Brent Monahan (1948–2023)

I was asked to read this book and provide a review by the publisher. When Ir received I was a bit dismayed to see that it was the second in a series, and I hadn't read the first one. I did get this second in the series and the third from that publisher, so all was not lost. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. This particular book was set in London very early in the 20 century. The main character is retired Sheriff John Le Brun, formerly of Georgia, United States. John has recently retired after show more solving a very difficult case back in Georgia (the first book in the series), and has come to England with his friend to be a tourist and take in some theatre and music shows. When he first arrives and is at an English club (The Sceptred Isle Club) for dinner with his friend, they hear numerous shots coming from a downstairs poker room. So begins John's foray into solving an English crime. Four men have been shot in a locked private poker room. The crime is violent and the motive behind it is very obscure, but John uses his very considerable deduction skills to unravel a deep and very dark mystery. I absolutely love John Le Brun! He's a stellar protagonist, and his crime fighting skills are incedibly diverse and thorough. He appears to be self-effacing and laid back, but his prodigious mind is always working behind his unflappable exterior. The only disappointment I had with the book is that the latter part of the book (about the last 15%) dealt with the aftermath of Le Brun solving the crime. We already knew who the killers were, and why they did it. I felt that the book could have ended sooner than it did. But that won't stop me from looking forward to reading the next book in the series that is waiting for me on my iPad. Thank you to the publisher for introducing me to this wonderful series. I will now have to read the first book and the other books in the series. I highly recommend this series. show less

This novel describes most of the significant Bell Witch facts as they have come to stand in American history/legend. The author chose the device of an unknown manuscript that gave inside information on the events of nearly 200 years ago, and took on the stance that this was as much a mystery (a murder mystery, no less) as it was a series of possible supernatural events. I didn't find this novel scary, but I don't know if I was supposed to. My own view is that this notorious case of a show more haunting witnessed by hundreds (including Andrew Jackson, if legend is correct) contains some unexplained elements but is also one that has grown in the telling over the decades. No one theory covers all elements here but the one that comes closest involves knowing participation by some of the family involved in the supposed poltergeist phenomena that surrounded them. Whatever else this matter was, it became deadly serious and the patriarch of the family did wind up dead, just as the spirit of the "witch" prophesied. More disturbing, true to her word, the witch did appear and she laughed at him at his funeral, as his casket was being lowered into the grave. I have read quite a bit about this disturbing folk history and have heard everything advocated from demonic presences to straightforward trickery. One recent claim was that the girl at the heart of the case was being molested by her father, that the pranks she claimed were a haunting were a cry for help, and that she got her revenge by poisoning her father to death. That may well be. Whatever the explanations are, the Bell Witch of Tennessee certainly deserves to be kept alive in memory, and it makes for a titillating study of the unexplained.

This was one of the best fiction chillers I have read in a long time. You never can quite tell whether it is fiction or fact. Chilling tale with a good twist at the end. show less

4.5 stars

A well written, surprisingly entertaining fictional telling of The Bell Witch Haunting, a poltergeist which was purportedly well documented during the period between 1818 and 1823. The poltergeist drew notoriety and a future U.S. president with its antics and eventually led to the death of John Bell, the head of the family. Told from Richard Powell's, Betsy Bell's future husband, point of view, the story starts with a curse laid on John Bell by a lady named Kate Batts and quickly show more develops into a story about a young girl and her father tormented by the poltergeist called Old Kate.

The author takes a lot of liberties in his storytelling (and is up front about it on his website), but the basic information conforms to the above Bell Witch site. Looking over the character bios on this site leads me to think that, even given that women did marry early (12 or 13 years old) to men who were often a good deal older (basic economics?), some of the players in the original story were, in fact, just dirty old men. That's the conclusion the author seems to draw any way and I kinda agree. show less

Interesting & unconventional vampire story.

The book is structured such that roughly half is from the point of view of Vincent DeVilbiss (a vampire) & roughly half Simon Penn (a librarian). I tended to prefer the parts that focused on Vincent - partly because I found the vampire lore interesting, partly because I did not like Simon. While Simon's actions did help drive the story along, I found the way that he treated Frederika (a woman caught between the two men) to be quite creepy, so much show more so that I considered giving up on reading the book at certain points. That's not to say that Vincent was perfect, but I found it very hard to root for Simon (despite it seeming that I was supposed to)

The ending got very exciting. However I thought that some of its details came out of nowhere, & felt like a cheap way for the author to get to his desired ending.

Overall, not bad, but I don't plan on seeking out the sequel. show less