A quick Gothic toned novella set in the 1900's. In a place called Odessa a barbarous killer is terrorizing the port city set on the Black Sea. He has been dubbed The Spector and has already killed 5 children including the child of a prominent family. The murderer communicates through the newspaper and is already promising more deaths.
Mrs. Karadopoulinas and her twin daughters, Eleni and Tasia, run a boarding house. When the story opens it is storming hard and the sisters are at home alone when around midnight a man comes to the door asking for a room. They allow him in despite their mother not being home yet. He's an odd man, an Englishman with scars on his face that make him seem sinister. Henry Humble he identifies himself as and without much word he takes a room and settles in. He's an eccentric and stays out most nights, all night. The sisters start to suspect that he is The Spector. They begin to investigate, after all, if they're right then they could catch a killer. What could go wrong? Well, you'll have to read it to find out!
Being a novella, it was a quick read. The story is fast paced, yet there is much packed into it. So much that I wanted more. I love stories set in the Victorian Era and I felt the author did a good job of taking me to that time period. The descriptions of the area, including the tunnels they get lost in were vivid and came alive in my mind. The books description states this story is "a Victorian-style murder mystery with elements of horror, adventure, and Hitchcockian black humor". This of course grabbed my attention a lifelong Holmes and Hitchcock fan and I was not disappointed! This book will be available November 4, 2021. I received this book free from Booksirens for an honest review.
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