All New Malevolent Mysteries and Perplexing Puzzles where Sherlock Holmes works with Classic and New Occult Detectives As Carnacki the Ghost Finder, the famous literary occult detective, once said: “I view all reported ‘hauntings’ as unproven until I have examined into them, and I am bound to admit that ninety-nine cases out of a hundred turn out to be sheer bosh and fancy.” In these pages, a range of contemporary authors explore 'what happens next' when the Great Detective confronts mysteries which question reason. A summons from Irene Adler’s daughter; a chance encounter with one of Houdini’s fraud investigators; the enigma of Dr John Silence. Mysterious events at Mary Morstan’s old school, and a threat to Queen Victoria. The return of the German agent Von Bork, somewhat changed, and a desperate hunt for a killer through the alleys of London with none other than Professor Van Helsing. Join us in the second volume of this two-volume anthology as Holmes finds himself working with psychic investigators old and new in pursuit of answers, and must confront his own scepticism. Tales in the traditional style – but with a twist. Can Holmes’s logic work alongside the occult detectives’ willingness to embrace another set of rules entirely? Paranormal – or poppycock?

What if Sherlock Holmes Wasn't Alone? Sherlock Holmes—the name immediately brings to mind an image of the great detective sitting in his rooms in 221B Baker street, his fingers steepled before his hawkish nose, his sharp grey eyes focused on the client who has brought a little puzzle for him to solve. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said when one reads the names of the other literary detectives of the time period, sometimes referred to as the rivals of Sherlock Holmes. Sadly, names like Lois Cayley, Professor Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen, The Old Man in the Corner, or Dr. Thorndyke are meaningless to all but the most ardent admirers of Victorian and Edwardian mysteries. The Great Detective Universe series hopes to rectify this problem and expand the world of Sherlock Holmes by bringing the consulting detective and his purported rivals into a shared universe, in other words, a universe where not just Holmes and Watson lived but also Carnacki, Father Brown, The Grey Seal, and many other great detectives.

Sherlock Holmes may be the world’s only consulting detective, and the most brilliant investigator of his time, but there are other detectives in the shadows, ones who are willing to look ‘beyond humanity’ for answers. Some share a degree of Holmes’s scepticism; others embrace the spectral and ab-natural with an enthusiasm and determination which can be positively alarming. Belanger Books return to the world of the occult detectives, with a further two volumes of Sherlock Holmes tales concerning matters which do indeed appear to be inexplicable by any normal standards. The canonical Holmes and Watson are on the trail in twenty brand new cases of murder, mystery, and lies. And as you might expect, they find themselves – willingly or unwillingly –accompanied by stranger bedfellows than usual. In these pages, a range of contemporary authors explore what happens when the Great Detective confronts mysteries which defy even a slipper of shag tobacco and the vibrant tones of the violin. A child’s body appears – and disappears – on the remote Dorset coast; a cardinal dies in mysterious circumstances in the Vatican, and a death at a country house offers a locked room mystery with no natural explanation. From Calcutta to Carshalton, from Suffolk to South Kensington, deceptions are practised, bodies are inexplicably mangled – and souls may well be in peril. For Volumes Three and Four, Holmes finds himself at odds with Bram Stoker’s Harkers, exasperated by the hapless Gerald ‘Budleigh’ Salterton, and intrigued by a Mlle. Castaigne, who suggests that a terrible use has been made of the Lumière brothers’ photographic innovations. Was there really ever a play called ‘The King in Yellow’? He meets for the first time the gifted Mrs Hudgins, and once again encounters the talented Miss Trelawney, amongst others. Margaret Murray, the famous real-life anthropologist, has a puzzle for him on the Nile during the Great Hiatus, whilst in London, Holmes crosses the paths of more historical figures in the shape of spiritualist Tennessee Claflin and her sister Victoria Woodhull. And what is he to make of Vernon Lee’s Lady Tal, never mind Aleister Crowley’s Simon Iff? Join us as Holmes works with psychic investigators old and new in pursuit of answers, and must confront his own scepticism. Tales in the traditional style – but with a twist. Can Holmes’s logic work alongside the occult detectives’ willingness to accept another set of rules entirely? Are their proposed solutions paranormal – or poppycock?

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!