The Whitechapel Demon

The Adventures of the Royal Occultist #1

by Joshua Reynolds

Formed during the reign of Elizabeth I, the post of the Royal Occultist was created to safeguard the British Empire against threats occult, otherworldly, infernal and divine.

It is now 1920, and the title and offices have fallen to Charles St. Cyprian. Accompanied by his apprentice Ebe Gallowglass, they defend the battered empire from the forces of darkness.

In the wake of a séance gone wrong, a monstrous killer is summoned from the depths of nightmare by a deadly murder-cult. The entity hunts its prey with inhuman tenacity even as its worshippers stop at nothing to bring the entity into its full power... It's up to St. Cyprian and Gallowglass to stop the bloodthirsty horror before another notch is added to its gory tally, but will they become the next victims of the horror guised as London's most famous killer?

In the tradition of William Hope Hodgson's Carnacki the Ghost-Finder, Josh Reynolds presents the Adventures of the Royal Occultist. Join Charles St. Cyprian and Ebe Gallowglass as they race to halt the workings of a sinister secret society and put an end to the monstrous manifestation in THE WHITECHAPEL DEMON!

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Supernatural, Urban Fantasy, Mystery, Fantasy

200 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 5, 2013

About the author

Josh Reynolds’ work has previously appeared in such anthologies as Historical Lovecraft from Innsmouth Free Press and Horror for the Holidays from Miskatonic River Press, and his novel, Knight of the Blazing Sun, is currently available from Black Library. He can be found at: http://joshuamreynolds.wordpress.com

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

Reviews

[Michael Fierce]

Took nearly a decade to track down a paperback edition of this rare gem but finally was able to. Charles St. Cyprian and Ebe Gallowglass series of short stories and novels are super fun and sad to me they aren't better known!

It's true it would be hard to find this but you can read other Charles St. Cyprian and Ebe Gallowglass stories in the more recently printed Casefiles of the Royal Occultist: Monmouth's Giants I own but haven't read. Like most Sherlock Holmes stories or comic book serials which this falls about halfway between they are mainly stand-alone adventures and don't necessarily have to be read in any particular order as far as I could tell.

[DarkChaplain]

I've got to admit, I'm not as well-versed on the topic of occult detectives as I would like. Truth be told, I have never read any of the stories William Hope Hodgson wrote about Carnacki, the Ghost Finder. While I have been meaning to fix those obvious gaps in my reading, I think that it is fair to say that Josh's novel here is my first real foray into the genre.

Having just finished The Whitechapel Demon, as well as the short excerpt of the sequel at the back of the book, I am looking forward to turn my trip to the realm of occult detectives into a more permanent stay.

People following my reviews, especially as of late, will probably already know that I have a great amount of appreciation for Josh's writing abilities. He's got the humor down in ways that I myself could never hope to mimic.

These skills absolutely pay off in this novel. There is no shortness of comedic relief in The Whitechapel Demon. Charles St. Cyprian, the Royal Occultist and protagonist of the series, as well as his "assistant" Ebe Gallowglass, make for a wonderfully humorous, and human, duo. The dynamic between the two characters is top-notch. The supporting cast, including the antagonists, all added their little somethings to the highly satisfying pool of characters.

But it is not just the humor that makes The Whitechapel Demon a cracking read. Reynolds managed to achieve an excellent balance between comedic relief and an everpresent tension throughout the novel. While St. Cyprian and Gallowglass are prone to wise-crack in tough situations, or mock one another as part of their daily routine, Josh managed to nail the transitions between jokes and serious situations. There is ample opportunity to look behind the fascades of our protagonists, and see the insecurities and fears they are trying to mask through jest.

Now on to the occult part of the story. The novel sees the return of an iconic, tophat-wearing killer, summoned back from the dead. If you know your british mysteries, you'll probably recognize the fellow when looking at the cover. The exact details and circumstances of the summoning I will not elaborate on.

I will, however, say that the author managed to create a very menacing, dangerous antagonist for this novel, taking historic facts as well as myth and speculation to paint a truly haunting picture.
St. Cyprian is forced to race against time in his efforts to outwit the thing from beyond our reality, and hopefully send it back, never to return.
The use of occult themes, references to Carnacki (who is depicted as St. Cyprian's own predecessor) and co, symbolism and a good bit of cynicism all make for a very exciting book.

Clocking in at only about 180 pages, The Whitechapel Demon is a comfortable weekend read. Josh's dynamic writing pulls the reader in, makes him laugh and feel the tension grow. With The Adventures of the Royal Occultist, he's got a winning formula on his hands, as far as I am concerned. It is refreshing and makes you ask for more.

And there will be more. The final pages of the book present the reader with the prologue and first chapter of the sequel, The Jade Suit of Death. The prologue picks up about two months after TWD's epilogue, and wets your appetite some more. I for one am really looking forward to the next book in this series.

For the time being, however, I will be reading the short stories Reynolds wrote about Charles and Ebe, published in The Royal Occulst Primer. You can download the PDF for free on Josh's site, and get a taste of what makes this particular book so good:
http://royaloccultist.wordpress.com/2014/03/19/the-royal-occultist-primer/

[Riju Ganguly]

When we think of Occult Detectives, several types & tropes immediately come to our minds. These can be summarised as: an individual, accompanied by a loyal & courageous person, trying to deal with phenomena which are beyond the jurisdiction of the socially accepted agencies (Police, Military, Medical establishments, etc.), with resources at hand that can be either very exotic or very mundane (e.g. shooting at the phenomena repeatedly, until the problem ceases to exist). From Le Fanu’s Dr. Martin Hesselius (sympathetic, but mind-numbingly ineffective) to gun-toting monster-hunters splashed across the pulps, we really have a lot of them. The present book, intriguingly, takes a very interesting position. Its protagonist, Charles St. Cyprian, the Royal Occultist, is a human being who is intelligent, witty, sympathetic, resourceful (in terms of knowledge, as well as more material things), and yet suffering from the weaknesses that differentiates human beings from superman. He is literally a successor to William H. Hodgson’s Carnacki (using similar equipment while trying to deal with supernatural nasties), but very closely resembles Kim Newman’s Charles Bureaugard (of Diogenes Club). His assistant Ms. Gallowglass, on the other hand, is one of the most action-loving personalities to have ever graced this genre, bringing this novel closer to the vigorously pulpy monster-hunting territory than those charted by Flaxman Lowe, Carnacki, Aylmer Vance, et.al.

The novel is a “blast”, and that’s putting it mildly. It has more blood, more action, more horrific imagery, and more terrifying jolts, than can be found in a whole set of books belonging to this genre. But this emphasis on explosive action comes neither at the expense of story (which lodges a tenacious hook into the reader’s mind in the first few pages, and then drags the hapless reader till the end, where one is forced to read the teasing bits of the next novel), nor at the expense of characterisation (the witty dialogues and gentle touches of humour helps one to see past the foggy & grimy ambience). It makes for a very auspicious beginning of a series, and I can only hope that the author would be able to maintain this pace & tautness in future novels & stories as well. Highly Recommended.

[Stuart]

Quite possibly my book of 2014 so far.

[Adam Selby-Martin]

I was lucky enough to get to read this at Halloween last year, when Emby Press generously allowed it to be downloaded for free. I have been a big fan of Mr Reynold's work from Black Library, particularly his take on Gotrek and Felix and other areas (in particular, try and get hold of a copy of the OOP 'Knights of the Blazing Saddle', which is a brilliant novel), but was interested to see how he developed an original IP with another publisher,

I wasn't disappointed. This is a brilliant read! Following the character of Charles St. Cyprian, the latest in a long line of Royal Occultists (Boogeyman-Slayer by appointment to the Crown) and his long-suffering assistant Ebe Gallowglass, we see them try and track down the cause of a series of grisly murders that worryingly bear the hallmark of a certain hopefully-deceased serial killer who liked to prey on young ladies.

It's a cracking story, to use a phrase, and doesn't slow down very much - you don't got more than a few pages without a punch-up or the duo chasing (or being chased) by the ghostly Ripper, and it leads to a great conclusion. The characters are well-written and nicely varied; we get to see the rapport between the debonair St. Cyprian and the slightly mysterious Gallowglass (a real Jeeves and Wooster relationship), and the society that raises (only partially-successfully) the Ripper are a bunch of caddish upper-class types who quickly get over their heads in trouble, and are sufficiently evil-like that it’s a pleasure to see them come to their various demises. But for me the real stand-out character, and the most memorable, was the Ripper itself. I don’t want to spoil the story too much, but the author really developed the character well, creating an intriguing killer – an apex predator, a very shark-like beast from beyond the void. I hope that there is some way that Mr Reynolds can bring it back for another round with the Royal Occultist in a future book.

In summary – great plot, interesting, varied characters, and a setting I want to read more in. Go get a copy!

[Michael Dodd]

There's a saying that if you want something doing you should ask a busy person to do it; well Josh Reynolds should be considered at the top of any shortlist of candidates. His published output so far in 2014 comes to 12 short stories, 3 novellas, 5 novels and 1 audio drama, with a further 18 pieces of work listed on his website with publication dates still to come. His work spans many publishers, and characters both well-known and less so, including his own Adventures of the Royal Occultist series, the first novel of which is 2013's The Whitechapel Demon. Set in 1920s London this follows the adventures of Charles St. Cyprian and Ebe Gallowglass as they tackle the kind of jobs that the police aren't qualified for, such as dealing with a blood-hungry mummy and trying to stop the reincarnated Jack the Ripper from continuing on his bloody rampage through the East End of London.

Read the rest of the review at http://trackofwords.wordpress.com/201...

[Alyssa Stevens]

Suspenseful historical paranormal thriller

I very much enjoyed this book, it was a very fast paced, well-written story with likeable characters and a unique storyline. Set in 1920 London, the main character, Charles St. Captain, is the head occultist for the British government. He's the one they call when things get weird, in this case an unexpected evil entity roaming around London. Atmospheric, chilling, but with some humor and lots of action. Sort of a paranormal Sherlock Holmes vibe...very cool and I look forward to reading more from this author!

[Jennifer Ramsey]

To be truthful, I bought this book on the strength of its cover alone. I love the dark, mysterious feel to the artwork. At times the book is overly wordy and sometimes I felt bogged down in the details, but it had a lot to live up to with such an excellent cover. The characters were very compelling though sometimes their dialogue could become trite and clichéd. Despite the few issues, I enjoyed this read. It felt very...honest in its portrayal of events.

[Critics Cabal]

Ahhhh, the occult. Always a fascinating subject, the desire for supernatural power has sometimes even driven events in the real world. From the works of Aleister Crowley to the reminders that today’s mythologies were yesterdays religions, we cannot help but be drawn to the wonders and awe of magic, demons and the other side...

To read the rest of the review, click here.

[Sadie Forsythe]

3.5
I quite enjoyed that.

Things I liked:
-Interesting characters
-smooth, humorous dialogue
-two male/female partnerships that didn't involve romance (that's possible you know)
-incidental inclusion of LGBT individuals (ok, a gay man, but it's a start)

Things I didn't like:
-the villains were too slapstick
-the era-speak and witticisms in the face of danger went over the top
-the evil entity was defeated too easily
-too many easy, throw-away deaths
-needed a tad more editing

[Stefanie]

I downloaded this book on a whim and am glad I did. It's a terrific adventure, if a bit bloody (the title is a giveaway on that point, I know), with intriguing characters and a storyline that kept me hooked until the end. I'm looking forward to reading the next one in this series.

[Cameron Schy]

Managed to get on the kindle store for free - would have been well worth it's normal price. Not my usual fare but a fun read with humor and plenty of fantasy / paranormal elements

[Jen]

M'eh. It was a pretty good, but not quite what I was hoping for. I won't be seeking out the rest of these.

[Sónia Tigol]

This book was a really good read.
The characters were interesting, entertaining and the plot was very captivating.
This was a really nice book to read.

[Marcos]

short but entertaining

[Dawn]

The story started off strong then fell into predictability. I couldn't engage with the characters and couldn't care less what happened to them. I doubt I'll bother with the sequel.

[Sean Robson]

The Whitechapel Demon is the first novel in The Adventures of The Royal Occultist series, and was my first introduction to Charles St. Cyprian, an occult sleuth who holds the office of Royal Occultist, which was established in the sixteenth century by Elizabeth I for John Dee. Put simply, it is the duty of St. Cyprian and his apprentice, Ebbe Gallowglass, to counter supernatural menaces that are beyond the conventional scope of His Majesty's government; a duty that pushes them to their limits when cultists of the Whitechapel Society attempt to call up the spirit of Jack the Ripper and instead attract the attention of something far worse: a demonic entity that wriggles its way through non-Euclidian angles and into our world.

The Whitechapel Demon fires on all cylinders and has everything that I love in a story: mad cultists, sinister demons, compelling characters, and frequent dashes of humour. Josh deftly balances setting and pace, firmly grounding the novel in 1920 London while carrying us from scene to scene maintaining dramatic tension along the way. This is no easy thing to do, but the story is so eloquently written that it is easy to forget you're reading a book and not careening through the streets of Whitechapel in the rumble seat of St. Cyprian's car with the hounds of hell breathing down your neck.

The characters are equally well-written. St. Cyprian is a suave and charming Oxford man, an occult scholar, and veteran of the Great War who has his own inner demons to battle in addition to those conjured up by malfeasant miscreants. His counter-part, Ms. Gallowglass, plucked from the mean streets of Cairo, is quick on the draw with sarcastic remarks, vulgar gestures, or lethal volleys of gunfire as circumstances demand, and she is an excellent foil for her mentor: a pugnacious and irascible Watson to St. Cyprian's Holmes.

[Robert]

Detective of the supernatural in the 1920s. Constantine if written by an American.

Funny
Good plot
Characters interesting enough
Pace decent

[Joseph Fleming]

Below Expectations

Characters were good but story line weak with too much unexplained . heavy use of colloquial terms slowed down reading.

[Jules]

Despite the fact that there are so many good points of this book, it took me longer that it should to merge my mind with the fictional universe. It is ultimately a lack of compatibility between me and the book rather than the book being bad.

The plot develops in the time of 1920 in London. The language abound of that time English vocabulary with English jokes, word play, and mostly gibberish. You have the classic erratic detective couple but instead of solving a murder made by a human criminal they find monsters of the undead, then punish and banish them back to the void.

What I find the most interesting is the alternating of terror scenes and parody nonsense. The description of the monsters and other elements of occultism is incredible well done and you can feel the fear and tension… but then you witness a food fight with flour and dough. Personally I liked this composition.

The end of the book left a lot of things unfinished for the sequel to tie on. While the Chip and Dale action couple are mysterious and have a lot of things uncovered about their past, you don't have any other characters to relate to; the secondary characters are just bland paper faces, nothing more.

I do recommend reading out loud the descriptive passages about the monsters and slaughtering at a fire pit gathering with friends, crapping in pants and vivid nightmares guaranteed.

PS: What is the deal with the Oxford-Cambridge grudge?

PPS: This novel definitely needs an audiobook. For listening around the aforementioned fire pit with friends

[Matthew]

Josh Reynolds is not only a prolific author, he's a damned good one at that.

With the Whitechapel Demon, he takes the Ripper legend, rips it apart and uses it to cause mayhem, murder and bloody death across Whitechapel and other nefarious parts of London.

Seances, 'Wizards', sidekicks with quips that come out faster than a machine gun, as well as an introduction to a Webley revolver I had never heard of, make this book a must-have. The kindle price is less than that of a coffee and bun in Starbucks and lasts even longer. I heartily recommend you get this, you won't regret it.

I for one can't wait for the sequel to come out. I just hope that it's set on Dartmoor.

[John R. Dailey Jr.]

A GRAND TALE OF THE SHERLOCK HOLMES OF GHOST BUSTERS IT IS..

Hello, a very well written and entertaining tale of the "ROYAL OCCULTIST". Reads something like a SHERLOCK Holmes story. Very refined and enjoyable to read. Damn fine stuff. Thanks.