Stevie‘s review of The Secret Casebook of Simon Feximal by KJ Charles
Gay Historical Paranormal Romance published by Samhain Publishing, Ltd. 16 Jun 15
I’m a great fan of the Sherlock Holmes short stories, along with others of their ilk, and pastiches there-of, not to mention the novels of Denis Wheatley, so I was very keen to read this collection of sequential casebook stories that come complete with a heavy dose of the occult and a healthy side-order of gay romance. Of course, all that anticipation meant that the book had a lot to live up to, but it certainly succeeded.
Robert Cauldwell is the Watson to Simon Feximal’s Holmes, but this is the Watson of the written word, not the bumbler of certain adaptations which shall remain nameless. Not so much of a fighter as his Conan-Doyle equivalent (although Feximal is an accomplished amateur boxer), Cauldwell first meets his lifetime companion (and begins his life’s work as a chronicler) through his inheritance of a haunted house.
The two men recognise various personality traits in each other, and set the ghost to rest through rather intimate means, although Cauldwell expects the encounter to go the way of all his other, albeit mostly anonymous, couplings with men. They meet again, however, through Cauldwell’s job as a journalist, when he is sent to report on a haunting that Feximal and his rivals are investigating in competition with each other. Cauldwell’s assistance is once more called upon, but this time his report of the events puts him at odds with some shady government figures, and he’s cast out of job and home.
Fortunately, Simon and his friends come to the rescue, and so begins the partnership that continues throughout the adventures here, as well as others which are only alluded to (just like many other Victorian and Golden Age detective stories, the reader is led to believe that other stories have been written up elsewhere, whether published or not).
I love the atmosphere of the stories and the way each chapter is complete in itself but also leads into the next, as well as referring back to other episodes. I also like the glimpses we get of Feximal’s fellow ghost-hunters and occultists and the atmosphere that feels just right for the era and the characters’ backgrounds.
I’d love to read more about Feximal and Cauldwell, but may have to content myself with the author’s other books in my to-read list and also the other, similar, series from which these stories partly spun off.
Grade: A
Summary:
A story too secret, too terrifying—and too shockingly intimate—for Victorian eyes.
A note to the Editor
Dear Henry,
I have been Simon Feximal’s companion, assistant and chronicler for twenty years now, and during that time my Casebooks of Feximal the Ghost-Hunter have spread the reputation of this most accomplished of ghost-hunters far and wide.
You have asked me often for the tale of our first meeting, and how my association with Feximal came about. I have always declined, because it is a story too private to be truthfully recounted, and a memory too precious to be falsified. But none knows better than I that stories must be told.
So here is it, Henry, a full and accurate account of how I met Simon Feximal, which I shall leave with my solicitor to pass to you after my death.
I dare say it may not be quite what you expect.
Robert Caldwell
September 1914
“The Caldwell Ghost” and “Butterflies” are previously published short stories. The Secret Casebook of Simon Feximal continues and completes Robert Caldwell and Simon Feximal’s story.
Warning: Contains a foul-tempered Victorian ghost-hunter, a journalist who’s too curious for his own good, villainy, horror, butterflies, unusual body modifications, and a lot of tampering with the occult.
Read an excerpt.
