Customer Reviews

Ghost of Midsummer Common

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I love history and good writing, and this book was a joy to read. The characters are genuine and likable, and I found myself wondering what will happen to them. I learned a great deal about a period in English history that interests me, but I think the book would appeal to anyone. The solution to the mystery is gripping, horrible and wonderful at the same time, and left me gasping for breath. Gordon McBride has created a beautifully written novel that I will return to again and again.

I have to say at the outset of this review that I know the author very well. When Gordon began to write novels I was surprised, and yes, even a bit dubious. I had never thought of my friend as a writer of fiction. I had not been able to "get through" his first novel; somehow it was just not a story that drew me in. So I hope that I will be allowed to say "I was pleasantly surprised" when I sat down yesterday evening and picked up 'The Ghost of Midsummer Common'. I was drawn-in in no time at all.

For a while, as page after page was turned, I simply couldn't divorce what I know of Gordon from the book's hero, Brian Craig. I suppose one always presumes that an author writes somewhat autobiographically. Certainly this was the case with his first book 'Flying to Tombstone'. But with 'The Ghost of Midsummer Common', quite without realizing it, after a while I began to forget that it was written by someone I know! To me this is the ultimate proof of good story-telling.

What Brian is dealing with is something like the very epitome of The Midlife Crisis. I doubt that most young adults (not yet 40) would "like" this book. But for those of us who are well into mid-life and even a bit beyond, the issues that Brian is wrestling with are all too familiar: lost loves when we were 19, failed marriages, dealing with one's progeny, professional concerns (maybe some burn-out), and so forth.

What is even more commendable is that while Gordon has been delving into these mid-life concerns he also was able to super-impose upon them a separate story line which deals with spiritual phenomena and some supernatural visions. And these phenomena are not just there for spice, but rather they are manifestations of the hero's need for a real spiritual life, for an updated and deeper understanding of God.

I heartily recommend 'The Ghost of Midsummer Common' as a good read on a winter's night, whilst perhaps curled up with a hot cup of tea!

In this well-crafted mystery, the author presents several levels of conflict for an American scholar, whose sabbatical in Cambridge leads him down supernatural pathways in unraveling an ancient and terrible crime.
Brian Craig, professor of history at a Chicago University, hopes to enhance his knowledge of Tudor history, and get a grip on his unsettled emotional life during his months in England. Instead he finds himself embroiled with six women! Three are from the past, strong and independent women whose murders have remained hidden in the dust of history. Three are in the present, a current close friend who is becoming far more than that, a college love who suddenly reappears, and his devoted daughter, all three of whom visit him during his peaceful sabbatical, which turns out to be anything but peaceful. Visited by apparitions of a silent ghost who leads him into the depths of the long-lost mysterious deaths, he seeks justice for the women's cruel and barbarous murders, and spiritual rest for their souls.
The author weaves the two themes of past and present into a compelling story, treating the protagonist's painful emotional turmoil with sympathy and understanding. It is a ghost story without horror, a fine accomplishment and satisfying read.