Necropolis

Set in Victorian England in a fictional existence in which Sherlock Holmes is a real person, Necropolis begins with a visit by a young woman to a Mr. Clyde Beatty, a private investigator. The lady is Miss Angela Meredith; her father's recent death seemed suspicious to her, her theory augmented by a burnt portion of a letter left in her father's fireplace grate. She is convinced that he would have recovered from his illness, but he died shortly after a visit from his physician, a Dr. Couchman. Couchman owned and operated a nursing home in Woking, Surrey, so it is here that Beatty begins his investigation. In the guise of a doctor, Beatty travels to Surrey, where he informs Couchman that Miss Meredith has ordered an exhumation & autopsy of her father's body -- and this is where the action truly begins. Beatty and his assistant Dotterell find themselves involved in a plot that leads them to Brookwood Cemetery via the Necropolis Railway -- where Beatty finds himself in danger at every turn. I really enjoy this author's work and he did not disappoint in this one. The story keeps you reading -- I never wanted to put this book down. It is labeled on the dust jacket as a gothic, and it certainly does contain many gothic elements (e.g. the sinister nursing home, the cemetery), but it's basically a very well done, good old-fashioned mystery story like nobody writes any more. This is an example of why I don't stick to modern novels -- I would read this stuff all of the time if I could find more like this. My only complaint about this book is that I spent much of the time wondering why Copper would name his main character after a circus owner, but that's really a non-complaint. Who would like it? Anyone who likes good old-fashioned mysteries or mysteries set in the Victorian period might enjoy this book. It is really nonstop action and ther eis quite an element of suspense that is built up that lasts to the end. Overall, a very fun read -- a great book for a stormy day.

Today I've decided to go back and review some older, less-known books with gothic touches that have really appealed to me. Earlier I reviewed "Carnacki the Ghost Finder" by William Hope Hodgson, and "The House of the Wolf" by Basil Copper. This book, "Necropolis" fits in well with those two, and like them, is similarly sadly overlooked today."Necropolis" is set in the Romantic setting of Victorian gaslit London, the remarkable setting of Sherlock Holmes, Jack the Ripper, and (a bit earlier) Charles Dickens. What keeps readers and writers alike coming back to Victorian London? The fantastic energy of an old world capital at the height of the British empire? The cobbled streets and enveloping fog that creates such a lush mood of otherworldy mystery? There are a lot of factors, I suspect."Necropolis" make good use of the setting, and in fact draws largely on what was at the time (of its early 80s publishing), a largely overlooked piece of history. The book stars a private detective, equally hard-boiled in the modern way, but also Holmesian as well, named Clyde Beatty. He gets involved with some mysterious happenings at a necropolis (city of the dead) outside of London called Brookwood Cemetery. Brookwood Cemetery actually exists, it was built in 1854 as a cemetery that would hold the dead of London for centuries to come, and it was the biggest in the world. This cemetery had its own train station, for trains of the dead carrying only corpses would run to Brookwood to be buried within its vast confines. The mystery revolves around both the train of the dead and the gigantic Brookwood Cemetery.If you think such things are ripe grounds for writing a gaslight mystery, you couldn't be more right. Even though 3/4 of the way through the book it comes to a rather generic conclusion, the strength of the book is its remarkable use of the historic and fascinating settings, and the eerie, gothic air that pervades the unraveling of the mystery.So, if you're a fan of Victorian detective stories with gothic touches, then I cannot recommend this book enough.