'The Last Bus Home'

The last story in Cold Iron is a traditional tale - Andrea Stephenson conjures up an example of the 'Alas! Poor ghost!' school. In this case a young woman with no money boards a night bus and persuades the driver to give her a lift. She has of course disappeared by the time they reach her stop. This happens several times, but there's a twist. One night the driver gives a colleague a lift home, and he also sees the phantom passenger. The story behind the haunting is told - but there is no solution offered, not really. A ghost of this sort cannot be dealt with, the author points out. Just avoided.

And that brings my running review to an and. I greatly enjoyed Cold Iron: Ghost Stories from the 21st Century. Well done to the contributors, and of course to the editors, Peter Mortimer and Eileen Jones.