PETER Wise has elevated the humble ghost story to a new level.This hefty work, his second book on a spectral theme, is a series of 14 water-related tales.

They are a far, far cry from the hackneyed yarns of a mysterious woman who drowned in a lake 100 years ago and is sometimes seen wandering the shores when there’s a full moon, mourning her lost love.

What makes these yarns so appealing is that they contain settings and events that readers can relate to.Typical is The Byland Blowback, based around a lake beside a ruined 14th century

Cistercian abbey that you can still view in Yorkshire, or Three Tides, that tells of a bomb disposal expert who experiences strange currents around the killing fields of Cambodia.This global range even stretches to India and Zimbabwe.

So where’s the fishing angle, I hear you ask. Well, angling appears in nearly all of the stories. Sometimes it’s centre stage; sometimes only part of the plot.The author is not only well read (one story is a tribute to Henry Williamson’s Salar the Salmon) but he’s equally at home with trout or barbel, carp or tigerfish.

Doncha hate those books where it’s clear that the author knows nothing about which end to hold a rod, but shoe horns in a fishing episode? None of that here.

Wise’s stories have pace, mystery and original twists, as well as being almost credible. If you’re one of those who still believes Lassie haunts that old fireside rug, or that Auntie Ann reminds you to feed the chickens, 20 years after her death, you’ll love this book.

And even if you’re a little bit sceptical about things that go bump in the night, you’ll enjoy the originality of these stories, the more so that they contain a line to another world in more ways than one.

Keith Elliott