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The Arcane Gamble of Harvey Walters: An Arkham Horror Novel
Arkham stands on the brink of destruction as eldritch forces rise from the depths in the stunning conclusion to Arkham Horror's The Drowned City.
Harvey Walters knows the end is coming. Arkham is overwhelmed by flooding, and from the depths strange creatures have arisen, drawn from another dimension by the approach of an ancient being determined to destroy the city. And amongst the chaos, another force seeks to seize the influx of supernatural power for themselves.
Arkham is under siege from all fronts. But Harvey Walters is not going down without a fight.
Teaming up with garbageman, Lefty Googe, and reporter, Minnie Klein, Harvey is determined to save the city he loves from annihilation. His mind and a stolen wand are his only weapons and as Arkham crumbles around him, Harvey must draw on all his mystic alliances to make a last stand. He's gambled with the arcane before, but this time the stakes have never been higher.
Harvey Walters knows the end is coming. Arkham is overwhelmed by flooding, and from the depths strange creatures have arisen, drawn from another dimension by the approach of an ancient being determined to destroy the city. And amongst the chaos, another force seeks to seize the influx of supernatural power for themselves.
Arkham is under siege from all fronts. But Harvey Walters is not going down without a fight.
Teaming up with garbageman, Lefty Googe, and reporter, Minnie Klein, Harvey is determined to save the city he loves from annihilation. His mind and a stolen wand are his only weapons and as Arkham crumbles around him, Harvey must draw on all his mystic alliances to make a last stand. He's gambled with the arcane before, but this time the stakes have never been higher.
- GenresHorror
299 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 28, 2025
11 people want to read
About the author
Rosemary Jones
61 books74 followersPlunged into the Roaring Twenties for the Arkham Horror titles Mask of Silver and its sequels The Deadly Grimoire and The Bootlegger's Dance. A new sequence begins with The Nightmare Quest of April May and The Arcane Gamble of Harvey Waltersin 2025. I've written novels set in the Forgotten Realms, City of the Dead and Crypt of the Moaning Diamond, as well as several short stories and novella Cold Steel and Secrets set in this Dungeons & Dragons world. When not battling cosmic horrors, animated skeletons, and other supernatural foes, I'm authoring tales of Cobalt City, a place of superheroes, super villains, and regular joes just trying to get by. A new expanded edition of Wrecker of Engines and related short stories was issued in 2024.
My other science fiction and fantasy short stories appear in various anthologies. The complete list on my website at rosemaryjones.com.
As the co-author of the Encyclopedia of Collectible Childrens Books, I spent many years collecting and often dip back into these treasures for my own pleasure and entertainment. I currently share my home with 2,000+ volumes, not all cataloged here.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
My other science fiction and fantasy short stories appear in various anthologies. The complete list on my website at rosemaryjones.com.
As the co-author of the Encyclopedia of Collectible Childrens Books, I spent many years collecting and often dip back into these treasures for my own pleasure and entertainment. I currently share my home with 2,000+ volumes, not all cataloged here.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
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November 19, 2025Things aren’t going well in Arkham, although no one should be surprised by that. The ending effects of a plague (discussed in a previous book), and water that keeps rising with no end in sight is joined by an ancient threat, and things are looking dire. Professor Harvey Walters and a ragtag cast of characters must race against the unnatural and the winners are the ones who don’t end up dead.
The characters were all fun, adding something to the dynamic. The reporter, Minnie, was particularly fun to read about (although I have a soft spot for Harvey, flaws and all). They’re doing the best they can with the situation they’re in, although they’re barely keeping themselves together. They’re the sort that keep a reader engaged because you can’t help but be invested in what happens to them.
The book has a snappy pace, although not the cost of character dynamics. It’s a balancing act, especially in a series where so much relies of the atmosphere and feelings of tension. If the stakes don’t seem high, the rest won’t work out. The author managed to have both likeable characters and a situation dire enough to almost cause nail-biting from this reader.
I’ve enjoyed the previous books in the Drowned City series quite a bit. The series ends in a crescendo, as the citizens reach peak danger mode. I loved that each subsequent book ups the ante that much more.
Thank you to Aconyte Books for providing me with a copy of this book. My opinions are completely my own.
https://wittyandsarcasticbookclub.hom...
The characters were all fun, adding something to the dynamic. The reporter, Minnie, was particularly fun to read about (although I have a soft spot for Harvey, flaws and all). They’re doing the best they can with the situation they’re in, although they’re barely keeping themselves together. They’re the sort that keep a reader engaged because you can’t help but be invested in what happens to them.
The book has a snappy pace, although not the cost of character dynamics. It’s a balancing act, especially in a series where so much relies of the atmosphere and feelings of tension. If the stakes don’t seem high, the rest won’t work out. The author managed to have both likeable characters and a situation dire enough to almost cause nail-biting from this reader.
I’ve enjoyed the previous books in the Drowned City series quite a bit. The series ends in a crescendo, as the citizens reach peak danger mode. I loved that each subsequent book ups the ante that much more.
Thank you to Aconyte Books for providing me with a copy of this book. My opinions are completely my own.
https://wittyandsarcasticbookclub.hom...
September 19, 2025
My thanks to NetGalley and Aconyte Books for an advance copy of this book of horror the concluding book in a series dealing with the rise of water and the rise of an ancient god, once thought asleep coming to a town in Massachusetts, and the brave defenders who risk it all to save their town and their souls.
The house I lived in flooded once. One minute it was dry, suddenly there was water coming in both the front and the back every bit of the floor was covered, and it kept rising. It was one of those storm of the century rainstorms that seem to be hitting New England about every other month. Soon everything up to my knees was submerged, floating, and being ruined. Even years later it still bothers me. Rain from a few drops to heavy downpours have me pacing back and forth, looking at garages, checking drains and gutters. Always thinking it is going to happen again. That the water will come and take everything including my sanity. For that is how I think of water, an evil creature inextricably looking to pull me down into its depths. Which is probably why this story unsettled me so much. The Arcane Gamble of Harvey Walters: An Arkham Horror Novel by Rosemary Jones is the third book in the Drowned City series and tells of the town of Arkham, a rain that won't stop, an elder god slowly awakening and the brave citizens brought together by one man who is trying to stop what to many seems inevitable.
The Miskatonic River is overflowing its banks, the Rivertown section of Arkham is underwater, and even with the Mayor dynamiting the shores to drain the river, the town looks doomed. In many ways. As the water creeps higher, the people are still dealing with a plague of sleeping disease that is only starting to go away. Dogs have been recovered from deep in the Earth, a sacrifice to a sleeping God in hopes that he will awaken. Harvey Walters is doing every thing he can to stop what is going on. Walters has spent his life studying the occult, investigating ancient sects and dealing with the unidentifiable. What's happening in Arkham, though, might be too much for him. Walters is bringing together a group of people, a ex-baseball player turned garbage man, a female reporter with her own dealings with the dark, a street gang of bootleggers with hearts of gold. A group of women with ties to the old world and old ways, and also have clean rooms with dinner for rent. Elder professors at Miskatonic University, with a knowledge of what lies beyond. The foes are the foul waters, a group of sisters, and a god about to awaken from a long sleep, with only destruction on its mind.
I must say I have loved all the books in this series. The Arkham Horror books are great novels, not just great product tie-in novels. I especially like the books by Rosemary Jones. Jones makes great characters, interesting scenarios and has a great sense of narrative. Jones has a way of grabbing readers and not letting go until the story is over. The care the Jones puts into the story, the mention of Lon Chaney's lost movie London after Midnight. A little bit of dialogue about a librarian at Miskatonic University's unique way of cataloging books saying, I have seen more odder than Dewey. Cool library jokes which frankly there should be more of. These little things make the story real, set a scene and make one care.
A great horror story, and a really good novel. One doesn't have to read the other books, but one should as well as all the other books in the Arkham Horror series, as well as anything by Rosemary Jones, who is a really good author, one of the few I know will entertain me.
The house I lived in flooded once. One minute it was dry, suddenly there was water coming in both the front and the back every bit of the floor was covered, and it kept rising. It was one of those storm of the century rainstorms that seem to be hitting New England about every other month. Soon everything up to my knees was submerged, floating, and being ruined. Even years later it still bothers me. Rain from a few drops to heavy downpours have me pacing back and forth, looking at garages, checking drains and gutters. Always thinking it is going to happen again. That the water will come and take everything including my sanity. For that is how I think of water, an evil creature inextricably looking to pull me down into its depths. Which is probably why this story unsettled me so much. The Arcane Gamble of Harvey Walters: An Arkham Horror Novel by Rosemary Jones is the third book in the Drowned City series and tells of the town of Arkham, a rain that won't stop, an elder god slowly awakening and the brave citizens brought together by one man who is trying to stop what to many seems inevitable.
The Miskatonic River is overflowing its banks, the Rivertown section of Arkham is underwater, and even with the Mayor dynamiting the shores to drain the river, the town looks doomed. In many ways. As the water creeps higher, the people are still dealing with a plague of sleeping disease that is only starting to go away. Dogs have been recovered from deep in the Earth, a sacrifice to a sleeping God in hopes that he will awaken. Harvey Walters is doing every thing he can to stop what is going on. Walters has spent his life studying the occult, investigating ancient sects and dealing with the unidentifiable. What's happening in Arkham, though, might be too much for him. Walters is bringing together a group of people, a ex-baseball player turned garbage man, a female reporter with her own dealings with the dark, a street gang of bootleggers with hearts of gold. A group of women with ties to the old world and old ways, and also have clean rooms with dinner for rent. Elder professors at Miskatonic University, with a knowledge of what lies beyond. The foes are the foul waters, a group of sisters, and a god about to awaken from a long sleep, with only destruction on its mind.
I must say I have loved all the books in this series. The Arkham Horror books are great novels, not just great product tie-in novels. I especially like the books by Rosemary Jones. Jones makes great characters, interesting scenarios and has a great sense of narrative. Jones has a way of grabbing readers and not letting go until the story is over. The care the Jones puts into the story, the mention of Lon Chaney's lost movie London after Midnight. A little bit of dialogue about a librarian at Miskatonic University's unique way of cataloging books saying, I have seen more odder than Dewey. Cool library jokes which frankly there should be more of. These little things make the story real, set a scene and make one care.
A great horror story, and a really good novel. One doesn't have to read the other books, but one should as well as all the other books in the Arkham Horror series, as well as anything by Rosemary Jones, who is a really good author, one of the few I know will entertain me.
October 2, 2025
Ahhh, this was a lovely read.
This novel concludes the Drowned City trilogy in Arkham Horror, and follows closely on Professor Harvey Walters of Arkham, Lefty the garbage collector, and Minnie Klein the reporter. Together, they take on a trio of horrible old women trying to summon Cthulhu as an alternate-history explanation of the real-world catastrophic flooding of 1927.
The book travels at a quick pace, always onto a new point and bringing in new elements so that it's a breathless, quick read, but it's also ultimately a deeply heartwarming story about community -- even when it's flawed and falls apart, it's made up of people who, as a whole, are genuinely trying their best, both for individuals (sometimes), and for their city and neighbourhoods. It was often funny, and genuinely, I teared up when they used That Song for timing of their plan in the final act; it was so clever, such a great way to tie Harvey and Lefty's storylines together.
If there's any flaw in the writing, it's that it doesn't trust the reader to necessarily pick up on some of the clues or foreshadowing, so points them out multiple times; the moment at the climax is something Jones sets up at least six or seven times throughout the story. I'm sure that it's useful for a pulp story, but I definitely had a moment of "I get it, I know what's going to happen, okay" over something that's best served as a well-supported surprise.
The other thing isn't getting a ding from me in terms of star rating, because it's not on the author of this book, but in terms of the overall line -- I was really crushed that Lucius (the protagonist of the first book in the Drowning City) didn't return in this one when all the other characters from the second book in the trilogy did, especially given that we know he's in Arkham where the action is taking place, that he was also receiving visions (a major theme of THIS novel) and that his secret husband Rudi was in danger and had fallen into the wrong crowd, all of which were things that could very well have been tied into this book and closed off. I really hope Arkham Horror isn't pulling back from their inclusion of an older, Black, queer man as a protagonist, both because it's important to me as a queer reader and because I think the franchise benefits from always leaning into the variety of everyday people who make up its heroes. And I really want to know what happened to Rudi! It felt like they ended up making the Drowning City only about books 2 and 3, so I hope book 1 gets a conclusion soon. Hopefully this ends up being a 4-book series and that they only defeated the Shadow here means they get to take on more star spawn etc for a fourth with Lucius involved. (Jones did her best by mentioning Lucius's poetry at one point, so hopefully that's designed as a reminder of who he is so when another book comes out people are remembering him afresh.)
This novel concludes the Drowned City trilogy in Arkham Horror, and follows closely on Professor Harvey Walters of Arkham, Lefty the garbage collector, and Minnie Klein the reporter. Together, they take on a trio of horrible old women trying to summon Cthulhu as an alternate-history explanation of the real-world catastrophic flooding of 1927.
The book travels at a quick pace, always onto a new point and bringing in new elements so that it's a breathless, quick read, but it's also ultimately a deeply heartwarming story about community -- even when it's flawed and falls apart, it's made up of people who, as a whole, are genuinely trying their best, both for individuals (sometimes), and for their city and neighbourhoods. It was often funny, and genuinely, I teared up when they used That Song for timing of their plan in the final act; it was so clever, such a great way to tie Harvey and Lefty's storylines together.
If there's any flaw in the writing, it's that it doesn't trust the reader to necessarily pick up on some of the clues or foreshadowing, so points them out multiple times; the moment at the climax is something Jones sets up at least six or seven times throughout the story. I'm sure that it's useful for a pulp story, but I definitely had a moment of "I get it, I know what's going to happen, okay" over something that's best served as a well-supported surprise.
The other thing isn't getting a ding from me in terms of star rating, because it's not on the author of this book, but in terms of the overall line -- I was really crushed that Lucius (the protagonist of the first book in the Drowning City) didn't return in this one when all the other characters from the second book in the trilogy did, especially given that we know he's in Arkham where the action is taking place, that he was also receiving visions (a major theme of THIS novel) and that his secret husband Rudi was in danger and had fallen into the wrong crowd, all of which were things that could very well have been tied into this book and closed off. I really hope Arkham Horror isn't pulling back from their inclusion of an older, Black, queer man as a protagonist, both because it's important to me as a queer reader and because I think the franchise benefits from always leaning into the variety of everyday people who make up its heroes. And I really want to know what happened to Rudi! It felt like they ended up making the Drowning City only about books 2 and 3, so I hope book 1 gets a conclusion soon. Hopefully this ends up being a 4-book series and that they only defeated the Shadow here means they get to take on more star spawn etc for a fourth with Lucius involved. (Jones did her best by mentioning Lucius's poetry at one point, so hopefully that's designed as a reminder of who he is so when another book comes out people are remembering him afresh.)
October 3, 2025
It's always a pleasure to read Rosemary Jones' work, and this book is no exception. Diving (ahem) into the depths of Arkham's mysteries once again, we follow hero Harvey and his motley allies as they fight to save the town - and it's a great ride!
The protagonists are likeable and relatable, but the most fun for me here were the villains: three villainous sisters that made for an enemy unlike any I'd seen before. With nods to Lovecraft as always, this takes his mythology and runs with it into new and exciting places, and while I wouldn't recommend a reader start with this book (due to some backstory being referenced from past adventures), it's a fine continuation to the series while expanding the game universe as well.
If you love previous excursions to Arkham, you'll enjoy this.
I was kindly sent an early copy of this book by the publisher, but the above opinions are entirely my own.
The protagonists are likeable and relatable, but the most fun for me here were the villains: three villainous sisters that made for an enemy unlike any I'd seen before. With nods to Lovecraft as always, this takes his mythology and runs with it into new and exciting places, and while I wouldn't recommend a reader start with this book (due to some backstory being referenced from past adventures), it's a fine continuation to the series while expanding the game universe as well.
If you love previous excursions to Arkham, you'll enjoy this.
I was kindly sent an early copy of this book by the publisher, but the above opinions are entirely my own.
November 22, 2025
An enjoyable read and an exciting end to the series.
It did feel like a series of 2 books as the first book while adjacent wasn’t really linked into the story.
The booked are linked to the Arkham Horror game but I have not played it and I still enjoyed them.
All in all a nice light weight thriller with lovecraftian lore added in.
It did feel like a series of 2 books as the first book while adjacent wasn’t really linked into the story.
The booked are linked to the Arkham Horror game but I have not played it and I still enjoyed them.
All in all a nice light weight thriller with lovecraftian lore added in.
September 22, 2025
ARC from NetGalley.
There's no pleasure in this one for me. It was choppy, the lack of contractions annoyed me. It's a miss.
There's no pleasure in this one for me. It was choppy, the lack of contractions annoyed me. It's a miss.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews