Hunted

Henkel’s (Zen of eBook Marketing, 2016, etc.) paranormal detective Jason Dark investigates a deadly ancient vampire in his series’ 11th novel.

Dark and his partner, Sui Lin, have just received an offer to be formally incorporated into Scotland Yard as heads of the newly created Supernatural Investigation Department. He’s unsure whether he wants to burden himself with the restrictions of such an appointment, but he’s interested in a new case that’s come across the desk of his friend Inspector Lestrade (of the Sherlock Holmes stories): the murder of two dockworkers who appear to have been overpowered by a tremendous force. While investigating the scene of the crime, Dark and Lin find a ring inscribed with mysterious Chinese characters that they’re unable to decipher. The two suspect a vampire even though Lestrade laughs off the suggestion. Later, when Lin starts seeing apparitions of her dead father outside the Chinese market, she suspects the events are connected and may be evidence of an old enemy—Fu Man Chu. Subsequent events seem to support her theory, particularly when Dark and his companion become the targets of a powerful vampire’s attacks. Solving a murder is one thing, but can Dark prevent one—particularly when the killer is an ancient being of superhuman power? Henkel writes in ornate prose, savoring every word of the story: “Hovering, without any body movement involved, the shape in the blue silken robes loomed up….Chiseled with shadows, the face was old and wrinkled, the skin gray, like a leathery raisin, unmistakably dead.” In other books, such language might strike readers as overwrought, but here it serves to embellish the romanticized Victorian setting. That said, Henkel hasn’t reinvented the wheel with this novel: the plot moves through the standard detective formula, and the characters, while charming, are highly archetypical. The book’s milieu will be familiar even to those who haven’t previously encountered the series. Despite these elements (or, more likely, because of them), the sensation is not unlike sinking into a favorite armchair—readers will enjoy themselves even if they feel like they’ve been there before.

A fun, supernatural Victorian mystery.