A Celebration of William Hope Hodgson’s Famous Occult Detective Few if any classic detectives in fiction have spawned so many later pastiches and homages as William Hope Hodgson’s Carnacki the Ghost Finder. Whilst Sherlock Holmes exemplified the logic-wielding consulting detective, it was another, Thomas Carnacki – owing a little to Holmes and a little to the Victorian amateur psychic sleuth – who melded the science of rational investigation with the world of spiritual exploration. In doing so, his character proved formative for the entire field of occult detective literature. “Carnacki, who first appeared in the Idler magazine in 1910, has all the elements in such perfect proportions that he deserves to be crowned king of the occult 'tecs.” David Barnett, The Guardian And with that accolade, Belanger Books is pleased to present an anthology dedicated entirely to Thomas Carnacki. Rather than drawing on existing pastiches, or simply presenting a selection of further, similar cases, The Book of Carnacki offers a range of new and intriguing tales which explore far more of the Second Great Detective’s life and activities. Within this packed volume, therefore, although you will still find an enjoyable selection of investigations in the ‘classic’ style, you will also encounter stories which feature Carnacki at different stages of his career, from being a schoolboy, and then a young man of vigour, through to the weariness of his last years. With his ancient manuscripts and his modern monographs, with his cameras, protective herbs, and electrical pentacle, the Ghost Finder is ready to face the Dark. In the eighteen stories written for this anthology, Thomas Carnacki faces scientific and spiritual mysteries, plus deception and doubt. A haunted landscape and a cursed book; a Japanese naval officer in fear for his life, and a London street which cannot exist. There will be lethal threats, but also tongue-in-cheek parody, and you will even learn a little more of his constant audience – Dodgson, Arkright, Jessop and Taylor, the four men who met regularly at his Cheyne Walk home to hear him recount his experiences. The tragic fate of Aster in the case of the Black Veil is revealed, as is the horrifying truth behind the original Hope Hodgson story ‘The Searcher of End House’. Nor is Carnacki always alone in the field, as we add a tale which concerns his tutelage of the Royal Occultist, Charles St Cyprian – and an adventure which has a starring role for Sherlock Holmes himself!