Cthulhu Detective: A C.J. Henderson Tribute Anthology (ebook review).

Lovecraft stories employing the Cthulhu Mythos have grown in number over the years and most readers will be familiar with this genre but there is a certain niche hiding within it which is perhaps a little less familiar. That niche is the Cthulhu Detective, basically described by the name itself and one proponent of this was CJ Henderson. Having died last year from cancer, he is sadly no longer with us, but there are many disciples out there in the literary world and, as a tribute to him, here we have a large volume of collected stories all based around the Cthulhu Detective theme.

At almost 400 pages, it’s quite a large volume, and it contains a dozen stories by an interesting collection of authors. Most of the stories have appeared somewhere before but there is one which is unpublished and that’s a Harrison Peel offering called ‘The Temporal Deception’ by David Conyers and CJ Henderson himself. This is an exciting tale taking us to cosmic horrors, terrifying shoggoths and enigmatic shifts in time and space.

However there is a lot more. We have a Henderson story, ‘A Large And Rattling Stick’, featuring Joan de Molina the pirate queen, followed by a CIA story, ‘Unsatisfied’ by Brian M Sammons. The characters are weird and wonderful. What about a Comanche bounty hunter as in Cody Goodfellow’s ‘Black Wind’ and a plainclothes detective, John Bell, in ‘The Avatars Of The Old Ones’ by Jeffrey Thomas? There’s a great story about Captain Max Calder, hero from the Great War now turned mercenary in ‘Dreams Of Destruction’ by Shane J Cummings and another army guy, Colonel Andrew Stone of the Canadian Forces, in ‘The Search For Giselle’ by David Kernot.

The stories are challenging and exciting, full of intrigue and action. Some are humorous and others deadly serious. They are all page-turners which will keep you amused and enthralled many an hour. Priced at just over £3 for the Kindle version, it represents excellent value for money and it’s a really good way to commemorate the writing life of CJ Henderson, a prolific and successful author, whose influence remains with us all. I think it’s a book to be recommended and, because the characters and authors come from all over the world, it will find fans just about everywhere, even in the remote dimensions full of strange creatures and unspeakable horrors.

Rod MacDonald

April 2015

(pub: Amazon Media. 394 page ebook kindle edition. Price: £ 3.34 (UK). ASIN: B00W6N7LM4)

check out website: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cthulhu-Detective-Henderson-Tribute-Anthology-ebook/dp/B00W6N7LM4/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1429959503&sr=1-1&keywords=Cthulhu+Detective%3A+A+C.J.+Henderson+Tribute+Anthology