This book is just as bonkers as the first book as Brenda and Effie settle down in Buffy The Vampire Slayer style on the edge of a hell mouth in deepest darkest Whitby. I don't want to give too much away, except to say that even more shenanigans ensue as they deal with the various beings and entities drawn in by the hell mouth. I love how Magrs mixes up the genres, horror, fantasy, detective fiction all take their turn in this fun book. Although I enjoyed this book, I have to say that on balance think that the first book is better than this one. But I really want to find out just what is going on at the Christmas Hotel so will definitely read the next instalment when it comes out ( )

Not *quite* as glee-filled a read as the first in the season, but very, very close. Really enjoyed. ( )

This series is getting better and I didn't think that would be possible, given how much I enjoyed Never The Bride. ( )

Better than the first in some ways, as there's more of a through line and less episodic of a nature to the story. If you liked "Never the Bride' and were interested by the concept and set-up, then this is the one you'll want to read to see things fleshed out. Magrs has continued to fold the various types of Important Story Characters from horror and fantasy works of the UK into one realised form with skill and ease.

I don't agree that one has to have read the first to make sense of the story here, as there are more than enough points reviewed to keep the un-initiated reader informed as to what's on the go here in Brenda & Effie's version of Whitby.

Haver no longer; read this. ( )

Posted at:

http://web.mac.com/ann163125/Table_Ta...

I’m having something of a Paul Magrs’ fest at the moment. Earlier in the year I read his novel for young adults, Exchange. Last weekend it was his book for children, Twin Freaks. And now I’ve just finished Something Borrowed a fantasy crime novel for adults.
Throughout Magrs’ style is un-missable, although I’d be hard put to describe it. In a sense his work is almost underwritten. I come away from his books feeling as if he has simply offered me the story and then left it to me to decide whether or not it is worth reading without doing anything to try to persuade me one way or the other. The irony, of course, is that this is mesmeric. I’m waiting for him to pull a literary rabbit (white presumably) out of the hat but it never comes. Never mind, in this story, at least, the events themselves are enough to keep you reading and when you add the characters - well.
I’ve clearly missed an earlier instalment, Never the Bride, in what is presumably going to be a crime series set in Whitby and ‘starring’ two elderly ladies who, I have to say, bear absolutely no resemblance at all to Miss Marple et al. Effie has lived in Whitby all her life, as have her ancestors, the local witches. Brenda, on the other hand, has moved there comparatively recently and her history is much more picturesque and, literally speaking, picaresque. Brenda has opened a B and B and as the novel opens, is worried by the fact that it appears to be haunted. Consequently, when Effie brings her a problem concerning poison pen letters at first she isn’t that willing to be drawn into the detective mode that they must have adopted in the earlier novel. However, a complicating factor is that unbeknownst to the residents of the fishing town (and presumably to Joss Whedon and the residents of Sunnydale) Whitby is the site of the hell-mouth and Effie and Brenda are sworn to protect the good folk of Yorkshire from anything that might crawl forth. Thus, Brenda has no option. She is obliged to fight the good fight and try to discover who it is that is threatening to reveal the dark and demonic past of the owner of the Miramar Hotel, Sheila, the widow of the late and definitely not lamented Mu Mu Manchu.
Add to this Jessie, the Zombie Womanzee, a professor of Icelandic History who hasn’t aged since 1946 and a set of bamboo garden chairs and tables that seem not only to have a life of their own but also to be prepared to take someone else’s as a sacrificial offering to their gods and you have what certainly has to be the strangest novel I’ve read this year. And yet, it works. Perhaps I’ve been watching too much Buffy, or reading too much Mary Shelley but I didn’t have any difficulty suspending my belief and taking all of this on board. Somehow the juxtaposition of the supernatural, the amateur detection and the constant flow of tea and cake in the local tea-rooms works for me - and probably reveals more about my character than I might like. Anyway, as soon as Christmas is over I shall be seeking out the earlier episode in the lives of these two squabbling sleuths and looking out for whatever this very interesting writer chooses to offer. It won’t be predictable, that’s for sure.