The Tales of Inspector Legrasse (Paperback)

by H.P. Lovecraft & C.J. Henderson (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Spawned from the classical horror-hunt of Inspector Legrasse, in H.P. Lovecraft's seminal tale "The Call of Cthulhu", now his further adventures have been taken directly from the original notes of Professor William Channing Webb of the American Archaeological Association and written up for your edification by author C.J. Henderson, the dedicated chronicler who has exhaustively reported the occult adventures of Anton Zarnak, Jack Hage and Teddy London. These seven tales detail the epic confrontation of an unsuspecting mankind with the unimaginable horrors of the Cthulhu Mythos. After a wait of over half a century, from the combined hands of H.P. Lovecraft & C.J. Henderson, finally comes the answers to all the maddening riddles of the legendary first tale of the Cthulhu Mythos, "The Call of Cthulhu".

About the Author
C.J. Henderson is a noted horror author and supernatural mystery writer, who has penned several novels and numerous short stories.

Product Details

• Paperback: 217 pages
• Publisher: Mythos Books LLC (April 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0972854517
• ISBN-13: 978-0972854511
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #800,516 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars HPL's character is vividly realized by an accomplished mythos author, August 8, 2005

By	Matthew T. Carpenter (San Antonio, TX, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The Tales of Inspector Legrasse by CJ Henderson is a newly released title by Mythos Books. As usual Mythos Books advertising is pitiful, as I just sort of stumbled across it. It is a very nice quality trade paperback. At Amazon it is $13.60, eligible for free shipping if you buy $25 worth of books, although with slower delivery. The cover has a handsome noir type painting of Legrasse with a superimposed femme fatale looking type. It is by Ben Fogletto, who was, I think, the artist for Mr. Henderson's occult detectives book. There is an even more noirish sketch of a world weary Legrasse on the frontispiece by Erica Henderson. Alas there is no other interior art by her, which would have been very welcome. Page count is a generous 217. In the back are advertisements for a number of books, including the forthcoming Black Sutra by DeBill (big yawn factor on the cover art) and Unholy Dimensions by Jeffrey Thomas (pretty cool looking cover). The book's contents consist of HPL's "The Call of Cthulhu", the classic which of course introduced us to John Raymond Legrasse, and 6 additional stories by Mr. Henderson, who brings Inspector Legrasse to life for us. All stories are listed as copyright 2005, which evinces some sloppiness on the part of Mythos Books. For example, "To Cast Out Fear" appeared in Eldritch Blue (was that released in 2003?) and "Patiently Waiting" was in The Occult Detectives of CJ Henderson from 2003. I do not know if the rest of these stories already saw print elsewhere somewhen. The introduction is by Bob Price, and is only mildly annoying.

Of course Mr. Henderson's mythos credentials are impressive and I have certainly read numerous stories of his. Although it is unwise to peg an author, it is safe to say that noir type supernatural detectives are a favored genre of the author, as evidenced by his Teddy London series, his occult detectives book and his Anton Zarnak stories. With such highly honed skills, Henderson's stories almost always deliver the goods. The premise of this book is to flesh out Inspector Legrasse as a character. This is fertile ground for a mythos author. After all, what did HPL provide to us beyond a name? He gave us a sketchy first adventure but HPL just wasn't an action writer or a character writer. He gives us a brief glimpse of the horror in the swamp. The situation was just begging for someone to come fill in the gaps. Thankfully, the talented CJ Henderson picked up the challenge. All of these stories (except, perhaps, the last, "Nothing to Fear but Dust" which benfits from knowing the series background) may be read independently. I am presuming, given the problematic copyright listing, that they were written over a number of years and appeared here and there before until compiled for this collection. Where was I.....? OK, there is an overall arc to the story collection leading up to Legrasse's ultimate confrontation with the Cthulhu cult. Characters introduced in one story will show up in subsequent ones. As Legrasse struggles to make sense of what happened in his first Cthulhoid encounter he becomes more and more detached from the normal course of human affairs. He is a somewhat tragic figure, setting himself to fight monstrous evil but completely out of the public view, unknown and disregarded by the people he is saving. It takes all of his reserves of character to maintain his equilibrium as he finds out more and more about Cthulhu, the Great Old Ones and mankind's place in the universe. But he perseveres, knowing in his heart that humanity is worth preserving, that people of good will must set themselves against this horror at whatever cost, even if it only delays the inevitable. Along the way he makes friends with Anton Zarnak and develops a small circle of devoted followers. All stories are highly crafted and enjoyable in a way different from HPL's magnificent "The Call of Cthulhu". HPL provides the cosmic sweep and Henderson the human dimension. Approach this book in the spirit of the noir types detective stories of the 20s and 30s and you will be very satisfied. Don't look too hard at how a few men can mow down a charging mob of Deep Ones with handguns, or at how sketchy the secondary characters are, or how untrained men, including the elderly, the out of condition and the morbidly obese, can navigate across the terrain of the Himalayas. Such quibbles will only spoil your enjoyment and are beside the point anyway.

So in summary, The Tales of Inspector Legrasse is a fine book, practically self recommending. It will offer many enjoyable hours of reading to any mythos fan. Based on this my next book will be The Occult Detective of CJ Henderson.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good not great., December 26, 2006

By	ronfactor "ronfactor" (Centreville, va USA) - See all my reviews

Interesting tales, some creative twists. Particularly "The Ebony Harlot." For my purposes, however, the collection falls short. Lovecraft, Smith, Howard, Hodgeson, were all able to kindle complex emotion in their readers. They carried the suspension of disbelief on a little longer, leaving you feel strangely different once the tale was told and the books pages folded closed. The more recent folks fail even to scare. That's my only real criticism of this book. It's well told (though lots of typos), there are some good possibilities -- I want to believe, but it just doesn't quite take me there. If you're wondering where Henderson falls in terms of philosophy of man versus mythos, I'd say he's closer to Robert E. Howard than Lovecraft or Smith.

On second thought, comparing Henderson unfavorably to others in that list may be a bit harsh. The book was well written and interesting, but not what I had hoped it would be.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, Poor Editing..., November 3, 2007

By	. (Oakland, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This is an interesting and entertaining collection of Lovecraftian tales. Unfortunately, the editing seems to have been done quite poorly in certain parts. Typographical errors abound, misspellings, wrong words, etc. It's really too bad. On the plus side, the cover art is brilliant. Altogether very worthwhile, but I would suggest that the book be re-edited for future printings.