Le Fanu, rated by M.R. James as the best ghost story writer there is, had a command of prose unlike any other writer. Ingeniusly plotted, superbly crafted. If you read one book on this list...

THE master of understatement and ambiguity, and by far the best horror writer of the post-war period, Aickman created haunting atmosphere's out of simply everyday life like no one else could

Walter De La Mare was a master of the form. His tales are so poetically subtle, half the time you won't know why your spine is chilled. 'All Hallows' is a work of under-stated genius

Few of Poe's horror tales are outright ghost stories, and this finely illustrated collection includes many of his detective pieces as well, but if anyone is required reading Poe is. Quoth the raven...

Though he wrote only few genuine ghost stories, Algernon Blackwood was a milestone writer in supernatural literature, whom H.P. Lovecraft 'borrowed' an awful lot of his style from

Ignore his early Lovecraftian nonsense and you have here the best collection of probably the only first rate contemporary supernaturalist, who has just the right balance of amiguity and direct horror

Little of Buchan's works are genuine ghost stories, more like supernatural tales with a strong sense of folklore about them. Fantastic prose and a sense of the pagan which rivals Algernon Blackwood

Kirk was the best American horror writer of the latter 20th century unquestionably. Far more subtle than King or Koontz and much smarter too. 'There's A Long, Long Trail A-Winding' is his masterpiece

No 'exceedingly good cakes' or singing bears here, but a welcome mastery of both traditional terror as well as profoundly and well observered psychological horror too. Unique, eclectic, classic

Again, pricey, but until it's reprinted this is the only way to read Benson's ghost stories. He wrote many quite average tales, but stories like 'Pirates' and 'A Tale of an Empty House' are fantastic

Overshadowed by his more famous Sherlock Holmes stories, Arthur Conan Doyle was a masterful and innovative writer of supernatural horror, with more than a few damn fine ghost stories in his repertoire

There is a more complete Wordsworth edition available, but this is truly the best of Edith Wharton's highly Henry James-esque ghost stories. Fab illustrations too!