M.R. James was a master of the ghost story and supernatural fiction. His tales combine historical and academic settings with creeping dread, spectral visitation, and atmospheric menace. James established conventions that influenced generations of horror writers, relying on suggestion and gradual tension rather than explicit gore. His protagonists often stumble upon buried secrets or cursed objects, triggering supernatural consequences rooted in folklore and the uncanny. New readers should expect literary horror that builds slowly—the most effective stories achieve dread through setting and implication rather than action. His work remains influential because the scares feel earned and inevitable, emerging naturally from the narrative logic.