Necropolis (1980)
Basil Copper
With a new introduction by Stephen Jones
Book Description
Set in an alternate Victorian London, where Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are not just fictional characters, Basil Copper’s Necropolis (1980) is a tale of mystery and intrigue worthy of Arthur Conan Doyle or Wilkie Collins.
Private detective Clyde Beatty, a rival of the great Holmes, has been hired by the lovely Angela Meredith to inquire into her father’s suspicious death. As Beatty’s investigation unfolds, the danger intensifies: more murders ensue, and attempts are made on his life. It is clear there is more to Mr. Meredith’s death than meets the eye, and it may have something to do with the brazen robbery of a fortune in gold bullion. The clues lead Beatty to the eerie Brookwood Cemetery, where fatal secrets lie hidden in the catacombs beneath a city of the dead. . . .
This edition of Copper’s chilling Victorian Gothic mystery is the first in more than three decades and includes the original illustrations by Stephen E. Fabian and a new introduction by Stephen Jones. Copper's tale of Lovecraftian horror, The Great White Space (1974) is also available from Valancourt Books.
Basil Copper
With a new introduction by Stephen Jones
Book Description
Set in an alternate Victorian London, where Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are not just fictional characters, Basil Copper’s Necropolis (1980) is a tale of mystery and intrigue worthy of Arthur Conan Doyle or Wilkie Collins.
Private detective Clyde Beatty, a rival of the great Holmes, has been hired by the lovely Angela Meredith to inquire into her father’s suspicious death. As Beatty’s investigation unfolds, the danger intensifies: more murders ensue, and attempts are made on his life. It is clear there is more to Mr. Meredith’s death than meets the eye, and it may have something to do with the brazen robbery of a fortune in gold bullion. The clues lead Beatty to the eerie Brookwood Cemetery, where fatal secrets lie hidden in the catacombs beneath a city of the dead. . . .
This edition of Copper’s chilling Victorian Gothic mystery is the first in more than three decades and includes the original illustrations by Stephen E. Fabian and a new introduction by Stephen Jones. Copper's tale of Lovecraftian horror, The Great White Space (1974) is also available from Valancourt Books.
reviews
“A feverish gaslight gothic that’s as rich in Sherlock Holmes-like atmosphere as it is in ghoulish doings.” – Kirkus Reviews
“A dark, exotic Gothic thriller . . . Excellent!” – Booklist
“A gothic mystery in the truest sense. . . . Copper has written in the grand tradition of A. Conan Doyle and created a spellbinding narrative of mystery and suspense.” – The Press-Courier
“It's quite amazing to think that a book that is so accessible and fun has been out of print for so long. Certainly anyone who relishes the steampunk novels of James Blaycock or any of the Holmes homages currently on the market should find it just the ticket for whiling away a foggy Autumn evening.” – Starburst Magazine
“A dark, exotic Gothic thriller . . . Excellent!” – Booklist
“A gothic mystery in the truest sense. . . . Copper has written in the grand tradition of A. Conan Doyle and created a spellbinding narrative of mystery and suspense.” – The Press-Courier
“It's quite amazing to think that a book that is so accessible and fun has been out of print for so long. Certainly anyone who relishes the steampunk novels of James Blaycock or any of the Holmes homages currently on the market should find it just the ticket for whiling away a foggy Autumn evening.” – Starburst Magazine
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BOOK DETAILS
ISBN: 1939140501 ISBN-13: 978-1939140500 $19.99 US, 338 pp. Trade paper Published 2013 |
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AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Basil Copper was born in London in 1924. As a boy, Copper moved with his family to Kent, where he attended the local grammar school and developed an early taste for the works of M.R. James and Edgar Allan Poe. In his teens he began training as an apprentice journalist, but with the outbreak of the Second World War, he found himself put in charge of a local newspaper office while also serving in the Home Guard. He then joined the Royal Navy and served as a radio operator with a gunboat flotilla off the Normandy beaches during the D-Day operations.
After the war, Copper resumed his career in journalism. He made his fiction debut in The Fifth Book of Pan Horror Stories (1964) with “The Spider,” for which he was paid £10. His first novel, a tongue-in-cheek crime story in the Dashiell Hammett/Raymond Chandler mode, The Dark Mirror, was turned down by 32 publishers because it was too long, before Robert Hale eventually published a cut-down version. Four years later, in 1970, Copper gave up journalism to write full-time.
Copper published some fifty novels featuring the Los Angeles private detective Mike Faraday and also wrote several horror and supernatural novels and a number of collections of macabre short stories. His horror fiction in particular has been receiving renewed attention recently with new editions from PS Publishing and Valancourt Books. Basil Copper died at age 89 in 2013 after suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.
After the war, Copper resumed his career in journalism. He made his fiction debut in The Fifth Book of Pan Horror Stories (1964) with “The Spider,” for which he was paid £10. His first novel, a tongue-in-cheek crime story in the Dashiell Hammett/Raymond Chandler mode, The Dark Mirror, was turned down by 32 publishers because it was too long, before Robert Hale eventually published a cut-down version. Four years later, in 1970, Copper gave up journalism to write full-time.
Copper published some fifty novels featuring the Los Angeles private detective Mike Faraday and also wrote several horror and supernatural novels and a number of collections of macabre short stories. His horror fiction in particular has been receiving renewed attention recently with new editions from PS Publishing and Valancourt Books. Basil Copper died at age 89 in 2013 after suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.