A new occult detective set in the Victorian Age of Sherlock Holmes is Teel James Glenn‘s Dr. Augustus Argent. Pro Se Press put out the first collection of his stories: Semper Occultus.
It’s the first of a new series. We get eight stories, several of which appeared elsewhere. Some are very short, others longer.
We meet Dr. Argent in our first story. We learn he is a “minister without portfolio” for the British Crown, focused on dealing with occult matters. This first story is also the first time Capt. Jack Stone of the Horse Guard meets him as well, and he will become his associate and aide-de-camp. Basically Dr. Watson to Argent’s Sherlock Holmes.
In that very short story, Argent is dealing with a dangerous pack of wolves who are lead by a werewolf. They had killed Jack’s sister, and Argent takes care of both. From that point on, Stone will be helping him and narrating these stories.
In a few of the stories, Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard will be calling in Dr. Argent rather than a certain other detective. We are told that both Holmes and Carnacki exist in this world. Whether these will meet Dr. Argent in the future remains to be seen.
But I was bothered by this: These stories seem set in the 1880s, when Holmes was active. But Carnacki is set in the 1910s, and made use of electricity, so I don’t feel he quite fits in this time period. I wonder if Dr. Argent exists in the same world as Glenn’s other two New Pulp heroes, Dr. Shadows or Skullmask?
Dr. Argent is oldish, very tall, with long white hair, mustache, and pointed beard. His eyes are either blue or green. He lives in a converted stable on Carnaby Street, with the first floor being an office/workshop. He lives in the converted loft, while Jack lives in a nearby apartment with his wife. Argent has skills and knowledge of the occult, including the use of spells at time. Personally, I prefer occult detectives who don’t use spells, but am ok with the use occult objects, as they are more detectives than urban wizards.
As to the rest of the stories, the two go up against man a who learned how to cross over to another world through a mirror. Now years later, he tries to bring over his wife and daughter. Can Argent and Stone save them?
In an early case for Jack, the two are pulled into a case that seems to have a return of Jack the Ripper. But it’s someone or something else. And it involved a sinister international criminal mastermind known only as the “Dragon.” To help get to the bottom of things, this involved having Jack transformed into a horse! But things don’t go quite as planned. We don’t meet this Dragon. At first he seems more Fu Manchu than Moriarty, but we learn he is a master of the dark arts, so more dangerous than Fu Manchu. I expect him to return, though hopefully used sparingly.
A curse from Roman times seems to still hang over a English noble family who live near Hadrian’s wall. When the current lord is killed in a strange manner after finding a statue of a roman sea god, his son, the new lord, returns with Jack. Soon Dr. Argent appears. Can they figure out the curse and put an end to it?
Another case deals with a strange death tied to dolls that Dr. Argent must work out. And in another, they deal with a murder by a djinn.
We get a pair of stories that have Jack working alone. One has him get into an adventure after buying a “wish ring” from an old beggar. This leads to an adventure with a young girl he discovers in Limehouse who seems to be chased by others. This then leads to a strange family in a village with a sinister history. Some elements of this one didn’t quite work for me.
The other has Jack in India at the request of Dr. Argent. There, with a pair of fellow soldiers, he must deal with a curse placed on them by a follower of Kali that sees his friends tranformed.
Overall, this is an enjoyable collection of stories. It was nice that the length of the stories varied. As noted, it’s the first of a series, so we should see more, but I have no idea when. And I wonder if we’ll see more of his other characters.
I was surprised that Bold Venture Press reprinted Glenn’s Skullmask collection, which I will be reviewing soon, and Airship 27 did a Jon Shadows volume. And Glenn is back with Pro Se on this one.
So will we see more of these characters and from whom? Wherever they appear, get them.
