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A review by audreyintheheadphones
The Bone Key: The Necromantic Mysteries of Kyle Murchison Booth by Sarah Monette
4.0
A cozy, spooky and well-tailored collection of old-fashioned ghost stories, linked by a likeable protagonist, a detailed period setting and a cast of memorable minor characters, written for days.
In the introduction to this collection, Monette states her intent was to create ghost stories in a similar vein to HP Lovecraft and Victorian ghost story writer MR James, except with better characterization, psychosexual tension and feminism. And two of those three aims are met.
The stories are peopled with memorable characters of both a pleasant and unpleasant persuasion, who power the eldritch horrors along in a way similar to but markedly different from Lovecraft's work.
Miss Coburn, for instance, the Parrington's calm and able spinster archeologist who understands and befriends Booth in "The Venebretti Necklace", is a marvelous creation. Carrie and Doris from "The Wall of Clouds" appear to have been yoinked straight out of [b:Titus Groan|39063|Titus Groan (Gormenghast, #1)|Mervyn Peake|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327871204s/39063.jpg|3250394] and given a much better story to inhabit. They seem pleased, at any rate. Even the dead sister in "Wait for Me" manages to be memorable without actually ever appearing in person. It's a fine art.
The one aim I think didn't work for Monette was introducing psychosexual tension into the stories. Booth just doesn't come off as actually interested in that. We're supposed to understand (per the introduction) that there's an unspoken, unrequited relationship between Booth and Blaine in "Bringing Helena Back", but if it was there, I couldn't find it. Similarly, "Elegy for a Demon Lover" is my least favorite of the collection because the relationship seems so forced it's uncomfortable to witness. There could be some underlying whatnot in "Wall of Clouds" with the poet, but that's stretching the interpretation to fit a theme, so no.
Overall, however, this book does what is says on the tin: well-written, old-fashioned MR James-style ghost stories that deliver on their spookiness, melancholy and plausibility.
My favorites: "The Venebretti Necklace", "The Wall of Clouds", "Wait for Me", "Drowning Palmer", "The Inheritance of Barnaby Wilcox". Yes, that's most of the collection.
In the introduction to this collection, Monette states her intent was to create ghost stories in a similar vein to HP Lovecraft and Victorian ghost story writer MR James, except with better characterization, psychosexual tension and feminism. And two of those three aims are met.
The stories are peopled with memorable characters of both a pleasant and unpleasant persuasion, who power the eldritch horrors along in a way similar to but markedly different from Lovecraft's work.
Miss Coburn, for instance, the Parrington's calm and able spinster archeologist who understands and befriends Booth in "The Venebretti Necklace", is a marvelous creation. Carrie and Doris from "The Wall of Clouds" appear to have been yoinked straight out of [b:Titus Groan|39063|Titus Groan (Gormenghast, #1)|Mervyn Peake|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327871204s/39063.jpg|3250394] and given a much better story to inhabit. They seem pleased, at any rate. Even the dead sister in "Wait for Me" manages to be memorable without actually ever appearing in person. It's a fine art.
The one aim I think didn't work for Monette was introducing psychosexual tension into the stories. Booth just doesn't come off as actually interested in that. We're supposed to understand (per the introduction) that there's an unspoken, unrequited relationship between Booth and Blaine in "Bringing Helena Back", but if it was there, I couldn't find it. Similarly, "Elegy for a Demon Lover" is my least favorite of the collection because the relationship seems so forced it's uncomfortable to witness. There could be some underlying whatnot in "Wall of Clouds" with the poet, but that's stretching the interpretation to fit a theme, so no.
Overall, however, this book does what is says on the tin: well-written, old-fashioned MR James-style ghost stories that deliver on their spookiness, melancholy and plausibility.
My favorites: "The Venebretti Necklace", "The Wall of Clouds", "Wait for Me", "Drowning Palmer", "The Inheritance of Barnaby Wilcox". Yes, that's most of the collection.