Samain

Inspector Henry Beaumont #2

by Meg Elizabeth Atkins

From the moment he walks into Marchsteam, Henry Beaumont knows it is no ordinary village…He has inherited a mysterious house left by his late Aunt, who he has never met. The village is steeped in history and dark secrets, all of which linger in the hidden network of ancient trackways. The eccentric array of inhabitants are no better – haunted by their pasts, plagued by long-lost disappearances and obsessed with the village’s history, they only make Henry even more suspicious. Upon his arrival in the village, Henry spies a solitary woman crossing the common – a figure who looks out of place and time. A woman, it would seem, that no-one appears to have any knowledge of... The circumstances become even stranger, as Henry becomes woven into a curious pattern of events. It's not long before he realises that there is far more going on in the seemingly quiet village of Marchsteam than meets the eye. The date on the calendar draws ever closer to October 31st – a night better known amongst the pagans as Samain. The night when the dead walk amongst the living. The mystery deepens, as he discovers his late Aunt was supposedly involved in witchcraft, and that the old man living in the sinister house that the end of the village is obsessed with finding his missing niece. Are the two connected in some way? When the night of October 31st finally arrives, all the clocks in Henry’s house stop at midnight. And he suddenly realises that there’s no getting out now. He must figure out the truth, no matter what the cost… Samain is a thoroughly gripping thriller, full of dark twists and turns that will keep you guessing with each new page. Meg Elizabeth Atkins has won many plaudits for her fiction on both sides of the Atlantic, and reviewers have compared her to Elizabeth Bowen and Barbara Pym for the elegance of her writing. In several of her earlier novels, such as Palimpsest and Tangle, she has explored the disturbing undercurrents beneath the polite surface of English middle-class life, and in Cruel as the Grave forces erupt through the repression and containment of daily existence with violent consequences. Meg Elizabeth Atkins lives with her husband in a North Yorkshire village. She teaches creative writing and also writes non-fiction books such as Haunted Warwickshire.

Genres: Horror

Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

Reviews

[Josephine (Jo) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Samain is the second book in the Inspector Henry Beaumont series. Although this is listed as a detective story I did not feel that it was actually in that category fully.
When Henry Beaumont is left a cottage by his aunt Bertha in her will he is surprised, he had never met the lady but loved the cottage and it was ideal for him to get away to at the weekends and relax after a long week in the city. When he moves in he is made welcome by his neighbour Lydia and her little dog Wanda. The villagers are in general, friendly but no one is willing to discuss the big house on the hill, not even Lydia. People avoid the area and there are whispers of bad things happening there.
Right next to the big house are a set of standing stones that loom grey and foreboding on the hillside.
Henry is settling in nicely when he discovers that someone has been in his house during his absence and then he is visited by two very strange women who also wish to gain access to the house. The next thing he hears is that some of the villagers believed his aunts was a witch. Lydia confirms that Bertha did have certain abilities to see things and that she was very wise and also that she was afraid of the people at the big house.
The main theme of this story is the supernatural and it is only towards the end that there is any hint of it be a crime novel. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it and it came to an interesting conclusion with a good twist in the tale.

[Nina Braden · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice use of Tarot

[Cathi Penman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book didn't grab me at all unfortunately although I had hoped it would. The title Samhain (pronounced "Sowen") was what hooked me but the vague references to Paganism, Tarot cards and a Book of Shadows were just that - vague. The characters were pretty one dimensional too and I found I wasn't really bothered what happened to them.
Apologies for being so negative but I really couldn't recommend this book.

[Ian Macfarlane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another good story

Another good read by a very good author. The story never lags ,it has comical moments but never loses its slight menace.