Book three of the Frey & McGray series and we're back in Edinburgh. Henry Irving and Ellen Terry have brought their production of Macbeth to Edinburgh but before the cursed Scottish play has even opened, there are screaming banshees and messages written in blood about deaths to come. Detective 'Nine-Nails' McGray immediately sets about looking into the supernatural side of things while Inspector Frey is still ever the sceptic and is convinced it's just a publicity stunt.

I loved this book, as usual the atmosphere is amazing, dark Gothic Victorian vibe. You can tell a lot of research has gone into these novels. I loved the fact we got to see real life people mixed into this story, such as Bram Stoker and Henry Irving to name but two. It just added to the fun. As usual McGray and Frey have such a great relationship, they work well together even if sometimes they can't stand each other! It just adds to the banter they have. We get to hear more about their personal lives too, it's nice to see the characters backgrounds more. Looking forward to reading the next in the series!

1889 and Henry Irving has brought his production of Macbeth to Edinburgh. Ticket sales are not going well but when leading actress Ellen Terry finds a blood-soaked parcel in her dressing room and a banshee's howl is heard across the town followed by a prophecy written in blood, the theatre is suddenly inundated. Detectives Frey and McGray investigate the supernatural and corporal goings-on, trying to find out whether or not there is a threat to the production. however between madness, scandal and personal problems for both, it is difficult to separate crime from theatrical embellishment.

Apparently this is the third novel in a series but this is the first that I have read. The basic premise of the book is interesting. Sir Henry Irving and Dame Ellen Terry were long-term collaborators and former lovers, each carried plenty of scandal with them, the theatre manager at the time was Bram (Dracula) Stoker. By weaving these historical characters into a fictional plot, Muriel is intriguing the reader. The setting in Victorian Edinburgh is interesting and very atmospheric, the plot is complicated and draws many threads together. That, however, is where my enjoyment started to wane. the plot is exceptionally complex and reliant on the reader having more knowledge of the back-story of the characters than was supplied in this instalment. The actual perpetrator and the bones of the plot seemed to come rather out of left-field in the final stages, taking quite a detour from what had been set up originally. This wasn't a bad book by any means.

Thanks Penguin UK – Michael Joseph and netgalley for this ARC

This edition to the series re enforces my admiration and love of this series. Just the right balance of macabre, true crime, and the twist that only Oscar de Muriel could spin.

'Yer may nae. Do as I said, else I'll punch yer snooty face.'


Welcome back to the notorious 'Nine Nails' McGray and his eloquent language when interviewing a potential witness. I fell in love with McGray when I read A Fever of the Blood last year and I was really pleased to be granted an ARC of A Mask of Shadows the third book in the series.

Once more we see the beguiling if slightly eccentric McGray, along with his partner Ian Frey thrown into a mysterious entanglement of murder, mystery and the supernatural. This time there's a banshee haunting Henry Irving's performance of 'The Scottish Play'.



I love that Bram Stoker is one of the main characters in this book, it reminded me a little bit of the mini TV series Houdini & Doyle with the two men searching, one for supernatural causes (Doyle = McGray) and one for the reasonable explanation (Houdini = Frey). It has the same wonderfully entertaining banter between the two. I love that McGray treats Frey so badly calling him everything from a 'pansy' to 'Percy' after he finds out his middle name. Yet despite the good ribbing he constantly gives him, you can tell the two have a great connection and that McGray would miss Frey should he be sent back to London.



I also really liked how the character of Frey was developed in this novel. Usually he is the one trying to rein in McGray but this time he has a good Pop at people himself and it's really great to see him get a pair of his own and I'm not talking tartan trousers!



The novel features a ton of famous characters from actors Henry Irving and Ellen Terry to the aforementioned Bram Stoker and even a cameo from Oscar Wilde and mentions of friendships with Lewis Carroll.

It is engaging from start to finish and I really didn't have a clue who was behind everything. Nothing was clear as every time the author threw a red herring that's all it seemed it be. Everyone stood a chance of being guilty and that is the truly clever skill of Oscar De Muriel that he is able to convince us that it might just be a supernatural explanation after all....

Third in the Frey and McGray crime novels, which are laced with a wicked sense of humour, great historical detail and plotting which will keep you guessing until the end.

A Mask of Shadows features a star studded cast of characters, Macbeth is being performed in Edinburgh, and the Scottish play finds itself being cursed by devilish deeds and mishaps. And so Frey and McGray find themselves mixing with Ellen Terry, Henry Irving, Bram Stoker, John Singer Sargent and Oscar Wilde, in an attempt to solve an occult curse placed upon the play and its' cast.

I love this series, Frey and McGray are 2 of my absolute favourite characters. Their banter is second to none.

Book 3 of the Frey and McGrey series. I love the banter between Frey an McGrey and it gets better with each book.
This time we have a full cast of famous names, Bram Stoker, Henry Irving, Ellen Terry and Oscar Wilde.
The Scottish play is coming to Edinburgh but before opening night a screaming Banshee enters the theatre and leaves a bloody prophecy. Will Frey and McGrey work it out before the deaths occur?
I love this duo. I hope we get more.

This is my first wonderful read of the Frey and McGray series and I adored it. Set in Victorian Edinburgh in 1889, the author uses real people and actual history to inform his novel. He does, however, take a few liberties here and there. The famous Henry Irving and Ellen Terry have bought their production of the cursed Scottish play, Macbeth, to Edinburgh, and even before the play has opened there are banshees and messages of death foretold written in blood on the wall of a nearby street. Inspector Adolphus 'Nine Nails' McGray and Frey comprise the police department that investigates the supernatural, funded largely by Nine Nails who is a believer in the fantastical and close friend of Madame Katerina, endowed with the sight. The narrative is delivered from the perspective of Frey, who is a sceptic and whose is minded to write copious notes on the case.

Frey believes the banshee and the writing on the wall is a stunt by Irving's theatre company to ensure that tickets for the play sell as sales had been slow. McGray is not convinced and the two make a wager. Misfortune and horror dog the play as Bram Stoker, the manager, breaks his leg, Wheatstone, the special effects expert is shot in the shoulder and the seamstress, Mrs Harwood, is confined to the Lunatic Asylum, and a local journalist ends up dead. Irving's sons, Harry and Sydney, despise and loathe their father, and turn up to goad Henry, who is estranged from his wife. Irving and Terry have been having a affair which seems to have run its course. Frey and McGray run themselves ragged trying to get to the bottom of the mystery and to prevent the realisation of the prophecy of deaths to come. With further appearances of banshees who can also present themselves in the form of dogs, Frey and McGray find themselves in danger as they got closer to the truth.

This is an atmospheric and entertaining story with a compelling and gripping narrative. I loved the real life characters of Bram Stoker who really did worship the ground Henry Irving walked on and the inclusion of Oscar Wilde. McGray's traumatic family history, his missing finger, his larger than life personality and the physical manner in which he often deals with things, makes him a mesmerising and charismatic character. Frey finds himself adopting McGray's way of handling things, particularly with regard to Superintendent Campbell. There is plenty of humour and comic banter between Frey and McGray. Great book, great series. Highly recommended. Thanks to Penguin Michael Joseph for an ARC.