'Murder Considered As One of the Black Arts'

 This is a running review of the book Spirits of the Dead. Find out more here.

The final story in this fine anthology is a previously unpublished tale, it adopts a Machenesque approach, with an introduction that stresses the central MS is relatively recent. And yet it is the account of someone born in 1860. How can this be?

I suspect most readers will guess how. The memoir is the work of an Englishman who, raised in the Catholic tradition, went over to the 'dark side' by contemplating mysteries of sacrifice and demonic invocation. His life goes off the rails until, in 1888, he finds himself in the Whitechapel area of London, and a sudden impulse leads him to...

Well, I think we all know what. I don't think it's a major spoiler to say this is one in a venerable sub-genre of Jack the Ripper stories that involve the paranormal. Robert Bloch may have started it all, and many TV shows (including, rather surprisingly, the original series of Stark Trek) continued the tradition. The idea that the notorious serial killer was performing a series of bizarre rituals is attractive, in a way. And Ron Weighell makes a compelling case.

And so ends Spirits of the Dead, the work of one of the modern greats. It was a privilege to be asked to review this book. There is much that is lyrical and poetic here, a great deal of strange lore, and some excellent storytelling.