Books 2016 - .R.I.P Challenge - The Strings of Murder by Oscar de Muriel

[byslantedlight]

Edinburgh, 1888. A violinist is murdered in his home. The dead virtuoso's maid swears she heard three musicians playing in the night. But with only one body locked in the practice room - and no way in or out - the case makes no sense.
Fearing a panic over another Ripper, Scotland Yard sends Inspector Ian Frey to investigate under the cover of a fake department specializing in the occult. However, Frey's new boss, Detective "Nine-Nails" McGray, actually believes in supernatural nonsense.
McGray's tragic past has driven him to superstition, but even Frey must admit that this case seems beyond reason. And when someone loses all reason, who knows what they will lose next....

This has been on my shelf for a while - though not quite long enough to count for my Mount TBR challenge, according to the photo of my shelves - but it seemed to fit the Readers Imbibing Peril challenge nicely, with a murder and supernatural elements... And I enjoyed it! In some ways I shouldn't have - the main characters were perhaps a bit too shout-y and insulting for my liking, and the writing was a little... off? There were just a few explain-y touches, and odd twists of sentences that I'd like to have seen edited out for smoother reading, but that's just me, and despite all these things - it kept me reading. There was enough to the characters that I could see underneath the shouting to what else was there, which was enough to make me feel sympathy for them even when I didn't entirely like them (and I do, really). Victorian Edinburgh was drawn well too - that wasn't explained, it was shown nicely. The author is writing in a second (or third or fourth, for all I know) language, which might explain the odd twists, and even if it didn't, I found I could ignore the awkward bits more easily if I imagined that was why - which might be unfair, cos maybe it's just poor writing/editing, but it's true...

And there was a definitely creepy-ness about it - more, as always, from what people actually do to each other than from anything else. There are more "Frey and McGray" books, and I rather think I'll keep an eye out for them!

I also started my Peril of the Short Story challenge this morning, with two wee stories written by Mr M.R. James. The first was A School Story, about... well, I won't tell you what it's about, cos that's kind of a spoiler. *g* But it starts off with two men chatting about the ghost stories that schoolboys tell - and of course one of them has come across something himself... *g* Actually, what I thought was the spookiest bit has nothing to do with the story, it's the kind of throw-away that is done very well in this tale - one of the men is thinking of the different stories he'd heard - "Also there was the lady who, on locking her bedroom door in a strange house, heard a thin voice among the bed-curtains say, 'Now we're shut in for the night.'" - eeeh!

The second story was The Rose Garden, which is rather Nightmare on Elm Street in a way, because how often do we really know why that part of the house we've just moved into, for all its inconvenience, actually shouldn't be cleared away/altered/disturbed at all...? *g* Hmmn - it's hard, with short stories, to avoid spoilers, isn't it! I shall read more in this collection, though... *g*


Mystery - The Strings of Murder by Oscar de Muriel
Suspense - Dark Tides by Chris Ewan
Thriller
Gothic - Raven's Head by Karen Maitland
Gothic - The Madness by Alison Rattle
Horror
Dark Fantasy
And actually that means I've successfully completed this Peril the First challenge (to read four books) even before it got to October! I shall keep going though... *g*


A School Story by M.R. James
The Rose Garden by M.R. James

Comments

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

So, are you all done, or are you going to keep on going? *g*

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Oh I'm going to keep going! I like dark things for October nights, you can feel all cosy around them! *g*