Review: Spectred Isle

Spectred Isle by K.J. Charles
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Saul Lazenby was an archaeologist with a bright future until an incident in Mesopotamia during WW1 led to his court-martial, disgrace, and even disinheritance. Now he is grateful for a job assisting Major Peabody who believes in every crack-pot theory about magic, even if he does have stop himself from rolling his eyes. One day. following the Major's latest obsession with Geoffrey de Mandeville whose death remains shrouded in mystery, Saul arrives in Oak Hill Park looking for a druidic temple or some other such nonsense when a magnificent ancient oak tree spontaneously combusts in front of him. The first man on the scene is a supercilious, aristocrat who speaks in riddles.

Of course the Major is convinced the oak's combustion is evidence that he is 'onto something' and as he and Saul trace down clues from a book he received from a mysterious benefactor, Saul keeps running into Randolph Glyde, the last of an ancient family sworn to protect England from ghosts and ghouls who inhabit the other side of the veil. Unfortunately, all sides in WW1 employed arcanists and as a consequence decimated the magical community and ripped the veil to shreds. Now the small number of arcanists who are left are dealing with unprecedented levels of supernatural occurrences, and the Shadow Ministry is breathing down their necks, trying to strong-arm Randolph into joining their ranks.

Randolph can't decide whether Saul is innocent victim or the enemy, he certainly seems to be at the centre of any number of supernatural events, but as matters escalate it could be Saul's own soul in mortal jeopardy.

I liked this, it had a sort of queer, adult, Harry Potter/Supernatural/League of Gentlemen vibe.

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