I have been enjoying this series and found that I didn’t enjoy this particular book as much as the previous books. It was well written, characters were good, the story just didn’t work for me personally due to the subject matter. I do enjoy this series & plan on continuing, as each book is different in the details of the story. The two main characters are growing, as well as the main storyline, as the series continues, which I enjoy. I do hope that at some point the author does bring some resolution to the main storyline. Overall, I still recommend this series.

This is a somewhat enjoyable book, abet strange in its story. With many twists and turns and many red herrings, there is never a dull month in the reading. The Author's note at the end of the story was very interesting and dovetails in beautifully.
It was a very well written book, in the vintage style, easy to read, yet very involved. A good read.

I always look forward to the new Frey and McGray novel, they always entertain, make me laugh and leave me wanting more, and book 4 is no different, I need 5 now.

Our intrepid Inspectors are helped to assist Millie Fletcher who works for the Koloman family (a wealthy family who live in an isolated area in the Highlands). As a young woman she was forced to give away her child, her son was fathered by one of the Kolomans and now the family want him to return as heir to his father's estate. However, her son's life has been threatened, and so she asks Frey and McGray for help, in return she has hinted at a mysterious cure for McGray's sister.

As always in the Frey and McGray novels, there are moments of high jinx as well as plenty of pace and a plot full of hints of the supernatural along with murder most fowl. There is nothing quite like the Oscar de Muriel novels in the crime genre, they are quite simply one of the best series out there at the moment.

What a great book! It's incredibly fascinating and enthralling. I loved the style of writing, the main characters and their relationship.
This book hooked me since the beginning and I had to keep on reading to see the developments of the plot.
The mix of historical mystery and horror elements was very good.
It was such a pleasure to read this book and, as I didn't read the other instalment in this series, I'll provide to get them.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to Penguin and Netgalley for this ARC

Loch of the Dead by Oscar de Muriel

When Inspector Frey receives a visit in the Edinburgh police headquarters by Miss Millie Fletcher, the housekeeper of the wealthy Kolomon family who live in the Highlands, he realises that she brings with her a mystery that he and his colleague Inspector Nine-Nails McGrey will not be able to turn down. Millie tells him that Benjamin, the illegitimate child she had to give away years before, is being brought back into the Kolomon family home as heir to his recently deceased father’s estate. It seems that Benjamin’s father was the brother of Mr Kolomon and he and his wife now wish to make peace with the past.

But death threats have been made against Benjamin should he return home and Millie and the Kolomons implore the Inspectors to come to the Kolomons’ manor on the shore of Loch Maree. In return, Millie will reveal a remedy that will cure McGray’s sister of that madness that led to the loss of his finger and much more besides. Irresistible. But it is clear that danger won’t wait for Benjamin to return to the Highlands. It finds him first in Orkney, where his guardian is murdered. It follows him to Loch Maree where mystery hides in the shadows of the manor and in the woods of the loch’s islands. McGrey and Frey soon learn that they have walked into a living nightmare.

Loch of the Dead is the fourth novel by Oscar de Muriel to feature Frey and McGrey and how good it is to spend time with these curious, ill-matched and really rather odd inspectors. This is one of my favourite Victorian crime series, if not the one I look forward to the most, and Loch of the Dead was such a joy to read from start to finish. I love the mix of Victorian detail, the Scottish setting, the intriguing crimes and the hint of something that ranges from melodramatic to supernatural. There’s only a hint of the latter and it comes with possible explanations but in this Victorian world where news travels at the pace of a telegraph, everything seems likely and anything believable. Especially in the gloriously beautiful yet menacing setting of Loch Maree. The fact that events take place in hot sunshine also adds something of the unexpected!

This is such a great story from the beginning but it’s in the second half that the novel becomes utterly unputdownable as the pace of events explodes and the creepiness levels increase and the horror of the situation facing the Inspectors stands clear before our eyes. This is compelling stuff! And I was gripped and loved how the story (and its characters – unusual to say the least) developed and the mood was maintained.

But no matter how wonderful the story, or how stunning or creepy the setting, the main reasons why this is such a successful series are the quality of Oscar de Muriel’s writing – there are some wonderfully witty moments here – and the two characters of McGrey and Frey. How I love these two and here the relationship between the two is stirred up even more by Frey’s very English Uncle Maurice who plays a key role in the novel. He and McGrey could be from another world, even without the tartan and the accents. There’s humour in the differences between McGrey and Frey but there’s also such warmth. We know that they wouldn’t be without each other really even if each of them treats the other like an alien.

These novels always have a most curious mystery at their heart and The Loch of the Dead is no different. I love the strangeness as well as the warmth and the humour. Long may McGrey and Frey continue to annoy the hell out of one another.

Other reviews
A Fever of the Blood
A Mask of Shadows

It is a joy to return to Victorian Scotland and the mismatched Edinburgh detectives, Inspector Ian Frey and Inspector Adolphus 'Nine-Nails' McGray, the duo looking into the strange, the supernatural and the horrific. This time they are to be found in the Highlands of Loch Maree and its islands. The Koloman family housekeeper, Millie Fletcher, is afraid for her illegitimate son, Benjamin, whose father, Maximilian Koloman, finally recognised him as his son and heir on his deathbed. 16 year old Ben has been raised by a goodly priest in Thurso, and a threat has been made on his life if he returns to the Koloman mansion. Millie lures McGray to protect her son by tantalisingly offering him what he most desires, a cure from the healing waters of a well for his traumatised and mentally ill sister, Pansy, in an asylum since she murdered their parents and attacked McGray. Frey travels to Loch Maree with the one family member he loves, Uncle Maurice. Murder of the priest sets the tone for this blood drenched tale of gothic horror, as McGray and Frey find themselves isolated, in danger and manipulated in their most testing investigation.

The privileged and wealthy Koloman family have a strong sense of entitlement, acting as patrons for vital services for the locals. Minerva does good works and provides medical services for locals, and Konrad Koloman engages in a range of disciplines from weather to medical knowledge. Their twin daughters, Veronika and Natalja, are beautiful, bohemian and drawn to their own areas of research and fashion, with the design and making of their own clothes. Dominik, the son, is arrogant, travelling overseas with his sleazy companion, Calcraft. Ben is set to inherit half of the Koloman estates and vineyards, leaving the Koloman siblings having to share the remaining half. There is motive enough for the family to regard Ben with ill will and disfavour, perhaps even entertain thoughts of murder. However, on the surface, all seems well, Ben is welcomed with open arms and embraced by the entire family. The murder of an incompetent and reviled man in odd circumstances results in McGray and Frey locking up 3 suspects in the Koloman home with tensions rising as they await the arrival of police support. The poverty stricken and cursed Nellys rely on the charity of the Kolomans to survive, residing on Juniper Island, infested with blood sucking bats and the location of miraculous well with healing waters. McGray and Frey find themselves out of their depths in an area where legends, folklore, witchcraft, paganism and horror proliferate, nothing and no-one is as they seem.

Oscar de Muriel has created a brilliant series and this addition is spectacular with its atmospheric air of creepiness and menace, where the locals are beholden to and loyal to the Kolomans, irrespective of what the family may do. Frey and McGray are on their own, sorely tested to their limits, beginning to find they are slowly developing the capacity to trust and work with each other, although the comic banter is still there. McGray experiences the most debilitating form of sickness on the water, a prisoner of his primeval need to help his sister, and Frey must find the inner resources to fight the battle of his life. This is a wonderful and entertaining historical novel, with twist after twist, that had me totally enthralled. If you like horror in your Victorian crime fiction then this is a perfect read for you. Many thanks to Penguin Michael Joseph for an ARC.

This is book 4 of the Frey and McGray stories,and the setting is the glorious North West Highlands of Scotland,in the location of Loch Maree. Set in the 1890's, a letter arrives asking for help in protecting the illegitimate heir to a large estate,who has received death threats.
Miss Millie Fletcher is the mother of Benjamin,who is the heir,to this estate. However,Benjamin has been brought up in complete ignorance of his family history and believes he was a foundling ,who had the good fortune to be brought up by the local parish priest in Thurso. From this moment onwards,the scene is set for multiple murders,and so many twists and turns,you don't know who to believe!
Benjamin's new family, the Kolomans,are most peculiar,with strange family secrets. Rooms are kept dark with heavy curtains and the weather is checked daily,sunshine is a definite no- no!
Blood is the key factor,there are plenty of bats in caves and the woods,and maybe bite marks on various parts of a persons anatomy. It is claimed that family members are addicted to Laudanum ,but the truth is more modern medicine than old myths.
This is a lovely area of Scotland,that I visit frequently,that will cause me to research old legends more carefully! Loch Maree islands are now Nature reserves,which is healthier than described in this story,I hope there are no bats!
Medically speaking, I was intrigued by the illness suffered by the Kolomans family. I initially wondered about aplastic anaemia or leukaemia ,but this was before blood groups being discovered. I briefly considered Haemophilia ,but discounted for the same reason. I decided upon porphyria ,due to my favourite historical character , Mary, Queen of Scots,being rumoured to have suffered from this condition. There was a good amount of medical knowledge being displayed in this story. I am also left wondering,if we will ever discover what was in that vial of water taken from the well, the scientist certainally seemed perturbed !!
I really enjoyed this marvellous book! It was fast paced and gorgeously creepy,making my heart pound and pulse race! I love a book to make my senses tingle,and this didn't disappoint . It was a very creative experience. I have posted this review to Goodreads today.

Thank you to Netgalley, Oscar De Muriel and Penguin Michael Joseph for my ARC of Loch of the Dead.

Publication Date: 31st May 2018

I'm always excited to find there's a new Frey and McGray book to devour. I seriously love this series so much. Not only are these books fantastic historical crime thrillers with a penchant for name dropping famous historical characters (I'm looking at your Bram Stoker), they're also hilariously funny too. Take this excerpt for example 'Konrad took his time to do his tie and I pictured myself setting his Austrian styled moustache on fire.'

Book 4 finds Frey and McGray heading to an almost deserted part of Scotland in order to investigate threats made against the illegitimate heir to a large estate. The Koloman's are very welcoming but the house is overshadowed by darkness. Not least by the rumours of a magical well with healing properties, which tempts McGray to look for a cure for his sister.

But nothing is as it seems at the manor, or on the island and as usual Frey and McGray are dragged into the fray (excusing the pun).

This was yet another fantastic novel from Oscal De Muriel. I truly love the banter between Frey and McGray and the way they are beginning to settle into their friendship more. The concept of the novel (no spoilers here) was also extremely fascinating and I'm very intrigued about developments with McGray's sister Pansy I really want to learn more about her and Oscar De Muriel continues to dangle the carrot!

I can't wait for the next instalment!