Beatrice Beecham's Cryptic Crypt: A Supernatural Adventure/Mystery Novel

Beatrice Beecham Mysteries #4

by Dave Jeffery

The fate of the world rests in the hands of four dysfunctional teenagers and a bunch of oddball adults. What could possibly go wrong? This supernatural / adventure / mystery novel is perfect for fans of The Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, The Three Investigators, Goonies, Monster Club, Lost Boys, and Miss Peregrine. It might be a YA book perfect for ages 13 and older, but it's a fun read no matter what age you are. Dorsal Finn is a sleepy coastal town facing the gleaming Atlantic Ocean. It is a town with quaint customs and inhabited by people who are as welcoming as they are weird. It is also a place where long lost tombs hide long held secrets. Because beneath Dorsal Finn lies The Dark Heart, an ancient and malevolent entity determined to be free of its eternal prison. It has lured allies to the town, people with corrupt agendas determined to resurrect the greatest evil history has ever known, and in doing so release The Dark Heart upon an unsuspecting world. What could possibly go wrong? Proudly represented by Crystal Lake Publishing - Tales from the Darkest Depths Interview with the Why is this YA Book so Special? Dave Jeffery : Beatrice Beecham is a YA novel with a difference. Teenagers and adults are both central to the plot, and it uses high doses of humour to tackle very dark themes, including some of the terrible, very real histories of our past. Using these elements it is a book that will not only entertain teenagers and adults alike, it will also leave readers thinking about some of the deeper questions raised as the story unfolds. Tell us a bit more about your main character. Dave Jeffery : Beatrice Beecham is fifteen years old. She has fiery red hair and not tolerance of bullies. As well as worshipping TV chef Jamie Oliver she also has the inherent ability to find trouble. And the town of Dorsal Finn has plenty of trouble lurking beneath its calm and placid exterior. Beatrice discovers the town has plans for her too, naming her as the Incorruptible Heart, the arch nemesis of the malevolent entity imprisoned beneath Dorsal Finn itself! Do you have any other Beatrice Beecham books? Dave Beatrice features in two other novels that describe how she arrived at Dorsal Beatrice Beecham's Fearsome Feast and Beatrice Beecham's Fete of Fate. She also features in a collection of short stories titled Beatrice Beecham's Houseful of Horrors. What will Beatrice be up to next? Dave Beatrice will return in a new novel, Ship of Shadows , published by Crystal Lake Publishing in September 2017.

Genres: Horror, Young Adult

412 pages, Paperback

Published February 3, 2017

About the author

"Jeffery has a connoisseur's eye for the grotesque and mind-bending."—STEPHEN VOLK, writer of GHOSTWATCH and AFTERLIFE,


Dave Jeffery is a British Fantasy Award and The Bridport Prize Finalist. He is author of 19 novels, two collections, and numerous short stories. His Necropolis Rising series and yeti adventure Frostbite have both featured on the Amazon #1 bestseller list, while the A Quiet Apocalypse series continues to garner critical acclaim. His YA work includes the Beatrice Beecham supernatural mystery series and Finding Jericho. His screenwriting credits include award winning short films Ascension and Derelict.

Before retiring to write full-time, Jeffery worked in the NHS for 35 years specialising in the field of mental health nursing and risk management. He holds a BSc (Hons) in Mental Health Studies and a Master of Science Degree in Health Studies. His novel Finding Jericho is an amalgamation of his experiences of working with service users who have experienced stigma and social exclusion due to their mental illness. As a novel, Finding Jericho (Demain Publishing) has featured on both the BBC Health and Independent Schools Entrance Examination Board's ‘Recommended Reading’ lists

Jeffery is a member of the Society of Authors, British Fantasy Society (also as a regular book reviewer), and actively involved in the Horror Writers Association where he is a mentor on the HWA Mentorship Scheme and recipient of the HWA Mentor of the Year Award, 2022. He was also co-chair of the HWA Wellness Committee for a three-year tenure.

Jeffery is married with two children and lives in Worcestershire, UK.

Forthcoming Releases:

SEPTEMBER 2025

False Prophet: A Novel (Eerie River Publishing)

This Way Lies Madness Anthology (co-edited with Lee Murray, Flame Tree Press)

MAY 2026

Screams & Whispers Collection (Horrorsmith Publishing)

Reviews

[Icy_Space_Cobwebs]

Review of BEATRICE BEECHAM' S CRYPTIC CRYPT


I love this series! It's well-written, absorbing, serious but by turns humorous, and in the tradition of good fiction, BEATRICE BEECHAM' S CRYPTIC CRYPT also brings powerful impact beyond its import to the characters.

Young Beatrice Beecham is a relative newcomer to the tiny coastal fishing village of Dorsal Finn, but in her tenure she has made several fast friendships in a group called the Newshounds. These young people are intelligent and loyal to a fault, compassionate and respectful to elders. They also thrive on solving mysteries and embrace the paranormal. In BEATRICE BEECHAM' S CRYPTIC CRYPT, World War II events reawaken, and the Newshounds are drawn into a massive covert plot to create a neo-Nazi dystopia, concealed as a children's club to instill purpose in misguided young lives.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beatrice Beacham lives in the coastal town of Dorsal Finn, with her parents and younger brother and she and her friends - Patience, Elmo and Lucas - have a mystery solving group called The Newshounds. Opening with a prologue set in Austria 1941, this mixes Nazi’s, folklore, the legend of Atlantis and a mysterious youth group to excellent effect - Jeffery has taken the youth-sleuth genre beloved of so many of us (my favourite, of course, was The Three Investigators series) and updated it seamlessly to the present day, topping the thrills with a sassy, feisty heroine and her group of smart friends. The town - which is not as it seems to be - is well described and atmospheric, the supporting cast are wonderfully eccentric and the plot ticks along, aided by a gripping pace and some tense sequences. This is, I think, the fourth in the YA series but the first I’ve read and it’s not quite standalone - previous events are mentioned and one reveal, while cleverly done, featured a character I hadn’t encountered before. But that’s my fault, not the books and this is a cracking, tightly wrapped mystery that delivers everything it should. Well written, pacey and intriguing, this is a winner and I’d recommend it.

[Scarlett Algee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dorsal Finn: a serene little coastal town where everyone knows everyone else, the shops have cute quaint names...and secrets get buried deeply but never quite die. Young Beatrice Beecham is a budding culinary genius who shares, with her friends the Newshounds, a great love and curiosity for all things mysterious and paranormal--and boy, do they get it here. From the odd new Blue Thunder Foundation and its youth recruitment, to the secret hidden for decades by the town librarian, to Beatrice suddenly facing her "first ever" date--the characters live and breathe and, like the plot, are well-developed and complex. It's not long before the Blue Thunder Foundation--in which Beatrice's brother Thomas and love interest Marcus are involved--begins to seem more ominous than benevolent, leading to an unfolding adventure involving Nazi secrets and the mythical (or not) continent of Atlantis.

Having grown up with Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, I can confidently recommend Beatrice and her friends to fans of those books, at any age. The pacing is good, the plot stays intriguing to the end, and the opening is positively *chilling*. My only quibble is that the book could've used a little more proofreading in spots, but don't let that stop you; this story is worth every page.

(ARC provided by publisher for review.)

[Justin Zimmerman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't normally read YA books, but the synopsis was too intriguing to pass on and I'm glad I didn't. The story moves at a breathtaking pace and the characters are so vibrant and unique that they leap off the page and I found myself truly invested in what happened to them. A fantastic book for readers of all ages.

[David Watson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dorsal Finn is a strange place sitting on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean. Weird things seem to happen there and it has its fair share of odd characters. For one thing, there is a dark entity living under the bizarre little town and it seems to have created a magnet for people who have evil agendas. Luckily, 15-year-old Beatrice Beecham and her friends are on the scene and ready to solve mysteries and stop evil, dead in its tracks. Beatrice and her friends call themselves the Newshounds and they are a force to be reckoned with.

This adventure has its beginnings way back during World War 2 when two young girls rescue a German scientist who is working on an invention to change the world. The scientist didn’t survive the war but a part of him may have. Flash forward to the present, one of the young girls who saved him is now an elderly woman and is hearing the scientist’s voice in her hearing aid. Underneath the Dorsal Finn Library lies something that can change the world and someone sinister is looking for it. To make matters worse, an organization called the Blue Thunder Foundation is having a strange effect on the town. It’s up to Beatrice and her friends to figure out what’s happening in Dorsal Finn.

Beatrice Beecham’s Cryptic Crypt by Dave Jeffery is a complex supernatural mystery novel aimed at a Y.A. audience. There is so much going on in the plot that its hard to describe it without leaving things out. This is a book that both adults and kids will like and it will really test your ability to pay attention. Because if you blink you will miss something. What I really enjoyed about this book was how the senior citizens and the kids work together to save their town. I also like that there is a historical fiction aspect to the book as it gets into the history of the Nazis and their dealings with the occult.

This book has several themes running throughout it and most appealing is the importance of friendship and how to deal with bullies. There were a couple of scenes where Beatrice and friends stand up to adult bullies and bully their own age. In one case the newshounds help a deaf girl who is being mistreated by the town bully and accept her into their group despite her differences. It doesn’t work out as they planned which was my favorite part of the book that I don’t want to give away, but the main point is that nothing keeps true friends apart.

The only problems I had with this book was I kept wondering if kids are really this nice, some of their conversations are so nice that it seemed unreal to me. Also, there was a point about half way through the book where I felt the author was adding way too many complex ideas to the story and he really needed to add a little suspense. The suspense comes though in the last third of the book as the story goes from historical mystery to action adventure. Beatrice Beecham’s Cryptic Crypt is a good book to give to a teenager who doesn’t like reading. With the great adult and kid characters and the excellent story, it’s almost guaranteed to get a non reader to start a love of reading.

[Tony · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Beatrice Beecham's Cryptic Crypt” was Crystal Lake Publishing big splash into the dark waters of YA and was entertaining and enterprising fun about a group of for teenage misfits (the ‘Newshounds’) who get wrapped up in a supernatural mystery in their sleepy small American coastal town. Although it was supernatural, it was also very good natured, the joy of the first kiss, walks on the pier, holding hands and all that cute stuff. I found the main character Beatrice to be really engaging and innocently likable, and not really the type of girl to get wrapped up in the weird reawakening of World War II and Neo Nazis. But, hey, Bea’ takes it on the chin and rolls with the punches. The Nazi revival comes around via a Second World War survivor who recognises a voice from her past in a dodgy hearing aid which can cross time.
But the quiet fishing town, Dorsal Town, is exactly the sort of place where weird stuff happens. Jeffery makes an excellent job of keeping everything quite light, but fast paced, and the characters deliberately recall famous contemporaries from children’s literature of yesteryear including the ‘Famous Five’, ‘Nancy Drew’ or the ‘Hardy Boys’ with a decent amount of respect for these legendary characters. The book is loaded with larger-than-life and engaging support roles, and along the way the kids deal with everyday issues like bullying, and even hold down part-time jobs. I suppose you could argue the kids are too good to be true, but that’s part of the charm of the book, these kids aren’t going to do drugs or other nasty stuff. Plus, you always know they’ll save the world, and good for them. It’s not at all scary, but it’s not really supposed to be, and I thought it was a rather charming read. Beatrice returns with another book “Cryptic Crypt” later this year.

[Thomas Joyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author of several novels and short story collections, Dave Jeffery is possibly best known for his bestselling Necropolis Rising series. But the hugely successful zombie books were not his first work of fiction to be published. That honour lies with the first in his Beatrice Beecham YA mystery series, Fearsome Feast. Wanting to write a story with a strong young heroine that young readers could relate to, and drawing on inspiration from his own experiences reading Nancy Drew and Famous Five stories as a young boy, he created Beatrice Beecham and then put her in the kind of exciting stories he liked to read.
The Beatrice Beecham series seems to be going from strength to strength, with Cryptic Crypt a fine addition to the series, and to the Young Adult field in general. First and foremost, it is a suspenseful mystery, with elements of horror and supernatural mixed into Jeffery’s recipe. While it may be aimed at younger readers, it contains ingredients that would also appeal to readers of all ages; a relatable and endearing protagonist, a supporting cast of likeable and quirky good guys and wretched but believable bad guys, a thrilling story, and plenty of action and beautiful language.

To read the full review, please visit This Is Horror

[D]

Where did I stop? 15% in

Why? Because it’s not a YA novel. And some of the movies it likens itself to (like Goonies and The Lost Boys, holy crap two very different movies to begin with) are just outright misleading. This is the type of YA novel that a segment of the adult population wishes YA novels actually were like, instead of what they really are. The primary marker of a YA novel is that it’s told from the teens’ perspective. 90% of what I read was told from an adult perspective. That’s not YA. On top of that the plot felt very erratic and then the character descriptions were very sugary and again, much like what some adults wish YA novels were actually like instead of, well, reality. Coming from someplace like Crystal Lake Publishing, I did not expect something like this. I expected REAL YA horror. This is far from it.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable mystery

As a child I loved Enid Blyton's Famous Five and Secret Seven stories and this book took me back to those days - a group of youngsters sniffing out trouble, getting into bother, then saving the day. Nicely paced, a touch of recent history and a timely reminder of how easily you can be duped by evil - and a bit of the supernatural thrown in. Great fun.

[Monique Snyman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Beatrice Beecham! ^_^ <3