The Casebook of Carnacki Ghost Finder by W. H. Hodgson

[robot_mel]

This book was really fun Edwardian Occult mystery fiction. A collection of short stories that are narrated by a friend of the Ghost Finder who goes over to his house for dinner to hear the stories related. A rather odd and un-necessary convention but really the only complaint I have. The stories were genuinely spooky; it was great to read a book where the hero spent half his time cowering in magic circles waiting for dawn. It was nice to see that despite his interest Carnacki wasn’t full of bravado but legitimately terrified of the terrors that he sought out. I also really liked how these stories were a complete mix of the actual supernatural and the mundane. I think this really added to the story, as I never knew whether the terrifying event would turn out to be real or not. There was also one story that was not at all supernatural but was about a man who had a second copy of a book that was supposed to only have one copy in existence and Carnacki was able to detect how the forgery was made, which of course I found fascinating. There were also some great Edwardian devices, such as the electric pentacle, which Carnacki had invented to protect himself. I had not heard of W. H. Hodgson before, Bill had read a different short story of his before and loved it and I would highly recommend him to anyone interested in Victorian or Edwardian ghost stories.