Book review September & October 2013

Australian Ghost Stories

(Tales of Mystery & the Supernatural)

selected by and includes an exclusive Introduction by James Doig.

ISBN-13: 978-1840226416

A collection of short stories with an Australian connection, whether by settlers or their decedents. Across this collection there are a couple of stories that draw on mythology for Australia, like The Bunyip, but the others are very general and do not draw on what could have been offered by the history and culture of the island. . For the low cover price on these books it is worth a read.

Titan Books

Sherlock Holmes - The Stuff of Nightmares

James Lovegrove

ISBN-13: 978-1781165416

In the autumn of 1890 a strange figure haunts the streets of London, this strange figure is the scourge of the crime world, but Holmes does not believe he is all that he seems, so when he is called in by Mycroft to investigate a series of bombings in the capital Sherlock's attention is directed at the new apparent champion of the people. A story more in the steam puck nature of the Rodney Downey Jr style Holmes than the Jeremy Brett TV adaptations of the original Conan Doyle stories.

Tales of Mystery & the Supernatural 

- Wordsworth Editions Ltd

The Tangled Skein

By David Stuart Davies

ISBN-13: 978-1840225273

I usually have some doubts when there is a merging of different characters from different works come together but fortunately this does keep the voice of Dr Watson. Holmes takes a lot of convincing when Van Helsing arrives with an account that Dracular is on the prowl. Holmes's investigations return him then to Dartmoor, the setting for Hound of the Baskervilles. An enjoyable read.

Sherlock Holmes and the Hentzau Affair

By David Stuart Davies

ISBN-13: 978-1840225488

This one is the Sherlock Holmes equivalent of the Prisoner of Zenda with Holmes pulled into a story of  royal inheritance, love and betrayal in the Ruritanian court. A pacy and exciting tale one Dr Watson would have been proud of. 

Book review July / August 2013

After reading the original Frankenstein a couple of months back, this period I turned my attention to two ‘sequels’ .

The Revenge of Frankenstein

By Shaun Hutson

Published by  Hammer House of Horror

978-0-099-55623-7

The first is an actual sequel, picking up after the original story as originally adapted by the Hammer House of Horror group into a film. This was their sequel to their film with Dr Frankenstein awaiting execution for his crimes. Somehow he manages to escape, we he would otherwise there would be no story that’s not really a spoiler. He then relocates and begins to rebuild his experiments with terrifying results.  This story does not try to be anything that it’s not, it was made a commercial follow up to a successful film, and I actually enjoyed it.

Monster (A Novel of Frankenstein)

By Dave Zeltserman

Published by Duckworth Overlook 

978-0-715-64509-3

The second book also takes up the story of Dr Frankenstein but this time attempts to reconstruct the original story this time from the monster’s point of view. I admit this book started off for me on the wrong foot, by setting out to announce that Mary Shelly got it wrong, turning Mary Shelly almost into a fictional character who narrated her own book.  Let’s face it, if Mary Shelly had not written the book you would not have anything to work with – so don’t be so arrogant to begin with. It also attempts to accuse the original as depicting the creature created by Frankenstein as being nothing more than a monster but the original certainly gave the creature far more character than I expected.

Towards the middle I started to warm to the book but overall I felt it did not enrich the mythology for me.

Two more autobiographies this period, one a well known Doctor Who companion and the other a much loved actress from Blake’s 7 and a Doctor Who guest star. Both books very revealing.

Fantom Films Limited

From Byfleet to the Bush

By Jacqueline Pearce

978-1-906263-87-4

Jacqueline Pearce will always be known for playing the Federation’s President in the popular cult series Blakes’ 7. Servalan had the glamour and the screen presence but as you read Jac’s own personal account of this period of her life, she neither enjoyed the recognition she deserved as an actress nor the glamour either. This is a very personal and very emotional account of somebody who never really knew who they were because of parental issues so very early in life and never fully found her feet until more by chance as the title implies, she swaps everything for a life looking after monkeys in the South African Bush. Here you will not find funny anecdotes of life on Blake’s 7 but you will find a very personal life exposed.   

http://www.fantomfilms.co.uk/books/jacqueline_pearce.htm

Hines Sight

By Frazer Hines

978-1-84583-997-0

Previously published as Films, Farms and Fillies by Boxtree in 1997

Frazer was not only Jamie in Doctor Who, and Joe Sugden in Emmerdale Farm (Yes it was about a farming community at one time) but he is also a qualified Jockey, and has quite a claim to fame on the cricket pitch as well.  Ok it’s quite well known Mr Hines has an eye for the ladies, and he does not deny it, but here you get to see the other side of the story and the lessons he learnt regarding relationships along the way. Nice one Frazer.

 http://www.frazerhines.com/

The Best British Fantasy 2013

Series Editor Steve Haynes

Published by Salt Publishing 

978-1-907773-35-8

A curious collection of short stories paraded as the best of British fantasy, the introduction admits to being quite loose with the definition of fantasy but I feel it was also been quite loose with the definition of British and Best.

I did enjoy a few of the stories in the collection, but there were several that I found it very hard to care for at all. Stories like ‘The Last Osama’ have me wondering what they are doing in this collection as it certainly does not represent the British aspect of the suggested offering. In other cases I would question dark, being used for 'poor taste'.

The highlight of this collection for me was ‘The Scariest Place in the World’, a clever twist on the ghost story and it is probably no surprise why this story stood out above the rest, having been written by Mark Morris whose Doctor Who novels and audio dramas have entertained for many years. I would recommend those who like Mark’s work to track this little gem down outside of this collection.

Tales of Mystery & The Supernatural

Dracula's Guest & Other Stories               

By Bram Stoker

Published by Wordsworth Editions

978-1-84022-627-0

I read Dracula earlier in the year, this edition was a bumper double book not only containing the original masterpiece of Bram Stoker but the previously publish separate collection of short stories. Now I’m turning my attention to the Dracula’s Guest and Other Stories.

Dracular’s Guest is presented as a separate short story but one that was lifted out of the original due to making Dracula too long, and being too much of a distraction to the original. Some have tried to work out where it would fit into the original story, but as a separate story it returns anyone who has read Dracula back into the Count’s dark world with ease.

The other stories in the collection go on to show an even darker side to Bram Stoker, and the fact the even then he did not pander to delivering a story necessarily for moralistic value. The Dualitists is not a supernatural story but certainly shows Stoker at his more darker side with his protagonists progressing from wanton destruction of property to vicious coldblooded murder and being praised and awarded for their deceit, certainly a story that should be read with great warning still today.

Finally I’m going to finish this review with another audio book. Having raved previously about the Mervyn Stone books by Nev Fountain I was delighted when Big Finished released a new adventure for our reluctant detective.

The Mervyn Stone Mysteries
The Axeman Cometh 
By Nev Fountain
Published by Big Finish Productions

The Axeman Cometh takes Mervyn into the recording studio for an audio re-launch of the drama ‘Vixens from the Void’.  Nothing goes to plan for Meryn’s new script, and that is only the start of things, as he has been warned by ‘a friend’ that to prevent a murder he must attend the recording. Let’s just hope this really isn’t Mervyn’s Last Adventure.

This drama comes over as a full cast audio drama, but with the two leads played by John Banks and Nicola Bryant with other parts played by members of the cast it is really a two hander that give these two performers a chance to really shine and prove what they can do. Listen to it; you would not believe that just two people provide 99% of the voices. The only additional voice comes from Big Finish production but I’ll leave you to spot that.

More details and to order visit the Big Finish website http://www.bigfinish.com/releases/addtobasket/the-axeman-cometh-908

Book review May / June 2013

My pick of the blog this month comes from a Kindle edition, now not owning one of these I had to read the book using the downloaded app, you can get it for iphone, ipads and computers. This is the first e-book I’ve actually read. Although, call me old fashioned if you like, still prefer the physical book I’m sure I’ll be reading others in the future.

Jack and the Lad
By Mickey Mayhew
Kindle Books

Meet Jack and Jamie, the Woodfield twins, although you would not think it to look at them, brothers yes but Jack you would assume was the much older brother. Jack is fit, muscular and well educated doing his degree, Jamie is slight, more immature and struggles to read and sells second hand books on the market.  Neither really gets on. The Woodfields are a large, old family that date back to the days when witchcraft was rife. Set in Barking, Essex and the surrounding area the story pulls a lot from the history of the area, some artistic licence, as well as the modern day setting. As a local to the area I found it particularly entertaining. 

If all the family issues aren’t enough, and the Woodfields are a large colourful family, then the cloud that hangs over the alpha male of the family in the guise of a sex crazed spirit gives the moments of comedy a much darker twist especially as the book rides to the dramatic cliff-hanger in this supernatural romance that spans generations.

Come on Mr Mayhew, don’t make us wait too long for the next part.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Jack-Barrow-Boys-Barking-ebook/dp/B00C4D8CCE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1366974247&sr=8-1&keywords=jack+and+the+lad

 

Hammer House of Horror -

Countess Dracula

By Guy Adams

978-0-09-955386-1

This Hammer’s take on the legend of the woman who became known as Countess Dracula from the middle ages who bathed in virgin blood to maintain her youth.

Lifted to Hollywood, where a failing former silent film star tries to regain her youth and career, well you can practically guess the rest.

Wordsworth Classics -

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, The Merry Men & Other  Stories

By R.L. Stevenson

978-1-85326-061-2

The main story in this collection I remember very well as I had an abridged LP recording read by Tom Baker when I was very much younger, and from the moment I read the opening line, ‘Mr Utterson the lawyer was a man of rugged countenance...’ I could hear Tom’s voice in my head as I read the full story.  This is another of the timeless tales that gets reinvented from time to time, dramatised in many ways leaving you thinking you know the story but not quite. It is only when you read the original do you truly get the despair of Doctor Jekyll and the addiction that Mr Hyde became.

Robert Louise Stephenson investigated the dark side of human nature in some of the other stories in this collection, two of which are very heavy in dialect making them difficult to read. For me none of the other tales came close to Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde in this collection.

http://www.wordsworth-editions.com

Bernice Summerfield

from Big Finish  

             

The Weather on Versimmon

By Matthew Griffiths

978-1-84435-618-8

The Slender-Fingered Cats of Bubastis

By Xanna Eve Chown     

978-1-84435-635-5

Filthy Lucre

By James Parsons & Andrew Stirling-Brown

978-1-78178-114-2

These three novels are designed to accompany some of the recent audio adventure releases, fitting in between box sets. This is the 2011 reboot of the Bernice range, the four available box sets being  Epoch (Sept 2011), Road Trip (Feb 2012), Legion (Sept 2012) & New Frontiers (April 2013).

I listened to the audios before reading the books, so I was already aware of some things before starting the books, however that did not really matter the books can be ready separately, although some understanding of the characters from the audios is recommended.

For me the first was no so inspiring, I felt the The Weather on Versimmon was a story that had been done before and better. An ancient collection of cultural significance is buried on Versimmon, there are those that want it opened up and those that don’t.  The result a lot of running around trying to work out who are the good guys and who aren’t.

The Slender-Fingered Cats of Bubastis that some say can be seem from space however told quite a different story and here the characters from the audio came back to life. I could hear Lisa Bowerman’s voice as I read Bernice’s quips. Indeed here the main players Bernice, Ruth and Jack all capture the audio characters a lot better.  The story has the right amount of craziness that fits a Summerfield adventure along with the suspense to keep you wanting to know just if they really can pull it off. The library of the future says Bernice will write a book of poetry and have it published in a week’s time, but first she must find a missing girl, and possibly save a site of historic significance from the scariest so called archaeologist of all time.

Filthy Lucre – Once again Bernice is in trouble, but then it wouldn’t be an adventure if she wasn’t. This one is slightly more complicated in that you’re not quite certain about the sequence of events until the end, as the chapters start to jump back and forth between what you think is the current time with Bernice and co in trouble on a hijacked freighter to periods she spends with the tycoon of the new vegetable crispy chips company and his passion for archaeology. A good rendition of the characters, including Brax, again you can hear the original voices as you read. I don’t mind stories that switch time period, I do it myself, but I would like to be able to know clearly which order events take place in, which are flash backs and which are current.

Where they fit in:

The Slender-Fingered Cats of Bubastis accompanies Legion

Filthy Lucre accompanies New Frontiers

http://www.bigfinish.com/hubs/v/bernice-summerfield

Afternoon tea with Miss Marple

The Complete Miss Marple Radio Dramas

By Agatha Christie

Staring June Whitfield as Miss Marple & Cast

978-1-4084-6849-4

BBC Audio Go

http://www.audiogo.com/uk/browse-categories/crime-thrillers-mystery/agatha-christie/miss-marple

June Whitfield stars as the interfering busy body Miss Marple, the old girl with a taste for murder, as created by Agatha Christie in these radio adaptations originally produced for BBC Radio. A full supporting cast brings each of the twelve adapted stories to life and keeps you hooked as the mystery becomes all the more perplexing and all the while Miss Marple is determined to keep it simple.

I’ve never actually read any of the books myself, I really should do. The police come of worse that the Yard do in Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, for their complete bewilderment and often bumble around being told to clear off by some of those they want to question – that is if a doctor has not got there first and administered a sedative to keep the suspect from being questioned.

Oh, and if anyone offers you a drink say no, there is bound to be cyanide in there.

Book Review January / February 2013

I decided to tackle some of the classics of the horror genre these last couple of months. 

I'm sure we all think we know these stories but unless you actually read the original, then all you know is an adaptation which in many cases contain just a fraction of what the original author imagined.

Wordsworth Editions - Classics

Frankenstein

By Mary Shelley

ISBN: 9781853260230

We're all familiar with the square headed, lumbering and mono-symbolic monster of the Hollywood films, but the creature originally created by Mary Shelly bears no resemblance to this image. At times he is very articulate and despite being the perpetrator of several murders the reader has to accept a degree of sympathy for him, and the real villain of the piece is the monster's creator Dr Frankenstein. The story is not so much a horror story, having been polished and tweaked by Mary Shelly since its initial concept that wet week spent in Geneva, but is a love story and travel journal of the scientist who gave life to his created cadaver.

Wordsworth Editions - 

Tales of Mystery & The Supernatural

The Phantom of the Opera

By Gaston Leroux

ISBN: 9781840220735

if this was published today no doubt it would find itself on the 'Dark Romance' shelf, for the mysterious phantom is besotted with the opera singer Christine Daaé. When he finds that he cannot have her by fair means then foul will have to do. Again this is another story that has had many variations turned into stage and film, but how many actually capture the true feeling of the original? Presented as a report of an investigation to add further weight to the mysterious detective story.

 

Wordsworth Editions - 

Tales of Mystery & The Supernatural

Dracula and Dracula’s Guest & Other Stories
by Bram Stoker

ISBN: 978-1-84022-627-0

This is a double volume, Dracula and then a short story collection Dracula’s Guest & Other Stories. For the moment I've just read Dracula, the other volume in this book will come later in the year. This is another one those stories you think you know because of the many films and uses of the character, but it's one that I'm ashamed to say I had not got round to reading. For those of you who haven't read it either I suggest you grab a copy or download to your ekindy-pad-dodar-wotsit of choice.

Presented as collection of documents written by several of the main characters of the book, the collected works tell of Mr Harker's initial visit to Count Dracula as he arranges to come and live in England. Obviously not a good advertisement for immigration. The Count arrives and brings with him his dark cloud of vampirism, and soon sets about spreading himself across London. There are points in the book, maybe because we're more familiar with the old vamps these days that you want to take the characters and shake them but remind yourself this is one that set the bar in the first place.

And finally for something a little more modern.

Titan Books

Supernatural: Rite of Passage 
by John Passarella

ISBN: 978-1-78116-111-1

The boys are back! It seems like an age since I last read a book based on the TV series Supernatural. It was great to get into an old banger alongside Sam & Dean with Bobby in toe for an adventure set during series 7.

An Oni is in town, here to cause disaster and death to the local population by manipulating bad luck and disasters waiting to happen so that where ever he goes a trail of devastation follows. But this isn't his first visit, and he's back for a reason...

With Sam having moments of madness and chatting to his old bunk buddy Lucifer, Dean has a lot more to keep his eyes on. The book captures the mood of series 7 well, and provides a nice stop gap between episodes to help any withdrawal symptoms.

For more info on these books:

http://www.wordsworth-editions.com

http://www.titanbooks.com

Book Review Sept / Oct

Wordsworth Classics

The Lost World & Other Stories

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

978-1-85326-245-6

£2.99

The five stories in this collection are:

1) The Lost World

2) The Poison Belt

3) The Land of Mist

4) The Disintegration Machine

5) When the World Screamed

Professor G.E. Challenger is Doyle’s second famous character/world creation past the Holmes and Watson world and “The Lost World” is the most famous of these stories having been adapted several times to tv and film.

The writing style is less forgiving to time then the Holmes stories, but The Lost World is good read provided you keep in mind the period it was written in.

I found Land of Mist quite tedious, as it seemed to struggle with being a story about investigating various supernatural / mystic events and a working paper fighting with itself as to whether the writer believed or not in the phenomena.

It was after this I took a reading break before finishing the last two shorter stories in the collection. By these the wind had expired from Professor G.E. Challenger’s sails and was much less the blustering and foreboding character he started out as being.

Wordsworth Editions

Tales of Mystery & The Supernatural

Children of the Night Classic Vampire Stories

David Stuart Davies     

978-1-84022-546-4   

£2.99

A collection of short vampire stories, or extracts from longer works. Some are more entertaining than others.

The Vampyre a Tale

Varney the Vampyre

The Curse of the Vourdalak

Carmilla

Dracula and the Three Brides

For the Blood is the Life

Good Lady Ducayne

An Episode of Cathedral History

The Horla

Bewitched

The Welcome Visitor

For more details on these books visit http://wordsworth-editions.com

Book Review July / August

I promised I'd fill in the gaps in the missing book reviews, here are the books I should have added for July and August. (Sept/Oct and Nov/Dec will follow shortly...)

The Wolf Gift

By Anne Rice

978-0701187446

£18.99 (Hardback edition)

 

I was looking forward to reading this from the moment I first heard it was announced, the chance to read Anne Rice’s take on the werewolf mythology. Just the title filled me with hope, at last a werewolf that promised not to be moaning about the condition being a curse.

I was not disappointed; as the story unfolded we learnt that the lycanthropes here described themselves as morphen kind, with a rich history behind them. Although the transformation and subsequent events are not always easy for the main character, at last we have somebody that tries to find a way to embrace the gift.

I do hope that more stories emerge for the morphen kind, both past and present in the same way that the Vampire Chronicles gave us a wealth of characters for Anne’s vampires.

For more details visit the official Anne Rice website
http://annerice.com/

BBC Doctor Who Dark Horizons

By J. T. Colgan 

978-1-849-90456-8 

£12.99 (Hardback editition)

A story of a wild and rugged coast line, something deadly at sea and vikings.

The Doctor, travelling alone, is looking for a second player for a game of chess. The wild coast of Scotland at the time of viking invasion is not somewhere he is likely to find a player, but he is likely to find trouble. A well paced exciting adventure for the 11th Doctor and you could imagine Matt Smith's Doctor getting into this sort of trouble.

For more info visit the facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/jtcolgan

Wordsworth Editions:
Tales of Mystery & The Supernatural
Aylmer Vance: Ghost-Seer 
By Alice & Claude Askew
1-84022-539-4
£2.99

Alice and Claude Askew, husband & wife writing team from the early 20th century. First published in 1914, the Aylmer Vance stories were their offering for the supernatural genre. Very popular at the time, but for me slightly dated compared to some of the other writers from around this period.


For more details on this range of books:
http://wordsworth-editions.com

Book Review March / April

Here is this the second of my bi-monthly round ups of my reading list.

“Gallimaufry”, “Look Who’s Talking” & “Second Thoughts”

By Colin Baker

Yes, The Colin Baker of the multicoloured Doctor Who coat fame has penned a collection of short stories. Any viewers of Mr Baker's time as The Doctor will recall his Doctor's love of language, which was obviously an injection into the character by the man himself. Colin's two earlier books were collections of his articles as a columnist from the “The Bucks Free Press”, this time we are treated to ten original short stories of mystery, suspense and recompense and three short stories featuring his incarnation of the space and time travelling Time Lord. And a splendid read they are too. It is one of those books that time literally flies by whilst reading.

This month I have also read the two compendiums of Colin Baker’s articles. The first volume ‘Look Who’s Talking’ covers many topics that he has felt compelled to pen comment on over the last fifteen years. Some articles would put the gathered members of ‘Grumpy Old Men’ to shame with their wit and quite frankly just observations on life. These are a timeless read, irrespective of their age, many articles written fifteen years ago are as pertinent today as they were then.

The second collection, “Second Thoughts” contains another delve into the archives of Mr Baker’s output for The Bucks Free Press, again voicing his opinion on a world gone made, a world of call-centres, phone service menus, customer service (or lack thereof) , his life as The Doctor, as writer and school governor.  These books are worth reading for their humour and to convince yourself there is some sanity left in the world.

Look Who's Talking, Colin's column is available here

The Flight of the Budgerigar.  

By John Leeson

This is the autobiography of John Leeson, from the title you would never guess that he provided the voice for that much loved robot dog K9 from BBC’s Doctor Who, past and present. He was also, for a time, that cuddly talking bear Bungle in Rainbow. But this is the story of an actor who tells a tale of a child living in a haunted house to lecturing on wines and playing the fall guy for Jeremy Beadle.  Is this worth reading? As K9 would say, “Affirmative Master.”

Sherlock Holmes -The Breath of God

By Guy Adams

At the turn of the century Sherlock Holmes finds himself in a world where everything could change. A mysterious death in snow covered London starts a case of the macabre and mysterious. Not only is Holmes joined by his ever trustworthy Watson his path is soon to cross other characters from this period of literature, John Silence, the so-called “Psychic Doctor”; supernatural investigator Thomas Carnacki; and the real life Aleister Crowley as they investigate the cause of this and other strange events.

Personally I didn’t think the novel needed to draw on so many of the other characters, if you don’t know who they all are I suggest a visit to the ‘Wordsworth Editions, Tales of Mystery & The Supernatural’ however even though I was wary of a non Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes I did enjoy it and felt that Holmes and Watson were true to their original characters and the story is again told through the eyes of Watson in much the same way as Watson found himself investigating The Hound of the Baskervilles on behalf of Holmes.

The Shadow Saga - Book One,

Of Saints and Shadows

By Christopher Golden

Christopher Golden the New York Times bestselling author needs no introduction to readers of this genre. I first encountered his books in the Buffy range of books, so when looking for a good read and up came the first novel of The Shadow Saga came my way I just knew I would enjoy it. This is another collection of vampire detective novels, but ‘Of Saints and Shadows’ delivers a mix of Dan Brown’s conspiracy, Anne Rice’s depth of vampire mythology and the detective world of the PI. Should you trust a vampire, some maybe, but certainly not, and should they even trust us and each other.

Personally I can’t wait until I get my hands on the next in the series.

Tales of Mystery & The Supernatural,

All Saints' Eve

By Amelia B. Edwards

Amelia B. Edwards told tales of murder and mystery, and many of these tales were tinged with elements of the supernatural. Although by today’s standards these tales are not scare your pants off, they still provide an enjoyable read and provide sufficient suspense to keep you reading. The ‘Four-fifteen Express’ and ‘Was it an Illusion?’ stood out for me.

For more details:-

Hirst Books, Look Who's Talking By Colin Baker, 978-0-955-71492-4

http://www.hirstpublishing.com/Look_Whos_Talking_by_Colin_Baker/p384445_1156934.aspx

Hirst Books, Second Thoughts By Colin Baker, 978-0-956-64176-2

http://www.hirstpublishing.com/Second_Thoughts_by_Colin_Baker/p384445_1157314.aspx

Hirst Books, Gallimaufry By Colin Baker  Colin, 978-1-907-95902-3

http://www.hirstpublishing.com/Gallimaufry_by_Colin_Baker/p384445_1157152.aspx

Pocket Books, The Shadow Saga               

Of Saints and Shadows By Christopher Golden, 978-1-847-39924-3

http://www.christophergolden.com/shadowsaga.html

Wordsworth Editions, Tales of Mystery & The Supernatural, 

All Saints' Eve By Amelia B. Edwards,  978-1-840-22094-0

http://wordsworth-editions.com/book/edwards-amelia-b./all-saints'-eve

Hirst Books, The Flight of the Budgerigar By John Leeson, 978-1-907-95931-8

http://www.hirstpublishing.com/The_Flight_of_the_Budgerigar_by_John_Leeson/p384445_3668157.aspx

Titan Books, Sherlock Holmes -The Breath of God By Guy Adams, 978-0-857-68282-6

http://titanbooks.com/sherlock-holmes-the-breath-of-god-5415/