Official Review: The Morecambe Medium

readitandwept · Post by **readitandwept** » 05 Jun 2014, 12:33

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Morecambe Medium" by Peter Cakebread with Ken Walton.]

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The Morecambe Medium by Peter Cakebread was a well written mystery novel. It was about two detectorators Doctor Touchstone and Mr. Augustus Mulberry, and their investigation of the mysterious murder around town involving a ghostly carriage.

Touchstone and Mulberry weren’t the richest of men; they struggled getting enough money for food, but they were very interested in detectorating. When Florence Farthingale comes to their house asking for their help. Edna Bolton had lately passed leaving a house behind with no owner. She had reportedly not died due to unnatural causes but, Farthingale wasn’t so sure. Edna had been nearly harassed by business men who wanted her property’s land for their own use once she had passed. Her untimely death was suspicious and Farthingale was convinced that the death was not a natural cause, and something had killed Edna. After a meeting with the town's medium the Mrs. Charms a man is murdered and Touchstone and Mulberry are put on the case. Yet, the only thing that is clear about the murder is that a carriage, with ghostly characteristics, haunts the case.

I give this book 3 out of 4 stars, but points can be added. The mystery of the ghostly carriage had intrigued me right from the prologue. I had to know who was behind it, how did someone make a carriage look that way, was it truly ghosts? And the two main characters were quite lovable. I liked the slight strangeness to Mulberry in his way with dealing with others. I also enjoyed Touchstone’s narration of the story.

The only thing that I did not like was how similar everything was to the popular Sherlock Holmes. Yet, in the same way, I liked the similarities. Two British men solving mysteries for the police, one a Doctor, and living in a house labeled 222C, not unlike the popular 221B. It had bothered me at first, I found myself rolling my eyes when I located more similarities. I am a huge fan of Arthur Conan Doyle’s work, and I didn’t know what to think of all of it. However, as I read on, these little similarities grew to make the story quite enjoyable. I grew to like the similarities, and I enjoyed the slight twists to the original story of Sherlock Holmes that were added to make this book different.

With all of that in mind I liked this mystery novel. The ending was quite surprising, and the little twists added in were very well done. The mystery in this novels outcome was not what I had expected. The author did a very good job at that. Also, the writing style was very pleasing. I would read more of these books, as I am certain that the story of Doctor Touchstone and Mulberry is far from over.

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