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The Case Book of Harry Stubbs: Four Cthulhu Mythos Adventures
Harry Stubbs, a heavyweight boxer turned investigator, faces eldritch horrors in the colourful world of small time criminals and eccentrics of 1920s South London. Based on H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos.
The Book of Insects - Harry joins a quest for the fabled book known as the Al-Azif, the original of the Necronomicon. The book is dangerous, and so are those who will stop at nothing get it.
The Ghost Door - When a man goes missing through an impossible, one-way doorway, Harry follows into the unknown to bring him back.
The Snake in the Garden - A baffling murder in the back room of a pub, a curious find in a dustbin, and an elusive suspect with the key to an ancient mystery.
The Body Snatchers - Harry is drawn into a conflict between occult powers which centres around an unusual burial in West Norwood cemetery.
The Book of Insects - Harry joins a quest for the fabled book known as the Al-Azif, the original of the Necronomicon. The book is dangerous, and so are those who will stop at nothing get it.
The Ghost Door - When a man goes missing through an impossible, one-way doorway, Harry follows into the unknown to bring him back.
The Snake in the Garden - A baffling murder in the back room of a pub, a curious find in a dustbin, and an elusive suspect with the key to an ancient mystery.
The Body Snatchers - Harry is drawn into a conflict between occult powers which centres around an unusual burial in West Norwood cemetery.
- GenresHorror
359 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 2, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
September 13, 2025
Really excellent occult detective stories
Harry Stubbs is an great character for Lovecraft adjacent mystery stories. The ex boxer with a sharp strong mind neatly balances the cosmic horror, otherworldly creatures and the flawed adversaries who are drawn to forbidden knowledge.
Harry Stubbs is an great character for Lovecraft adjacent mystery stories. The ex boxer with a sharp strong mind neatly balances the cosmic horror, otherworldly creatures and the flawed adversaries who are drawn to forbidden knowledge.
April 22, 2026
Why 5 stars? Are these excellent, fantastic? Yes, a nice fantasy of the 1920's where the hero of the day is an boxer Harry Stubbs. Not so great to look at and in fact you might be intimidated by him. He knows some strange people and very willing to use physical force to protect the innocent. The forces against him are wizards, witches, warlocks, and things that bump you in the night. Harry is something like a civilized Conan who deals in eerie situations. You got four stories here with apparently more books on the subject by David Hambling. So why 5 stars? The four stories entertained me, had weird references, dealt with adventure, and Harry Stubbs survives to live another day. The book is entertaining, so enjoy!
September 22, 2025
Another stellar bow by David Hambling with this addition to the Harry Stubbs series. All of these were previously part of other collections themed around Al-Azif, Yig, Yog-Sothoth, and the final tale from a collection called Eldritch Prisoners that circled around Lovecraft's The Thing on the Doorstep, but each is a welcome entry in this four-novella grouping of tales from throughout Harry Stubbs's career to date. Each tale runs just shy of around 100 pages, so Hambling has plenty of room to further flesh out some of the characters in Stubbs's universe in the greater Norwood area. Hambling has been working for years now to bring Lovecraft's New England to Norwood and has been beyond successful. This collection is just more foundational work toward that goal.
The four stories are fresh, and as always, Hambling puts his own new spin on these dark and eldritch corners of the Mythos that we think we already know. They are as follows:
The Book of Insects - Looking for a copy of the Al-Azif/Necronomicon, Harry and co. encounter some unique folks who are reluctant to let it go. As usual with his spin on Lovecraft work, Hambling comes up with some stellar information on the origin of the book that informs the rest of the tale.
The Snake in the Garden - A murdered man and a suspect who sheds their skin. The clue is in the title.
The Ghost Door - Doors and keys. Lovecraft fans should see who we're channeling
The Body Snatchers - Adventures around Norwood and a group of Gnostics and bodyjumpers lead Harry on a merry chase and a big case of "is X really who he says he is?"
It was great to meet new faces of the Norwood Mythos as we travel through Harry's history. Captain Cross, Slingsby, the return of Smith from the asylum, along with seeing regulars, Arthur Renville, Sally - his bride-to-be, and others, made this a smooth, comforting knitting together of what I've come to call the Norwood Irregulars.
The tales were tightly wound, full of the normal humor, action, and dread that comes with Hambling's Stubbs books, and I loved every minute I spent with it. I can't wait for more.
The four stories are fresh, and as always, Hambling puts his own new spin on these dark and eldritch corners of the Mythos that we think we already know. They are as follows:
The Book of Insects - Looking for a copy of the Al-Azif/Necronomicon, Harry and co. encounter some unique folks who are reluctant to let it go. As usual with his spin on Lovecraft work, Hambling comes up with some stellar information on the origin of the book that informs the rest of the tale.
The Snake in the Garden - A murdered man and a suspect who sheds their skin. The clue is in the title.
The Ghost Door - Doors and keys. Lovecraft fans should see who we're channeling
The Body Snatchers - Adventures around Norwood and a group of Gnostics and bodyjumpers lead Harry on a merry chase and a big case of "is X really who he says he is?"
It was great to meet new faces of the Norwood Mythos as we travel through Harry's history. Captain Cross, Slingsby, the return of Smith from the asylum, along with seeing regulars, Arthur Renville, Sally - his bride-to-be, and others, made this a smooth, comforting knitting together of what I've come to call the Norwood Irregulars.
The tales were tightly wound, full of the normal humor, action, and dread that comes with Hambling's Stubbs books, and I loved every minute I spent with it. I can't wait for more.
September 6, 2025
THE CASE BOOK OF HARRY STUBBS is a collection (not an anthology) of stories for the character of Harry Stubbs, creation of Cthulhu Mythos writer, David Hambling. David Hambling created the Harry Stubbs character as a way of criticizing a lot of Lovecraft's more pompous ideas about race, class, and Anglophilia.
Harry is a 1920s working class London insurance investigator and former boxer that, like most men of his age, served in WW1. Harry frequently encounters the many people of the British Empire and beyond with none of the usual xenophobia and paralyzing fear of the unknown that characterize so many of Lovecraft's protagonists.
As a huge fan of the previous four books (The Elder Ice, Broken Meats, Alien Stars, Master of Chaos, and Hide and Seek), I absolutely was excited about this fifth book that contains multiple tales of novella size. These stories were previously printed in the Books of Cthulhu series but have now been assembled here. Given the Harry Stubbs books are novellas that aren't much bigger in the first place, this is a lot of bang for your buck.
"The Book of Insects" is about Harry Stubbs attempting to recover an original copy of the Necronomicon. "The Snake in the Garden" is a tale about Harry dealing with the dangers of the mysterious Yig. "The Ghost Door" deals with a one-way portal that crosses both dimensions and time.
Finally, "The Body Snatchers" should be self-explanatory about what it is dealing with.
Harry Stubbs is a great character and provides a working-class British contrast to a lot of the more erudite and upper-class characters in detective fiction. He's a man who never quite comes to perfect understanding of the supernatural but that probably protects him from the sanity blasting horrors that more philosophical scholars might be overwhelmed by the implications of.
Part of what makes the Harry Stubbs series so fantastic is the fact that David Hambling is a native Londoner who also is extremely familiar with the occult as well as events of the period. As such, there's a lot of references and tie-ins to the time. For example, they reference some then-contemporary Arthur Conan Doyle stories that related bodysnatching like someone might quote Star Wars today.
The introduction to the book will be a bit confusing if this is your first Harry Stubbs story as it is from his crime boss friend and enemy in what is seemingly a roast of some kind. I recommend new readers check out The Elder Ice first but I don't think the book will be especially confusing for newcomers. It also doesn't need much familiarity with the Cthulhu Mythos and stands alone as a setting.
Overall, I strongly recommend this collection of stories along with the other Harry Stubbs books. They're all entertaining whether in text or audiobook form (this one is presently only an ebook but the Books of Cthulhu ones are in audiobook form). If you like occult mysteries and a working-class adventurer in a period locale then this is a great place to find all three.
Harry is a 1920s working class London insurance investigator and former boxer that, like most men of his age, served in WW1. Harry frequently encounters the many people of the British Empire and beyond with none of the usual xenophobia and paralyzing fear of the unknown that characterize so many of Lovecraft's protagonists.
As a huge fan of the previous four books (The Elder Ice, Broken Meats, Alien Stars, Master of Chaos, and Hide and Seek), I absolutely was excited about this fifth book that contains multiple tales of novella size. These stories were previously printed in the Books of Cthulhu series but have now been assembled here. Given the Harry Stubbs books are novellas that aren't much bigger in the first place, this is a lot of bang for your buck.
"The Book of Insects" is about Harry Stubbs attempting to recover an original copy of the Necronomicon. "The Snake in the Garden" is a tale about Harry dealing with the dangers of the mysterious Yig. "The Ghost Door" deals with a one-way portal that crosses both dimensions and time.
Finally, "The Body Snatchers" should be self-explanatory about what it is dealing with.
Harry Stubbs is a great character and provides a working-class British contrast to a lot of the more erudite and upper-class characters in detective fiction. He's a man who never quite comes to perfect understanding of the supernatural but that probably protects him from the sanity blasting horrors that more philosophical scholars might be overwhelmed by the implications of.
Part of what makes the Harry Stubbs series so fantastic is the fact that David Hambling is a native Londoner who also is extremely familiar with the occult as well as events of the period. As such, there's a lot of references and tie-ins to the time. For example, they reference some then-contemporary Arthur Conan Doyle stories that related bodysnatching like someone might quote Star Wars today.
The introduction to the book will be a bit confusing if this is your first Harry Stubbs story as it is from his crime boss friend and enemy in what is seemingly a roast of some kind. I recommend new readers check out The Elder Ice first but I don't think the book will be especially confusing for newcomers. It also doesn't need much familiarity with the Cthulhu Mythos and stands alone as a setting.
Overall, I strongly recommend this collection of stories along with the other Harry Stubbs books. They're all entertaining whether in text or audiobook form (this one is presently only an ebook but the Books of Cthulhu ones are in audiobook form). If you like occult mysteries and a working-class adventurer in a period locale then this is a great place to find all three.
March 1, 2026
OK, first I want to say that I did enjoy these stories, and I might consider getting a couple of the novels. He generally writes well, from a grammar and syntax point of view, and the stories are interesting. HOWEVER... the typos in these novellas drove me nuts! Extra spaces between words and commas, missing letters ("all" instead of "wall", for example), mistyped words ("finders" instead of "fingers", etc.) The first 3 novellas were awful in this regard; the final novella only had a couple of minor typos, so someone did a much better job of editing that one. I'm reluctant to try the novels for fear that they will have an overabundance of the same typos. If these kinds of things don't bother you, and if you like Lovecraftian horror, then you might enjoy this collection.
May 26, 2026
I freely admit that my approach to this book was colored by the memories of the Stubbs the Zombie PC game, short as they are. This collection is a Lovecraft-adjacent bit of peripherial London rough-and-tumble, no zombies detected, and refreshingly low on HPL bingo items, but sadly it shows that Hambling isn't skilled enough to pull off a proper narrative of a century ago. And he drags these stories out, mercilessly. A good editor would probably be able to curb his pointless logorrhea, the readers (OK, this reader) would be grateful.
October 29, 2025
Very disappointing. The first two stories were ... not dreadful, but certainly not great. The third I gave up on halfway through... and it put me off even looking at the fourth. I'm saving for some future date, and might revise my rating then. But will I be adding a star? Or removing one? After the rest of the book, it's hard to predict.
March 26, 2026
Enjoy These Stories
Harry Stubbs is a retired boxer who has entered the insurance business. However, this has caused him to face many esoteric things that are beyond the norm in that particular field.
Great characters, very cool Lovecraftian stories! Fun all around!
Harry Stubbs is a retired boxer who has entered the insurance business. However, this has caused him to face many esoteric things that are beyond the norm in that particular field.
Great characters, very cool Lovecraftian stories! Fun all around!
March 29, 2026
so enjoyable
I love stories like Stubbs, very characteristic and in-depth. I also am fascinated by H.P. Lovecraft and his stories! I will read more from this author.
I love stories like Stubbs, very characteristic and in-depth. I also am fascinated by H.P. Lovecraft and his stories! I will read more from this author.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews