Ghosts and More Ghosts

Ages: 8 and up Genre: YA, horror (mild)

Robert Arthur Jr. did a lot of work with/for Alfred Hitchcock. In fact, he ghost-wrote as Hitchcock in some cases. He also originated the classic "Three Investigators" YA book series, writing books 1 to 9 and 11. Hitchcock's introductions and epilogues were all done by Arthur (or in the case of books which were written by other authors, by them).

As far as I know he also produced ALL of the books for children and young adults that were released under Hitchcock's imprimatur. There were a lot of great ones; "Ghosts and More Ghosts" is a perfect example.

Some of the "Hitchcock" books were anthologies of stories by various authors, selected and edited by Robert Arthur. But in this case, he wrote ALL of the stories. It's a collection of ghost stories appropriate for older children and young adults.

It's a deeply enjoyable book. Arthur really had a gift for stories that were •perfect• for the young.

I can't be sure since he's not credited, but I strongly suspect that the book was illustrated by Harry Kane–who also illustrated the earlier books in "The Three Investigators" series.

The first story is "Footsteps Invisible", which would have easily made a great episode of "The Twilight Zone". It's a classic ghost story, with the interesting twist that the protagonist is a blind newspaper vendor who's approached one rainy night at his little newsstand in Times Square.

The next story is "Mr Milton's Gift", which would •also• make a great Twilight Zone episode! Come to think of it, most of Robert Arthur's short stories would be great for television–which isn't surprising, since he wrote a lot for television and radio in his career. In any case the meek Mr Milton stumbles on Ye Olde Giftte Shoppe when looking for a present for his wife only to find that the "gifts" for sale aren't the usual sort. It's fun and lighthearted.

I won't detail the rest of the stories in the book. Just let me say that they're all imaginative, memorable, and VERY skillfully plotted and written.

Unfortunately "Ghosts and More Ghosts" is long out of print. You might still find copies in used book shops; the best editions are large hardcovers, but you can also find trade paperbacks (a bit larger than than standard paperbacks). It hasn't been released as an ebook, but you can find PDFs on the high seas.

And you can also borrow it for free from the Internet Archive, thank goodness!

archive.org/details/ghostsmoreghosts00arth

Happy reading! 🤓📖

Ages: 8 and up Genre: YA, horror (mild)

Robert Arthur Jr. did a lot of work with/for Alfred Hitchcock. In fact, he ghost-wrote as Hitchcock in some cases. He also originated the classic "Three Investigators" YA book series, writing books 1 to 9 and 11. Hitchcock's introductions and epilogues were all done by Arthur (or in the case of books which were written by other authors, by them).

As far as I know he also produced ALL of the books for children and young adults that were released under Hitchcock's imprimatur. There were a lot of great ones; "Ghosts and More Ghosts" is a perfect example.

Some of the "Hitchcock" books were anthologies of stories by various authors, selected and edited by Robert Arthur. But in this case, he wrote ALL of the stories. It's a collection of ghost stories appropriate for older children and young adults.

It's a deeply enjoyable book. Arthur really had a gift for stories that were •perfect• for the young.

I can't be sure since he's not credited, but I strongly suspect that the book was illustrated by Harry Kane–who also illustrated the earlier books in "The Three Investigators" series.

The first story is "Footsteps Invisible", which would have easily made a great episode of "The Twilight Zone". It's a classic ghost story, with the interesting twist that the protagonist is a blind newspaper vendor who's approached one rainy night at his little newsstand in Times Square.

The next story is "Mr Milton's Gift", which would •also• make a great Twilight Zone episode! Come to think of it, most of Robert Arthur's short stories would be great for television–which isn't surprising, since he wrote a lot for television and radio in his career. In any case the meek Mr Milton stumbles on Ye Olde Giftte Shoppe when looking for a present for his wife only to find that the "gifts" for sale aren't the usual sort. It's fun and lighthearted.

I won't detail the rest of the stories in the book. Just let me say that they're all imaginative, memorable, and VERY skillfully plotted and written.

Unfortunately "Ghosts and More Ghosts" is long out of print. You might still find copies in used book shops; the best editions are large hardcovers, but you can also find trade paperbacks (a bit larger than than standard paperbacks). It hasn't been released as an ebook, but you can find PDFs on the high seas.

And you can also borrow it for free from the Internet Archive, thank goodness!

archive.org/details/ghostsmoreghosts00arth

Happy reading! 🤓📖