Richard Henry Malden (1879–1951), Vicar of Headingley, Leeds, and later, and until the end of his life, Dean of Wells Cathedral, knew M. R. James for more than thirty years, and greatly admired his friend's ghost stories. The stories in NINE GHOSTS, Malden's only collection of supernatural fiction, were intended as a tribute to James's memory. In the years that have elapsed since the book's first publication, however, Malden has emerged as more than merely an imitator of James's style, and is now regarded as one of the finest ghost story writers of the last century.