The Curse of the Blue Scarab is self-published by Josh Lanyon in 2016. I listened to the audiobook narrated by Alexander Masters. A good narrator for a very longwinded story. This is a MxM mystery which was clearly inspired by Sherlock Holmes. Which means a lot of very British dialog and longwinded discussions about absolutely nothing. Such a long discussion about weather. Yes, weather. Riveting. I will put on a spoiler warning just incase but I will, as always, try to avoid spoilers.
But, I’m getting ahead of myself. The story is set, I would guess around 1800-1900 century. Considering that the main character Quentin Armiston is a big fan of Sherlock Holmes that came out in 1887, it might be just at the start of 1900 century. Quentin Armiston is a 55-year-old doctor who loves mysteries and is apparently known to like try to solve murder. As several people start to show up dead, all connected to a mummy, Armiston get into the secret Society of Osiris. There he meets the handsome, former soldier Maxwell with an opium addiction, the beautiful Ms Hennessey and the Egyptologist Maundeville who “owns” the mummy. He has stolen it from what I can tell. Rumors goes around that the mummy has killed the men, but Armiston who don’t believe in the supernatural is brought in to solve the case.
Quentin Armiston is an old, a bit arrogant man who had never had a relationship before. Mostly because he is gay and lives during a time where that kind of thing is illegal. He is a cynical and frankly, a bit dumb. Or maybe so full of air that he become too daring to the point of stupidity. Such as taking drugs from the man he believes has poisoned the men. Why? Beats me.
Maxwell is the dreamboat everyone wants. Especially Miss Hennessey who can’t seem to shut up about him, even when she knows that it puts him in danger. At least she should know, for otherwise she is truly dumb as a brick. Well, Maxwell has an opium problem and that is his plot really. To get rid of his addiction while everyone keeps dancing around him for the main plot.
Then we have Maundeville, the arrogant and what the book try to convince us, smart man in the same age of Armiston. He is well traveled and wants to find the elixir of immortality or create at least, through ancient herbs and drugs. He is the creator of the Society of Osiris, and the one who had stolen the mummy from Egypt to put in his house for decoration. Nice… Accurate but distasteful.
Frankly, the historical setting is quite accurate of the upper class of England. Their strict and conservative ways compared to the American Ms Hennessey and the vague misogyny that was common during these days. The author has made a great job in taking the reader back to this time, where superstition often lived beside the new era of science.
For someone who adored Sherlock Holmes, this one might be of interests since this book is clearly inspired by those books but to be frank, the characters are lacking and the mystery is satisfying but not great.
I realized who the murder was at once, and frankly, the author did not do a great job diverting that suspicion or conceal the murderer which is necessary. For people who adore mystery this one might be easy to solve but it might still be nostalgic of older mysteries such as Sherlock Holmes and Nancy Drew.
Now, what is the problem with the book. Well, the characters are rather flat, which is surprising considering that the story is mostly dialog between characters but the dialog is often about random things. The other thing is motivation of the murderer. It is… Really as old as tale. You can guess what it is about I’m sure.
There are also some random plot points that doesn’t really lead anywhere, such as the elixir of youth. Why is it even there? The Society of Osiris doesn’t play any important role either but I guess the author wanted to put in a secret society. It was either that or a cult.
Not to mention the ludicrous ending. The society decided murderer needed to die, but not handed to the police. They allowed murderer to kill himself, because they pitied him since his motive was understandable. No, it wasn’t. It was strange even that the murderer just went yeah, I did it even though Armiston did not have much of evidences. The whole ending felt rushed.
That said, I think it was well written but is aimed to a very specific group of readers and the enjoyment of the book might vary depending on if you belong to that group or not. I liked it fine, it was nostalgic of older mysteries but also very familiar. Such as the rivalry between the main character and murderer feeling similar to Holmes and Moriarty’s rivalry.
I also find the main character a bit too dumb as well. He is presented as a smart man but at the end he seemed to lose all his cleverness and had to be saved from his of stupidity. I would rate this one 6 out 10. It is well written mystery, far better than other mysteries but the characters and dialog were a bit dull. Overall, I recommend it for people who like mysteries but if you prefer more action-oriented books I would suggest looking elsewhere.
With Kind Regards
Senefer.
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