On the surface, Never The Bride is about the friendship of two semi-retired ladies who live next door to each other in a seaside town called Whitby in the north-east of England. Brenda is the proud proprietress of a bed and breakfast, and her friend Effie runs an antique shop (which Brenda refers to as a junk shop). Although Brenda hasn't lived in Whitby for long, the pair are firm friends and have their routines of having fish and chip dinners at Cod Almighty, or tea and scones at the Christmas Hotel, where it's Christmas every day of the year.

If you've heard of Whitby before, it may be because the town features in Bram Stoker's book Dracula. The author takes this connection, and spins it wildly out of control.

Brenda and Effie's adventures begin when they hear about a new beauty salon called the Deadly Boutique which has some radical methods of reducing the signs of aging. They kick into Miss Marple mode, and go off investigating, which brings them into contact with many other of Whitby's more unusual residents and of course, several more mysteries to unravel, including those kept secret by Brenda and Effie themselves.

This is a fairly charming little book, but I didn't think it carried off what it set out to achieve. If you've seen the 21st century incarnation of the TV series Doctor Who, you should get the gist of Never The Bride. There's too much going on - too many improbable little plot threads that don't appear to be linked until you get to the very end of the book. Another gripe is that while the author has tried to put a new spin on some of the famous supernatural faces who appear in his book by giving them ordinary lives and mundane jobs - one is a civil servant for instance - he also falls back on old cliches to describe them, which was disappointing.

Brenda is well-drawn and sympathetic, if a little too similar to Olympia in Geek Love, but even her longing for love is a bit overdone in the end. It has made me want to visit Whitby though. ( )

Gothic horror comedy set in Whitby. It shouldn't work. It doesn't really, but it kept me entertained for three hours. A guilty pleasure akin to Carry On Screaming. ( )

Paul Magrs (does it help you to know the 'g' is silent?*) gives good genre. Which genre? Horror, sci-fi, fantasy - take your pick. Never The Bride is one of those books that steals (helpfully out-of-copyright) characters and situations from a variety of classic novels and pitches them into a contemporary world and everyday setting. Yes, like League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen did - but much more fun. If you're familiar with the more famous creations of Shelley, Stoker, Wells, and even Bradbury (and most people are, even if they haven't read the original novels), and you don't mind a little respectful iconoclasm, you'll find much to enjoy in Magrs's book. Buffy fans too would be well advised to give it a look, as it shares a similar tone, and even steals a pretty big plot hole (literally) from the adventures of everyone's favourite Vampire Slayer.

Read the full review at my blog. ( )

I picked this up because of the Whitby setting, and was left utterly delighted. Huge amounts of fun. ( )

The setting of Whitby, the town that that inspired Bram Stoker, is perfect for this book as it provides the gothic setting for a story that includes vampires, witches, aliens and more. Even the protaganist is not what she sees-who or what is Brenda? ( )