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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Is There a Supernatural Creature Out There or Just a Deranged Serial Killer?,
By
This review is from: The Dracula Murders (Paperback)
The Dracula Murders is a through the eyes of a police detective for the most part novel where someone or something is killing women, they are all similar in appearance with black hair, the name Lucy has been overheard by witnesses at a few scenes spoken by the killer and all victims have an arrow sticking out of their hearts. Published in 1983 under the Peter Daniels pen name, by Dennis Philips (whose most famous pen name is Peter Chambers) this novel has a nice old school type feel to it in a world before mobile phones and where people worried if they didn't shave each morning how others would judge them and so forth.Nosferatu is a creepy looking uninvited guest to The Festival of Horror Ball. He's got a really good costume and something about him terrifies even the toughest men. He interrupts the band to lecture the crowd on their behaviour before confronted by one brave man who convinces others to throw him out. Later that night the first body is found. Like other books by this author this a nice simple quick read with a level of consistency that isn't a masterpiece or the best book you'll ever read by any means but a book you wouldn't hesitate to suggest to anyone wanting a good quality read to pass the time.
3.0 out of 5 stars
"She was Elizabeth Warren, aged nineteen. And she was dead.",
By Mark Louis Baumgart (Michigan, USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Dracula Murders (Linford Mystery) (Paperback)
There is a big too-do at the Great Bravington country club. Paul Carter is newbie to the local scene, and he has bullied the club's committee into having a horror oriented masquerade instead of the traditional one on Halloween and it is quite a success. This being a mystery novel, you know something is going to go pear-shaped, and that trouble never travels alone. Then a mysterious character called Nosferatu with great make-up shows up and throws a chill over everything. He bullies himself to the front of the dance floor and delivers a threatening and stentorianous pronouncement that unless the party is stopped misery will ensue. John Matthews, tired of Nosferatu's histrionics has him hustled away. Then everything almost literarily goes down the toilet. A man is found in the loo covered in blood, then there is screaming and Elizabeth "Liz" Warren is found murdered on the golf course. The murder seems ritualistic as a brass-headed arrow is thrust into her heart, and she is bitten in the throat. Then it turns out that Elizabeth may have already been dead when stabbed.The local constable, Inspector Cornwell realizing he is over his head, sends for Superintendent Vine. Vine is one of those plodding, detailed-oriented, and unimaginative coppers who is thorough and who knows his business. Unfortunately, Vine doesn't have the ability, and really isn't interested in thinking outside the box, something that he will have to do to solve this case. Then things start getting complicated. Tony Benson is the bloody man, and he is drunk, so his friends have taken away his keys and put him in his car to sober up. Waking up, he finds his spare key and promptly drives his car into a tree, and then Vine finds Nosferatu, whose name is both "title and person". Nosferatu informs Vine that he considers the killer a poseur and a deluded madman, that he must be caught, and unless he is, there will be another murder. Then there IS another murder. The murdered woman is Margaret "Irish Mollie" MacBride, a prostitute this time instead of a socialite, who along with the late Elizabeth has long dark hair. And again, the killer is overheard calling the woman "Lucy". Vine is called to crime scene and has to share his files with Chief Superintendent Charlie Grace, and it turns out that the murders have also drawn the interest of Professor Abraham Cornfeld, special consultant on Eastern European history to Associated Northern Universities to explain the difference between the real and the fictional Dracula. He's also a consultant to the government with enough pull to have helicopters sent for when he wants them, order government officials around, and to get on television when he wants to. Cornfeld agrees with Nosferatu that this killer is a fake vampire. And to give the police credit, when Cornfeld informs them that the killer is NOT a vampire, but, a nutjob who BELIEVES himself to be the reincarnation of Vlad Tepes, nobody automatically dismisses the theory. And just what does the neglected and lonely Susan Duncan have to do with all of this. And why is Susan afraid of her husband? A husband who has disappeared for last couple of weeks that Susan has been confined to the hospital after her lover drives his car into a tree with. And why does Donald always disappear when there is a murder? The novel is told from about half from Vine's viewpoint with the other half from the other various characters of the novel. There is also a massive red herring that will really throw you off, and which you won't know it there until the novel is almost over. However, this red herring, when revealed will leave a gaping plot-hole which is never explained. This is a solid, but unremarkable detective novel that is a little shallow on the characterization department, long on smooth writing and entertainment value, but which also has a slight condescending attitude to it. This is the type of by-the-numbers novel by Philip Daniels, who is really Dennis Philips, and whose most famous pseudonymn is that of Peter Chambers, that is fun to read, but not necessarily one that you will want to go back and re-read very often. To be fair, I am reviewing the large print version, and the print is crisp and clean and makes for easy reading. The cover has a close-up of a woman's face with red lips dripping blood from them. This cover artwork is just so much pseudo-goth rubbish that totally misrepresents the book's contents. With a decent series of gimmickry vampire murders, a smart but distant and absent-minded professor, a solid and predictable copper, lots of English countryside, and a real touch of the supernatural, this would be a great Halloween read for English cozy readers, and it would certainly make a decent tv movie. For this site I have also reviewed these traditional mysteries: Fever Devilin #5: The Drifter's Wheel by Phillip DePoy. Dale Kinsall #2: Scent Of Danger by Doranna Durgin. Mrs. Bradley #18: The Rising Of The Moon by Gladys Mitchell. Mrs. Bradley #46: Winking At The Brim by Gladys Mitchell. Mrs. Bradley #48: Late, Late In The Evening by Gladys Mitchell. Fleming Stone #45: Murder In The Bookshop by Carolyn Wells. Unfortunately the product link button isn't working for books on my computer so you'll have to look them up.
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