Lucy Maud Montgomery and Edith Wharton's "Afterward." It's been a long time since I read them, but I recall that I thought they were deliciously chilling.

Oh, I'd forgotten about Tryst - probably because I was thinking 'spooky' and Thane's story is not spooky at all, but wonderfully romantic. My copy is an old paperback from the early 70's, that gets pulled out for a re-read every few years.

Cece, I've read some of Michaels' other spooky thrillers, and I still like Ammie, Come Home the best.

Martin, I'm ashamed to admit that, having seen The Woman in Black in the West End, I had no idea that it was a book. I'll be checking it out of the library asap!

PAM,
Any titles by Barbara Michaels will be ghost/spirit stories.
They are easy to read usually involving very strong women as main characters and not stories which will keep you awake at night! ( Unless you are really wimpy, wimpy, wimpy! :0)

Yvonne

Hi friends,
So many choices! Oh THANK YOU.

Ill be checking my library first for Ammie, Come Home, Tryst, The Uninvited, The Haunting of Hill House and The Woman in Black; and also Richard Matheson's books. If they aren't available there, I'll be searching for used copies online. You are all so wonderfully knowledgeable, thank you.

Yes, The Turn of the Screw was FANTASTIC, thank you. But this time, I need something a bit (Just a bit) more modern. I'll check out the other Barbara Michaels, but they don't sound "traditionally ghostly" enough. And I adore Edith Wharton... never heard of Afterward.

grelobe, no shivering nor punishment necessary. Thank you for the recs. I made a list and included the short stories for later!

Interestingly enough, no one mentioned Stephen King! I am not looking for a book by him anyway.. but I just thought it was interesting.

Appreciating your input,
PAM

I'm going to pick up Muriel Sparks collection today - thanks for reminding me of her! Oh yes, Woman in Black; must remember to re-read that in October, preferably some dark and stormy night. RP is the place for ghost story recommendations!

A couple more, neither of them particularly spooky, but more about what it is be a ghost, or why would one become a ghost rather than move on:

Laura Whitcomb, A Certain Slant of Light, 2 ghosts with unresolved guilt from their deaths can't give up their pretense at life, but take over the bodies of 2 'absent' teens;

Peter Beagle, A Fine and Private Place, same theme as Tryst (i.e. love between ghosts; the title comes from Donne "The grave's a fine and private place, none I think do there embrace"), but handled oh-so-differently...

Another more recent book by Peter S. Beagle is Tamsin. It's a "young adult" novel. I thought it was a very satisfying ghost story.

Freidag and Donnamira. I absolutely loved Tryst. I first read it as a teen. Every once in a while, I'll reread it and fall in love with it again.

Martin, I think it was your recommendation that caused me to pick up The Woman in Black. It gave me shivers all right. I don't know if I'll ever read it again, but I certainly won't forget it.

Donnamira, I had forgotten about A Fine and Private Place. I read that several years ago, but unfortunately, don't remember the story well. I'm going to have to find a copy and re-read it.

Ok, I guess his stuff's not necessarily ghost stories but .... no one has, as yet, recommended H.P. Lovecraft's works. They may not be ghost stories (I think he had at least one) but they're nice, eerie, creepy, scary stories.

What think you all of Lovecraft?

donnamira,
I am off to the library today and shall look for both of them, thanks!
PAM

Donnamira, that quote isn't from John Donne, it's from Andrew Marvell (same approximate period, though).

The Burning Court by John Dickson Carr gave me the shivers.

I haven't read Woman in Black but did see the play. My (adult) daugher grabbed my arm and screamed at one point. I'll look for the book.

rule34, see what happens when I depend on my memory instead of checking the book, all because I was too lazy to walk downstairs to where the book is shelved. tsk tsk *s* thanks for the correction!

smallcoffee, I had forgotten that Beagle's Tamsin is also a ghost story. I remember it more for the Wild Hunt mythology, but you're right - it's a satisfying read.