The Far Traveller -- great ghost story

The Far Traveller
by Manning Coles
Rue Morgue Press, 2001

This ghost story was originally published in 1956, and I was fortunate enough to stumble across it in a library in the early 1970's. When I tried back then to get my own copy, I discovered that it was out of print. And in those pre-internet days, it was impossible to find; used book stores just didn't carry it. When it disappeared from library shelves as well, I gave up hope. So it was a delightful surprise a few years ago to discover that Rue Morgue Press had released a paperback edition of this and a couple other Manning Coles fantasies. I immediately bought a copy and discovered that the story is as good as I'd remembered it.

In post-War Germany an American director arrives in the village of Grauhugel to make a film in the local castle based on the life of a Graf who's lived and died there almost 90 years before, inspired by local legends that the Graf's spirit still walked the halls. When his star falls on the stairs of the castle and must be replaced, the director is thrilled when suitably aristocratic gentleman and his servant arrives on the scene and offers him the part. The newcomer is actually the ghostly Graf himself. He takes the acting job to give himself the chance to right old wrongs that have prevented him and his servant from moving on.

Fans of Thorne Smith's Topper novels (and the movies based on them) will love this amusing ghost story.