Tales of the Gothic and the Supernatural. Vol II: From the Casebook of Silas Thorne
Richard Pembroke
Synopsis "Tales of the Gothic and the Supernatural. Vol II: From the Casebook of Silas Thorne"
Some wounds haunt. Some histories bite back. And some monsters are made, not born.
Victorian Britain hides its darkest truths in plain sight. Captain Silas Thorne, consulting detective of the uncanny, knows better than most that the past never stays buried. In these recovered case files, Thorne and his companions confront hauntings, disappearances, and legends where the supernatural is not an intruder but a consequence - the echo of injustice, grief, and cruelty left unresolved.
The Taste of Bitter Things- Captain Silas Thorne uncovers a respected physician who murders patients through carefully refined "medicinal" bitterness, confronting a crime more chilling for its complete lack of the supernatural.
The Still Water Knows- Beneath a Lancashire canal, an ancient river spirit awakens in response to repeated violence against women, forcing Thorne to confront a guardian born from grief, memory, and the dead the world chose to forget.
A Matter of Disappearances - Thorne investigates the vanishing of a young woman only to discover that some disappearances are deliberate erasures, engineered by power and finalized not by mystery, but by silence.
The Hound at the Edge of the Tide - On the Norfolk coast, a spectral black dog proves not to be an omen of death but the lingering loyalty of a hanged pirate's hound, bound to guard buried sins long after its master's fall.
What Remains of Dr. Henry Jekyll- In exile on the continent, Dr. Jekyll discovers that Hyde no longer needs transformation to exist, revealing that the true horror is not monstrosity, but the slow erasure of the self.
The Hunger Beneath Strathclyde - Thorne and his allies descend into ancestral caves where the remnants of the Sawney Bean legend have evolved into something ritualistic and inhuman, proving that some bloodlines do not end-they adapt.
Each story stands alone yet contributes to a larger exploration of memory, power, and the cost of denial. Rather than slaying monsters, Thorne exposes the wounds that created them-forcing the living to confront what they have allowed to fester.
With its blend of folklore, moral inquiry, and intimate horror, Tales of the Gothic & the Supernatural Vol. II is a compelling addition to the Silas Thorne universe-an anthology where every haunting has a history, and every monster has a truth to tell.
Tales of the Gothic & the Supernatural Vol. II blends gothic horror, folklore, and psychological dread into a series of investigations that are as atmospheric as they are unsettling. Thorne does not banish the unnatural; he forces the living to face the truths they have tried to forget.
Perfect for readers who enjoy:Gothic and Victorian supernatural fictionFolklore inspired horrorDetective stories with psychological depthDark, atmospheric anthologiesLiterary horror that favours dread over spectacle
