Fighters of Fear: Occult Detective Stories

A Retrospective Collection of Classic Occult and Supernatural Detective Stories by Some of the Field’s Greatest and Best-Known Weird Fiction Authors

Since the gaslit nights at the end of the nineteenth century, the occult detective has been a beloved and recurring archetype. Mixing the best aspects of the detective tale and weird or supernatural fiction, and capitalizing in part on the massive popularity of Sherlock Holmes, these stories portrayed men and women pitted against surreal and horrifying foes, usually with little to defend them but their own savvy, experience, and know-how.

From William Hope Hodgson’s Thomas Carnacki, to Seabury Quinn’s fearless Frenchman Jules de Grandin, to Jessica Salmonson’s Penelope Pettiweather, the occult detective has taken a variety of forms, investigated a wide array of supernatural and otherworldly cases, and entertained generations of readers. This new collection compiles thirty-one all-time classic occult detective stories as it traces the genre’s growth from its nineteenth-century origins to the late twentieth century, showcasing the work of acclaimed pioneers of weird tales alongside cult favourites and exciting modern talents.

Contents

Introduction, Mike Ashley
1. Green Tea, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
2. The Shining Pyramid, Arthur Machen
3. The Haunted Child, Arabella Kenealy
4. The Mystery of the Felwyn Tunnel, L. T. Meade & Robert Eustace
5. The Story of Yand Manor House, E. & H. Heron
6. The Tapping on the Wainscott, Allan Upward
7. Samaris, Robert W. Chambers
8. The Whistling Room, William Hope Hodgson
9. The Woman with the Crooked Nose, Victor Rousseau
10. The Sorcerer of Arjuzanx, Max Rittenberg
11. The Ivory Statue, Sax Rohmer
12. The Stranger, Claude & Alice Askew
13. The Swaying Vision, Jessie Douglas Kerruish
14. The Sanatorium, F. Tennyson Jesse
15. The Villa on the Borderive Road, Rose Champion de Crespigny
16. The Room of Fear, Ella Scrymsour
17. The Seven Fires, Philippa Forest
18. The Subletting of the Mansion, Dion Fortune
19. The Jest of Warburg Tantavul, Seabury Quinn
20. The Soldier, A. M. Burrage
21. The Horror of the Height, Sydney Horler
22. The Mystery of Iniquity, L. Adams Beck
23. The Thought-Monster, Amelia Reynold Long
24. The Shut Room, Henry S. Whitehead
25. Dr. Muncing, Exorcist, Gordon MacCreagh
26. The Case of the Haunted Cathedral, Margery Lawrence
27. The Shonokins, Manly Wade Wellman
28. The Dead of Winter Apparition, Joseph Payne Brennan
29. The Garden of Paris, Eric Williams
30. St. Michael and All Angels, Mark Valentine
31. Jeremiah, Jessica Amanda Salmonson