The Strange Casebook

A collection of short, spooky stories, The Strange Casebook is filled with the perfect reads for Halloween! Carefully selected, this are fascinating stories, surrounded by an air of mystery and danger lurking in dark corners.

All stories are carefully constructed and very well written, with interesting twists and turns. Their length is ideal, preventing the reader from getting bored, while in the same time leaving them asking for more details.

This is an enjoyable, quick read, that combines mystery with spookiness in a very successful blend. Ideal for lovers of strange stories and horror, The Strange Casebook is definitely recommended to all readers that can handle a little darkness in their books!

Excellent! A really good collection of short stories . This book would be per for hallowe'en.
Review will be on my blog two weeks before publication.

Thank you NetGalley for sending me this ARC an exchange for an honest review

The Strange Casebook by Syd Moore is a enjoyable spooky quick read.

The Strange Casebook is six short stories, well written and crafted. These short stories are perfect for readers getting into the spooky mood for Halloween. My favorite story of this collection had to be "Snowy" not because it was scary per say, but because of the meaning and ending to it. My 4 star review comes from not particularly enjoying all six stories. Some of the stories were a bit weird to me.
I definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys spooky reads!

This is a collection of spooky and strange short stories with stories and characters connected to Rosie Strange and Sam in the Essex Witch Museum series. You do not need to have read the series to enjoy this selection of tales, so apt for autumn and this time of the year. In Death Becomes Her, Stacey Winters, a police officer, has been burdened with a gift from childhood, but no matter how hard she tries, death is hard to cheat. In Snowy we meet Norah and her cats, and the theme of reincarnation. In Madness in A Coruna, a semiotics academic celebrates the disintegration of his marriage to young Sheila by visiting his friend Xose, only to find himself witnessing a public suicide, encountering a strange and vindictive creature, and truly experiencing Madness in A Coruna. In She Saw Three Ships, Ethel-Rose Strange has arrived early to Cornwall, to ensure all is ready at Lilia Cottage, she insists on staying at the cottage for the night despite opposition. It is the Feast of All Angels, a night to beware of as Ethel-Rose is to discover to her horror. In Jocelyn's Story, Rita is obsessed with Betty Grable, and her legs in particular. The House of Savage Lane is a tale of horror for the innocent and good Cordelia when her path crosses that of a deplorable man. This is a short book, and none of the stories are very long, but nevertheless they manage to be scary and creepy. Perfect for this time of the year. Many thanks to Oneworld Publications for an ARC.

This was a nice spooky read indeed. It definitely matched the autumn atmosphere and my spooky mood. I couldn't forget myself into it as much as I expected, though.

First of all, I have to state, that this is a very eloquently written book (all stories included), and I loved it! I loved the author's style, and that's why I would be up to reading anything else written by her anytime! I could feel the difference between the characters throughout her writing, it really felt like reading different narrators.

As for the stories, there were very good and average ones as well. At least for me. There were some very weird ones, ones that I didn't really see the point of or I got bored by getting halfway through. On the other hand, I found some very great short stories as well, ones that had a meaning beyond being spooky just for the purpose of being spooky, and ones that really gave off a 'scary-tale-by-the-firelight' vibe.

As a summary, I would say that if you want a fast autumn-mood read, this book is for you!

I'm grateful to the publisher for an advance copy of The Strange Casebook via NetGalley.

These are short stories which mostly, though not all, take place in the world of Moore's Essex Witches novels - supernatural thrillers focussed on Rosie Strange and her family's museum in the village of Adder's Fork, Essex.

If you've read and enjoyed those books you'll have the chance to spot how the stories fit in to that world - either featuring moonier characters, member of Rosie's family, forming testimony given to the Museum or just appearing in Adder's Fork itself.

Death is a common theme here.

Death Becomes Her focuses on a policewoman we have seen before, and perhaps explains a bit about her.

Snowy is a gentle hymn to death and loss and perhaps - perhaps - to consolations beyond.

Madness in A Coruña is probably the longest story in the book, and is an effective and creepy ghost story, perhaps with an MR Jamesian bent. An unwary traveller to the Spanish city (yes, the same as in the poem by Charles Wolfe) discovers mysteries there. The city seems to be guarded against something. But is it guarded well enough? As this story came to a climax I found myself sitting forward and gripping my Kindle so tense did it get.

She Saw Three Ships is a delight, a whole story featuring Ethel-Rose and taking place in that most ghost haunted, uncanny of English counties, Cornwall. What happens when the locals make you unwelcome on the eve of a creepy local festival? Well, you dig in and see what peahens, obviously. This slice of folk hour is calculated to raise a shiver as Hallowe'en approaches.

Jocelyn's Story and The House on Savage Lane, are a different kind of story, the sort where the revelation of what is really going on is what drives the horror (even if you'd begun to guess as I did for the second, not the first) so I won't say much about them. I did, though, find Jocelyn's Story to be genuinely strange and unsettling, a different sort of horror. The House on Savage Lane was a bit more conventional but still had a couple of effective twists.

So, great stories - whether read while you wait impatiently while you wait for Strange Tombs, or if you just want something a bit creepy for the lengthening evenings.

This is certainly an interesting story. A fun loving duo. I have t read the previous books, so the main characters are new to me.

The were quiet entertaining. I Sam is a geeky kind of a gentleman, shy but still an admirer of the female form. Rosie was a definite strong female lead, a dry wit dripping of sarcasm. Put them together is great but a little awkward. But they still manage to work together. Recommend to anyone looking for a sweet subtle read.

I received this ARC for a honest review.

This collection packed a punch with it's strange and unusual tales. There's a bit of something for everyone and each story is so different from the last. My personal favourites were She Saw Three Ships & Jocelyn's Story. I won't give away any details because I think you will enjoy it more if you go in a little blind. But take it from me, you won't be disappointed

The Strange Casebook caught my attention because it promised a collection of short stories that suited my fascinations well; the peculiar and the paranormal. Admittedly I yet to read the main Strange books, but these stories stand so perfectly alone that I didn't have a worry about whether or not I would be missing something.

Short stories collections are an inherently hit-and-miss sort of thing; some are liked, others not so liked. The Strange Casebook is no different. Jocelyn's Story was my least favourite; it felt wholly disjointed from the rest, focused on human vanity and obsession rather than what I had come to expect from the collection - the paranormal. Conversely, I enjoyed She Saw Three Ships supernatural and chilling aspects, but its length had my focus wavering.

Despite my differentiating opinions on the short stories, the one thing that they all have in common is that they are well-written. Indeed, they remain intriguing and the horror of the thriller lies within the suspense. Whilst I predicted the first twist of The House of Savage Lane quickly, the latter twist-come-cliffhanger caught me completely unawares. Yes, the stories are entrenched in the tropes of horror and thrillers, but those tropes do not weak these stories. Instead the tropes give the stories strength, as they play on our preconceived notions and fears.

Except, that is, for Snowy. This one is my favourite, and not merely because it includes cats. The second of the short stories, Snowy is perfectly placed to create a small break in the suspense and horror. Indeed, it exists without any of that and instead is a beautiful and gentle ode to love, loss and hope.

In all, The Strange Casebook is a perfectly spooky and quick short story collection to read on Halloween.

Six stories that are creepy and strange to get you in the mood for Halloween. They were all well done and I enjoyed them all. I hope to read more by Syd Moore.

Looking for another Halloween read for the month, I picked this up not realising it was connected to an established series by the same author – it didn’t matter one bit. Six standalone short stories are featured in this collection and they were firing on all cylinders, which I’ve found is rare in most short story collections. With memorable characters in each tale, every story takes a different approach to the paranormal and peculiar so it never feels repetitive.

Standouts were the sublime Snowy which was unexpectedly moving, and The House on Savage Lane for having a rather classical horror story feel, and giving me a dark chuckle.

This was an ARC in exchange for an honest review. With thanks to Netgalley and Oneworld Publishers

The perfect book for Halloween! A collection of short stories unusual and spooky.
The book was engaging and entertaining and I couldn't put it down.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to Oneworld Publications and Netgalley for this ARC