A Retrospective Collection of Classic Occult and Supernatural Detective Stories by Some of the Field’s Greatest and Best-Known Weird Fiction Authors
Since the gaslit nights at the end of the nineteenth century, the occult detective has been a beloved and recurring archetype. Mixing the best aspects of the detective tale and weird or supernatural fiction, and capitalizing in part on the massive popularity of Sherlock Holmes, these stories portrayed men and women pitted against surreal and horrifying foes, usually with little to defend them but their own savvy, experience, and know-how.
From William Hope Hodgson’s Thomas Carnacki, to Seabury Quinn’s fearless Frenchman Jules de Grandin, to Jessica Salmonson’s Penelope Pettiweather, the occult detective has taken a variety of forms, investigated a wide array of supernatural and otherworldly cases, and entertained generations of readers. This new collection compiles thirty-one all-time classic occult detective stories as it traces the genre’s growth from its nineteenth-century origins to the late twentieth century, showcasing the work of acclaimed pioneers of weird tales alongside cult favorites and exciting modern talents.
So, step into the shadows, join us on this journey into the dark, and become a fighter of fear . . .
CONTENTS Introduction, Mike Ashley Green Tea, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu The Shining Pyramid, Arthur Machen The Haunted Child, Arabella Kenealy The Mystery of the Felwyn Tunnel, L. T. Meade & Robert Eustace The Story of Yand Manor House, E. & H. Heron The Tapping on the Wainscott, Allan Upward Samaris, Robert W. Chambers The Whistling Room, William Hope Hodgson The Woman with the Crooked Nose, Victor Rousseau The Sorcerer of Arjuzanx, Max Rittenberg The Ivory Statue, Sax Rohmer The Stranger, Claude & Alice Askew The Swaying Vision, Jessie Douglas Kerruish The Sanatorium, F. Tennyson Jesse The Villa on the Borderive Road, Rose Champion de Crespigny The Room of Fear, Ella Scrymsour The Seven Fires, Philippa Forest The Subletting of the Mansion, Dion Fortune The Jest of Warburg Tantavul, Seabury Quinn The Soldier, A. M. Burrage The Horror of the Height, Sydney Horler The Mystery of Iniquity, L. Adams Beck The Thought-Monster, Amelia Reynold Long The Shut Room, Henry S. Whitehead Dr. Muncing, Exorcist, Gordon MacCreagh The Case of the Haunted Cathedral, Margery Lawrence The Shonokins, Manly Wade Wellman The Dead of Winter Apparition, Joseph Payne Brennan The Garden of Paris, Eric Williams St. Michael and All Angels, Mark Valentine Jeremiah, Jessica Amanda Salmonson
Michael Raymond Donald Ashley is the author and editor of over sixty books that in total have sold over a million copies worldwide. He lives in Chatham, Kent.
I love occult detectives! More creepy than gory, these stories are at times a bit wordy but ultimately it's a good read. I was familiar with a couple of authors/characters; glad I picked this up and discovered more. Would love to see another volume of the same, only with modern authors.
The Shining Pyramid, Arthur Machen - 2* - underworld creatures leaving arrows to communicate with each other their next sabbath where they consume young wandering maidens
The Haunted Child, Arabella Kenealy
The Mystery of the Felwyn Tunnel, L. T. Meade & Robert Eustace - 3* - the best out of the bunch. The mystery is quite good and this story is quite chilling in a believable way.
The Story of Yand Manor House, E. & H. Heron
The Tapping on the Wainscott, Allan Upward - 1* A portrait keeps tapping due to an inheritance issue.
Samaris, Robert W. Chambers
The Whistling Room, William Hope Hodgson - 1* - an old legend relating to unhappy lovers causes hauntings.
The Woman with the Crooked Nose, Victor Rousseau - 1* - beautiful woman with a crooked nose wasting away. A spirit that resembles a "perfect" version of her drifts about the house during the night
The Sorcerer of Arjuzanx, Max Rittenberg - 1*
The Ivory Statue, Sax Rohmer
The Stranger, Claude & Alice Askew
The Swaying Vision, Jessie Douglas Kerruish
The Sanatorium, F. Tennyson Jesse
The Villa on the Borderive Road, Rose Champion de Crespigny
The Room of Fear, Ella Scrymsour
The Seven Fires, Philippa Forest
The Subletting of the Mansion, Dion Fortune
The Jest of Warburg Tantavul, Seabury Quinn
The Soldier, A. M. Burrage
The Horror of the Height, Sydney Horler
The Mystery of Iniquity, L. Adams Beck
The Thought-Monster, Amelia Reynold Long
The Shut Room, Henry S. Whitehead
Dr. Muncing, Exorcist, Gordon MacCreagh
The Case of the Haunted Cathedral, Margery Lawrence
The Shonokins, Manly Wade Wellman
The Dead of Winter Apparition, Joseph Payne Brennan
A deep dive into the niche sub-genre of the Occult Detective.
FoF is a compendium of short stories, largely gathered from the public domain. Mike Ashley's excellent curation is its greatest strength, and the reason for the four stars. However, I suspect the idiosyncrasies of this extremely formulaic genre will be off-putting for most people.
In each of these stories a well-respected middle class professional (usually a doctor, historian or gentleman detective) is presented by a third party with a baffling case of supernatural activity, and defeats it using their powers of science and rationalism (archaeology, electricity and historical research leading the way!).
The absurdly unflappable heroes - rarely more than ciphers for their field of expertise - are often hard to relate to, and some of the ideas presented are very dated, but these stories' greatest and most consistent weaknesses are the abrupt and rather pat endings, and a lack of any sense of genuine sense of threat or danger. I think it's fair to say that only a couple of the stories left much of an impression on me - the first one by Arthur Machen and Samaris by Robert Chambers, and those were the two which were arguably the least representative of the genre.
More of an interesting historical curiosity than a great entertainment.
While I enjoyed this book and found it interesting in terms of the history of the fantasy/horror, it was a slow read. I'd heard of very few of the authors m, which is cool, but didn't make me want to seek out the authors to follow up. Still glad I read it.
Mike Ashley is a consummate scholar and chronicler of mystery and fantasy genres. He books include a study of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's relationship with The Strand magazine and a biography of Algernon Blackwood. This may be his best work. Presenting more than 30 writers who created interesting characters, he gives us a sampling of popular fiction from the late 19th century to the late 20th century. The protagonists may be psychologists, occult investigators, or outright ghost hunters, but they are all interesting, especially given Ashley's presentation format. Each story is preceded by a brief biography of he author and an introduction to the character. It becomes a reference book as well as an anthology of fun fiction. An appendix gives the date and publication for each story. I rarely read short story collections straight through. My habit is to intersperse the stories with other books I am reading. This was a worthy exception. By reading straight through I got a good feel for Ashley's chronology. I'm glad a Barnes & Noble gift card enabled me to splurge for the hardcover.
Thirty-one stories; interestingly, almost half with women authors, but only a couple of women detectives. I especially liked the William Hope Hodgson, Sax Rohmer, and Seabury Quinn stories, but I had read the last two before. I'd read the Arthur Machen, too. I really liked the Philippa Forest, Dion Fortune, Henry Whitehead, Eric Williams, and Mark Valentine stories, as well. Others were all OK.
My personal taste in horror runs toward the visceral rather than the ethereal. I'd rather read about a throat-ripping werewolf than an old man in a sanitorium sitting in his wheelchair under layers tartan blankets, wringing his liver-spotted hands as the shade of his wife returns to torment him.
Still, I like to switch it up sometimes, and am not totally averse to the tasteful, the gothic, the stately. "Fighters of the Fear" definitely trends that way, with tales more cozy and disconcerting than terrifying, though there are some more primal and pulpy tales to offset the Sherlockian ones. The best of these is probably "The Shonakins," by Manley Wade Wellman, about a race of hominid cryptids who have been clandestinely coevolving with humans over the eons, and waging a grim battle with them.
The collection does a good job of shining a light on some of the lesser-known practitioners of the form, those antecedents and offspring of Lovecraft or Poe. The best of the mostly undiscovered gems would have to be "The Garden of Paris," by Eric Williams. It deals with a lush, tropical plant in a botanical garden that is devouring patrons and workers foolhardy enough to stumble within range of its roots or its flytrap maw.
Another classic is the last story in the collection, "Jeremiah" by Jessica Amanda Salmonson, a somewhat poignant, somewhat disconcerting tale about how the ghosts that haunt us might be manifestations of a guilt we frankly deserve, or at least feel we deserve.
Having singled out stories for praise, I should point out there were no bad entries, no overworked pastiches or pretenders to the Eldritch H.P.'s throne. Considering that this thing clocks in at over six-hundred pages, that's a commendable feat. The only real gripe I have is that no faux paintings, faux woodcuts or gravures were included. This sort of Cthulhu-esque horror tends to inspire artists to new heights (or lows) of creativity in depicting the beasts that stalk our nightmares. The cover is certainly beautiful enough, a Baker Street-esque painting of a man in deerstalker hat with Meerschaum pipe clenched in his jaws moving through a foggy street. It whetted the appetite without going on to sate it. Recommended, despite the missed opportunity.
Light on the classics, heavy on the obscure. More disappointing than enlightening.
1. Sheridan Le Fanu - Green tea 6/10 2. Arthur Machen - Shining pyramid 5/10 3. Arabella Kenealy - Haunted child 4/10 4. L. T. Meade & Robert Eustace - Mystery of the Felwyn tunnel 3/10 5. E&H Heron - Story of Yand manor house 3/10 6. Allan Upward - Tapping on the Wainscot 2/10 7. Robert Chambers - Samaris 4/10 8. William Hope Hogdson - Whistling room 4/10 9. Victor Rousseau - Woman with the crooked nose 5/10 10. Max Rittenberg - Sorcerer of Arjuzanx 5/10 11. Sax Rohmer - Ivory statue 4/10 12. Claude & Alice Askew - Stranger 2/10 13. Jessie Douglas Kerruish - Swaying vision 1/10 14. F. Tennyson Jesse - Sanatorium 1/10 15. Rose Champion de Crespigny - Villa on the Borderive Road 2/10 16. Ella Scrymsour - Room of fear 3/10 17. Phillipa Forrest - Seven fires 2/10 18. Dion Fortune - Subletting of the Mansion 5/10 19. SeaBury Quinn - Jest of Warburg Tantavul 2/10 20. A. M. Burrage - Soldier 1/10 21. Sydney Horler - Horror of the height 1/10 22. L. Adams Beck - Mystery of iniquity 2/10 23. Amelia Reynolds Long - Thought-monster 3/10 24. Henry S. Whitehead - Shut room 1/10 25. Gordon MacCreagh - Dr. Muncing, Exorcist 4/10 26. Margery Lawrence - Case of the haunted cathedral 1/10 27. Manly Wade Wellman - Shonokins 4/10 28. Joseph Payne Brennan - Dead of winter apparition 3/10 29. Eric Williams - Garden of Paris 3/10 30. Mark Valentine - St. Michael & all angels 2/10 31. Jessica Amanda Salmonson - Jeremiah 2/10
I really enjoyed these stories. See below for a list of contents:
Green Tea by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu The Shining Pyramid by Arthur Machen The Haunted Child by Arabella Kenealy The Mystery of the Felwyn Tunnel by L.T. Meade & Robert Eustace The Story of Yand Manor House by E. & H. Heron The Tapping on the Wainscot by Allan Upward Samaris by Robert W. Chambers The Whistling Room by William Hope Hodgson The Woman with the Crooked Nose by Victor Rousseau The Sorcerer of Arjuzanx by Max Rittenberg The Ivory Statue by Sax Rohmer The Stranger by Claude & Alice Askew The Swaying Vision by Jessie Douglas Kerruish The Sanatorium by F. Tennyson Jesse Th Villa on the Borderive Road by Rose Champion de Crespigny The Room of Fear by lla Scrymsour The Seven Fires by Philippa Forest The Subletting of the Mansion by Dion Fortune The Jest of Warburg Tantavul by Seabury Quinn The Soldier by A.M. Burrage The Horror of the Height by Sydny Horler The Mystery of Iniquity by L. Adams Beck The Thought-Monster by Amelia Reynolds Long The Shut Room by Henry S. Whitehead Dr. Muncing, Exorcist by Gordon MacCreagh The Case of the Haunted Cathedral by Margery Lawrence The Shonokins, by Manly Wade Wellman The Dead of Winter Apparition by Joseph Payne Brennan The Garden of Paris by Eric Williams St. Michael & All Angels by Mark Valentine Jeremiah by Jessica Amanda Salmonson
Didn't really enjoy most of these stories; too often it seemed the "detectives" only cared about figuring out the mystery and proving their own cleverness, and not about actually saving people or fixing things.
Stories were pretty hit or miss. Some are quite eerie and give a satisfying shiver, but others slog on and I had to skim the text to get through them. I'm not afraid of long stories or lengthy tomes, but these weren't even slow-burn stories. Just mire.
Some great stories, some good, none bad. Interesting to read older tales which helped this genre progress through to the modern day. Well worth a read.