The Casebook of Carnacki the Ghost Finder (Tales of Mystery & the Supernatural)

The contents of the book are wonderful, but as certain bibliophiles will no doubt be privvy to: Wordsworth has two distinct cover art trends. The first trend is typically notable for being God-awful, with decidedly gaudy or cheaply smashed together scenes framed by a maroon or red background. The second trend is characterized by much more sophisticated sketch-reminiscent art atop a yellow or other solid-hue background. I personally prefer the latter designs (pictured in the product listing) but I received the former. Don't get me wrong, the art for Carnacki isn't as bad as, say, The Casebook of Sexton Blake or the original Father Brown edition, but it's not the one I was hoping for. Minor gripe. Otherwise, the book is perfect, and the typeface is pleasing.

The headline I have supplied to this review more or less sums it all up. Hodgson was a man's man of the old school, and a self made gentleman of the British Empire at its peak. As a result, what you've got here is thriller fiction, tailor made for gentleman's magazines (in the literal and very British sense of the phrase - no salacious stuff here!).Although the device of a "ghost detective" was, indeed, more or less original with Hodgson, it isn't too hard of a task to cast about for the roots of the idea. The tropes and settings employed in these nine stories come straight from Conan Doyle, with an occult twist courtesy of Blackwood's famous John Silence character.More worrying than the relative lack of originality is the complete lack of characterization. Carnacki has seemingly only two modes of emotion: full-on, masculine bravado and frightened-out-of-his-wits-but-refusing-to-flee-the-field tenacity. The reader witnesses fluctuations between the two states, with not a whit of subtlety or gradation in between.As for the stories themselves, the situations are recounted in the tersest of terms, with the plot being unwound mechanically, bit by bit. Carnacki either solves the mystery...or he doesn't. Some of the stories end with a human malefactor being exposed, while others reveal themselves as the chronicle of a genuine haunting. As noted above, some end with Carnacki being unable to come to any resolution whatsoever.I award this volume three stars. It's a good, solid, night time read. Collectors of Edwardian era thriller and supernatural fiction will undoubtedly find this a worthy addition to their library, after they have soaked up all the top shelf stuff. Hodgson's work did have some influence on later writers of the "Weird Tales" persuasion, such as H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard.

All but a couple of Carnacki's cases have been long neglected by publishers and once again it's Wordsworth to the rescue with this collection. Most of the tales are of the supernatural variety, though one or two have somewhat logical explanations just to keep the reader off balance. "The Hog" and "The Whistling Room" are the best known tales, but "Gateway of the Monster" and "Horse of the Invisible" are just as good. The others aren't bad either. There are faults the stories, one being Carnacki doing the narration himself, which lessens the suspense since we know he escaped the dangers. Another is his "penatcle of light" used to ward off evil, which doesn't work half the time and comes off as a silly gimmick. At least, despite his ego, Carnacki is willing to confess being just as terrified of what's going on as the people he's trying to help.As ghost hunters go, Carnacki is not on the level of Blackwood's John Silence, but he deserves to be rediscovered. Now that Wordsworth has done that let's hope they bring out stories of Jules DeGrandin, Flaxman Low, Barnabas Hildreth and more of the once popular but now forgotten occult detectives.

Hodgsen's career as a novelist of the supernatural include at least one story that invokes existential trauma - The House on the Borderland. I'm pleased to say there is nothing of that style in this collection, though his allusion to a great hog in the final story provides some connection. This is, instead, a rather routine bedside book, the stories resting on the simple plot device of one Carnacki, professional ghost finder, recounting his adventures. There is suspense, drama, and uncertainty -- some of Carnacki's adversaries enact their hauntings from realms beyond, others are merely human scalliwags and cut-throats weaving webs of deception. Carnacki, of course, does not tell us which until the end of his adventures.Overall, a fun read and brief enough that his standard plot device, the recounted story, does not wear too thin.

"Ripping tales" is how someone else characterized Carnacki and that is absolutely how it struck me. Carnacki tackles hauntings with his mannnuscript, his electric pentacle, and his glass-legged table and door seals. What makes the stories even more exciting is that some of the ghosts are de-bunked and some are real demons. Depending on how much of this you can take, he does always attempt to attach science to the other-worldly beings. Some of the hauntings he doesn't resolve. I think that reading them all together is not the best way to approach the book. Hodgson also does that charming thing that Conan Doyle did in Sherlock Holmes--he refers to other cases and their startling outcomes--cases we never get to read.I do think that several of the stories would do really well as movies or say, Twilight Zone episodes. With today's special effects, you could show Carnacki's devices and the complicated ways that the entities appear or sound.

Formulaic, yet interesting. Carnacki revels his friends with his various supernatural investigations. Some of the cases have a mundane cause, or the supernatural element is secondary at best. Much of the time, Carnacki manages only a partial solution of the truly occult incidents, which I find interesting. I would have liked Carnacki and his friends to be fleshed out a bit better, but it worked.

This is not really a book that benefits from being read cover to cover; it's more of a 'dipper'. The stories would do best singularly in an anthology, or magazine, as I believe they were originally published.The set-up of every story is exactly the same, but not only that, the writer has a tendency to repeat things almost verbatim, within a paragraph or two. On more than one occasion this happened more than once. THE HOG was particularly guilty of this and I struggled to finish it. The character of Carnacki (who narrates the stories) also frequently asks the listener 'Can you follow me?', ' I don't know if you understand', or somesuch version thereof, which I found incredibly irritating; the equivalent of a literary 'y'know?'. at one point it was at the end of nearly every paragraph.I thought the stories veered from the dull to the preposterous. The occult aspects are laughable with no suspense, no excitement and no atmosphere. There is no characterisation. Not only that, the writing style and tone is monotonous.

A very enjoyable read. Very much in the Sherlock Holmes vein of writing - a private specialist rather than a street detective. The stories are a nice mix of genuine supernatural and faked haunting - some of the fakes are less believable because of their sheer complexity. I only gave the book 4 stars because the author tended to end his stories in somewhat of a rush - almost as if he only had access to a certain number of words. Alas, that his death prevented the second volume of Carnacki the Ghost Finder. Put this book between your Sherlock Holmes and your H P Lovecraft.

I must confess to being a fan of occult detective fiction and thus as soon as I stumbled across this book I was intrigued and excited by the prospect of reading it. And I have certainly not been dissapointed. The Caseboook of Carnacki the Ghost Finder is an essential read for all fans of the genre, and I would ecertainly go as far as to deem them the best occult detective stories written to date.It is of course arguable that the character of Carnacki himself is somewhat one dimensional, but somehow this does not matter, for it gives him an enigmatic persona that is deeply likeable. The fact, also, that he is always so sincere and honest about the fear he feels in the face of the supernatural threats he encounters adds to the sense of authenticity the character possesses. The stories also follow a ridgid formula but again this never seems to matter for it seems to give the entire book itself a sense of character and life, an impression I have seldom before experiecnced during reading.And it gets better. The fact that the characterisations are - arguably - a little one dimensional means nothing when compared to the rich and believable world that the author, W. H. Hogson, has created. The bacgroud detail is both delightful and fascinating in equal measure, and the sense of realism contained within the descriptions of the supernatural encounters makes for trully chilling reading. Indeed the Carnacki stories are some of the few I have read that have, in a genuine way, filled me with a sense of unease. Overall a truly delightful, fascinating, and above all, terrifying read. Chooosing favourites from among the nine stories is almost impossible, but for me the ones which paticularly stand out are; "The Gateway of the Monster", "The Whistling Room" and "The Searcher at the End House".In short, the best occult detective tales in the genre...just don't read them before you go to bed!

This collection of short stories, all of which have what seems to be a supernatural happening in them is interesting in that sometimes the supernatural is real and sometimes it is a complete fake. The truth is rarely revealed until very near the end of each story and in all of them the author manages to create an atmosphere of mystery and sometiems horror. Not a great book but one well worth reading.

Good book with plenty of quality stories for your buck