Rating: 
Summary: This and M R James
Review: I don't much like ghost stories, but these and the ones by M R James really stand out from the pack. Atmospheric, inventive, and original. In "Carmilla" LeFanu invented the vampire story, and with its subtle horrors and hints of lesbianism, it is at least as good as Dracula. Rich and intricate prose.
Rating:
Summary: This and M R James
Review: I don't much like ghost stories, but these and the ones by M R James really stand out from the pack. Atmospheric, inventive, and original. In "Carmilla" LeFanu invented the vampire story, and with its subtle horrors and hints of lesbianism, it is at least as good as Dracula. Rich and intricate prose.
Rating: 
Summary: The Most Powerful Collection of Ghost Stories Ever Published
Review: I have probably read this book more often than any other book on my shelves. In the creation of mood, the elaboration of motifs and their own inexorable progression beyond the veil of reality into the numinous, these tales have never been excelled. As highly respected a practitioner of the ghost story as Montague Rhodes James wrote:"He stands absolutely in the first rank as a writer of ghost stories. That is my deliberate verdict, after reading all the supernatural tales I have been able to get hold of. Nobody sets the scene better than he, nobody touches in the the effective detail more deftly." I first read "Green Tea" in the mammoth Modern Library anthology GREAT TALES OF TERROR AND THE SUPERNATURAL at about the age of 11 after reading several tales by Poe. Poe I had found fascinating, feverish and disturbing, but this tale terrified me. Unlike Poe's often dream-like excursions, the settings in Le Fanu's works are quite concretely of this world. The characters are tied to this world by the same dull occupations and concerns with commerce or law that dog us to this day. However, a subtle intrusion is soon seen or otherwise makes itself felt, and from this point the conclusion, no matter how surprising, is inevitable. Nothing will save the seemingly upright man from "The Familiar." Nothing anyone does in their ineffectual way will keep the beloved of "Schalken the Painter" from her fate as a death-bride. A more lyrical version of the same motif appears in a less unified, but equally fine tale set in the aftermath of the Jacobite Rebellion in Ireland. "Squire Toby's Will" both as document and motive force will have its way no matter how what is done in an attempt to circumvent it. The implications of the haunting in "Green Tea," wherein a man falls subject to demonic harrassment by making his presence know to those from outside through the slightest of infractions - I am abusing caffeine by way of sipping an enormous glass of green tea as I write this - terrified me when I read it 30-odd years ago and continues to terrify me to this day. "An Authentic Narrative of a Haunted House," with its seemingly inexplicable haunting, "Mr. Justice Harbottle," which raises the question, "Whose justice are we seeing here?" "Carmilla", whose final line hints that the victimization may have ended only with the heroine's death, and the short novel "The Haunted Baronet," in which nature itself seems to be imbued with the evil genius presiding over the title character's doom are just a few of the tales in this volume that have haunted me for decades. There is nothing else quite like them in literature, their mixture of fantasy and reality, illusion and verisimilitude is so assured. As bonuses to an already excellent volume, E. F. Bleiler's introduction and notes are exemplary and though a large paperback, it is solidly bound in signatures, with durable, laminated cover stock, uses acid free paper and is better made than a majority of hardcovers.
Rating:
Summary: Very Fine
Review: LeFanu is one of the great ghost-story writers. Not as wonderful, to be sure, as the incomparable M.R.James, but in the same class as Oliver Onions and vastly superior to the curiously overrated H.P. Lovecraft. There are faults, of course. Among them are redundancy and an excessively Victorian style. He is, nevertheless, one of the greats.
Rating:
Summary: Very Fine
Review: LeFanu is one of the great ghost-story writers. Not as wonderful, to be sure, as the incomparable M.R.James, but in the same class as Oliver Onions and vastly superior to the curiously overrated H.P. Lovecraft. There are faults, of course. Among them are redundancy and an excessively Victorian style. He is, nevertheless, one of the greats.
Rating: 
Summary: Very Pleasing
Review: LeFanu is one of the top-tier ghost-story writers. Although M.R. James reigns supreme over that particular domain, LeFanu is one of its princes (as is Oliver Onions, though I don't believe that the same can be said for the curiously overrated H.P. Lovecraft). This particular collection will be a joy to any and all enamored of classic ghost stories -- despite unmistakable redundancies and Lefanu's fondness for excessively oratund language.
Rating:
Summary: Very Pleasing
Review: LeFanu is one of the top-tier ghost-story writers. Although M.R. James reigns supreme over that particular domain, LeFanu is one of its princes (as is Oliver Onions, though I don't believe that the same can be said for the curiously overrated H.P. Lovecraft). This particular collection will be a joy to any and all enamored of classic ghost stories -- despite unmistakable redundancies and Lefanu's fondness for excessively oratund language.
Rating:
Summary: Classic psychological chills.
Review: Not only would I say that Lefanu is superior to the supposedly incomparable M.R. James, he actually rivals Poe in terms of psychological profundity and intellectual denseness. These tales are meticulously crafted and some of them are inexhaustible in their potential readings. M.R. James, on the other hand, is a pleasure to read, to be sure, but shallow when placed alongside the likes of Lefanu. I have nothing against James but he is strangely over-rated for some reason. Lefanu, Onions, Poe and Lovecraft I would have to rate ahead of him, with Lefanu and Poe at the top.
Rating:
Summary: Not your standard ghostly fare
Review: Probably the most distinguishing characteristic of LeFanu's writing to me is that he doesn't explain why something is happening in his stories. Ghosts search through drawers, skeletons are dug up, heroes disappear, and barons die of unseen causes, and we are never told what happened. LeFanu doesn't necessarily explain the motives and occurrences of his stories and loose ends are not all tied up. At first, I was unsure about what to think; what kind of ghost story doesn't explain all the events at the end? How am I supposed to be terrified if I don't know the ultimate cause of Baron X's demise? The method of storytelling began to grow on me, though, and I now feel that a lack of resolution on every issue creates a better story. Why should the supernatural be fully explained in 20 pages? When the reader is demoted from an omniscient viewpoint to that of only an eyewitness, the tale is more compelling. My favorite stories are probably "Sir Dominick's Bargain" and "An Authentic Narrative of a Haunted House," the former for its mood and atmosphere, and the latter for its minimalist telling. "The Haunted Baronet" is another excellent story, with strong attention to detail and background that help in the story-telling; it was a very satisfactory read. "The Fortunes of Sir Robert Ardagh" is the same story told sans background and detail, and is clearly inferior. The other stories I enjoyed based on the setting, which is 19th century Ireland, which evokes a mood much like James'. Overall, it is the sort of book that makes you wish for a warm fireplace and a stormy night. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Not your standard ghostly fare
Review: Probably the most distinguishing characteristic of LeFanu's writing to me is that he doesn't explain why something is happening in his stories. Ghosts search through drawers, skeletons are dug up, heroes disappear, and barons die of unseen causes, and we are never told what happened. LeFanu doesn't necessarily explain the motives and occurrences of his stories and loose ends are not all tied up. At first, I was unsure about what to think; what kind of ghost story doesn't explain all the events at the end? How am I supposed to be terrified if I don't know the ultimate cause of Baron X's demise? The method of storytelling began to grow on me, though, and I now feel that a lack of resolution on every issue creates a better story. Why should the supernatural be fully explained in 20 pages? When the reader is demoted from an omniscient viewpoint to that of only an eyewitness, the tale is more compelling. My favorite stories are probably "Sir Dominick's Bargain" and "An Authentic Narrative of a Haunted House," the former for its mood and atmosphere, and the latter for its minimalist telling. "The Haunted Baronet" is another excellent story, with strong attention to detail and background that help in the story-telling; it was a very satisfactory read. "The Fortunes of Sir Robert Ardagh" is the same story told sans background and detail, and is clearly inferior. The other stories I enjoyed based on the setting, which is 19th century Ireland, which evokes a mood much like James'. Overall, it is the sort of book that makes you wish for a warm fireplace and a stormy night. Enjoy!
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