3.5 out of 5 stars
The publisher provided a copy of this, free of charge, in return for an honest review.
Ligeia – Edgar Allan Poe
I wasn’t overly impressed with Poe’s story. It did feel very gothic and had a certain atmosphere, but I felt that the plot was missing a certain something
My Father’s Secret – Anon
I thought that this was a very chilling story and was very Victorian in style and content.
Cruel Coppinger – R. S. Hawker
I liked this short story a lot. It was everything that I expected from a Cornish smuggling tale.
Colonel Benyon’s Entanglement – Mary Elizabeth Braddon
I really didn’t get along with this story at all. Not a lot happens and the plot is a bit vague, until one key scene towards the end of the story.
The Phantom Hare – M. H.
I liked this story. There is a good mix of jeopardy in the plot along with a good dollop of folklore. The plot is not particularly complex, so much so that I even guessed the outcome!
Christmas Eve at a Cornish Manor House – Clara Venn
Who doesn’t love a Christmas ghost story? It is full of swirling mist and noisy ghosts, and I liked this one.
In the Mist – Mary E. Penn
This was another favourite of mine from the collection. There is tragedy and peril and a conclusion that I really wasn’t expecting.
The Baronet’s Craze – Mrs. H. L. Cox
This is a well-thought through story of the grief a father is going through as he mourns the loss of a daughter.
The Coming of Abel Behenna – Bram Stoker
A strange tale of competitive love lost and gained and the duplicity of some men.
The Roll-Call of the Reef – Arthur Quiller-Couch
A story of shipwrecks in a storm and how teo survivors make an unlikely friendship
The Haunted Spinney – Elliott O’Donnell
This has wind howling through the trees. The night is dark and oppressive and then a scream is heard. It isn’t long before a body is found. No one knows who has committed the murder, but perhaps the ghost hunter can find the culprit.
A Ghostly Visitation: A True Incident – E. M. Bray
I though that this was a reasonable ghost story set in a house with a mostly benevolent spirit.
The Screaming Skull – F. Marion Crawford
I though that this story was super creepy. It is full of unnerving moments as the main character tries to understand the screams he hears at night.
The Adventure of the Devil’s Foot – Arthur Conan Doyle
I hadn’t read any Doyle before this short story (I know…) and I actually quite liked it. I can see where the character traits of Holmes in the TV series come from. It did feel that he worked the plotline back from the conclusion though.
The Mask – F. Tennyson Jesse
A story of illicit love and affairs, coupled with murder and further double-crossing. It felt the most Cornish of the stories in the collection, but the accents took a bit of getting used to.
It is not a bad book overall, like with any collection of stories, there were some I liked and others I felt indifferent about. I didn’t feel that there was much horror in the stories within. The Cornish links felt tenuous at times in some of the stories, but other had very strong links. If you are collecting the series then you probably need to get this.
Is there a series by county? I expect the Kent one is full of the flat marshes!
I don’t think every county is covered yet, but there is one on the Fens