I was offered this book as an ARC by NetGalley and found it a good follow up to 'The Stranger Times. McDonnell writes fun and engaging books with believable (if flawed) characters.

This follows on from the first book in this series - and do read that first - The Stranger Times.
Vampires don't exist and even the Founders and the Folk know this to be true. So how come there seem to be credible reports of a vampire on the loose! The Founders via their intermediary from the last book, Dr Carter, request that Vincent Banecroft, Stranger Times's editor, discretely (!!) investigates. Needless to say other things are going on from Hannah's divorce through to the fact that it seems as though someone may be trying to abduct Stella (whose possible powers are still something of a mystery) so there is plenty of story here.

Ox and Reggie are around as is Sturgess, the DI from the previous book. Stanley Roker, gutter press writer who hates, and is hated by, Vincent plays a larger role. To my delight Simon who only appeared briefly in the previous book returns. On account of having died in the previous book he can be hard to see though! We are also introduced to Cogs and Zeke - an excellent idea and pairing. It allows Vincent to boast that he outdrunk a "doggie"…

Indeed I found that I am coming to love Banecroft almost as much as I love Jackson Lamb (and there is shared DNA there without question). The writing is very laconic and dry a lot of the time. There is also a decent pace of story telling going on here too. It is genuinely edgy and tense at times, laugh out loud at others. As with the last book there are "chapter intro" of pieces in The Stranger Times - some of them are very funny.

I have to mention "The 5 stages of sympathy" piece. I'll not give anything away but for me that is a genius bit of writing! Humour and almost anything can be difficult. McDonnell managed humour and crime well enough in the Dublin Trilogy however, for me I think he is even better at humour and fantasy. I simply want more of this series and will read the next one and anything else in the series. 4.5/5 and rounded up for "The 5 stages of sympathy" piece alone!

Book 2 in the trilogy sees Hannah and her colleagues from the Stranger Times newspaper embroiled in yet more paranormal shenanigans. They’re all wrapped up in trying to sort out vampires and strange creatures and a single eye that lives in her love-interests head - but he doesn’t know!!
It’s so well written and it made me chuckle all the way through. So many funny one liners. I’d thoroughly recommend it as a great read and I’m now about to start book 3. Can’t wait to see what scrapes they get into next!

Sometimes its good to try something again even if you didnlt enjoy the first experience that much. I do think we tend to be debut focused and forget that just like our own blogs we do get better each time we write. I was less than impressed with The Stanger Times by CK McDonnell but am pleased to report that the sequel This Charming Man is a for me a lot better at a fantasy horror procedural but at the same time confirms this series is not for me

The Manchester based The Stranger Tines is a fortean like paper specialising in stories of the strange and unusual and with its ‘unique’ set of reporters and it’s roguish editor Vincent Blanecroft they have found indeed that the world does have strange magical forces in the background. A truce with the paper has been declared but a man dying in a strange way with sharp teeth and containing someone else’s blood in his stomach suggests a new magical threat has descended and The Stanger Times is asked to investigate; avoid the police and also the magical forces that do not want this story out.

The good news is that in this story Blanecrofft is not hogging the entire story and his anger and comedy insults have veered away from the abusive to more standard outrageous but clever angry person who tends to win the day. This allows the wider cast to have something to do and flesh out the wider editorial team. I enjoyed the feel of modern Manchester McDonnell captures; the mystery is not as simple as it looks and indeed we start to see a larger arc begin to ascend. It rattles at a good pace and wraps itself up in an unusual way. That said there are still a few issues. The humour seems for me a little basic; the cultural references tend to stop at the beginning of the century and ultimately there is little here I have not seen before in various contemporary fantasy series.

Its a big step up in quality from the first story and I think feels settled down enough to have more stories to tell but for me I think I’ve seen enough to confirm this isn’t ever going to ever jump to the top of my future reading pile so I bid the series good luck but time to find something more to my own tastes.

There is something about C K McDonnell's writing that draws me in. I don't read vampire stories and I don't usually like intended humour in books but I am really enjoying The Stranger Times series. This story is full of evil charatcers as well as the cast from the first book. It's a bit messy and needs an edit which will probably happen before publication. Thanks go to NetGalley, the publishers and the author for the opportunity to read and review an advanced copy of this book.

This is the second book in this madcap and extremely weird series, that is set in a publishing firm in Manchester. The cantankerous staff are back, and new characters are introduced, Cogs, who lives on a boat and can only tell the truth, Zeke, the talking dog and Stanley, a man who loves cream desserts and rates his farts!
Vampires don’t exist , but there do seem to be a few around Manchester, and they are hungry. The body count is alarming to the Police, the unfortunates who find themselves on the menu, and the slightly weird group of citizens who have chosen to live as Vampires, who now find themselves besieged in their own homes.
Hannah is now divorced from her cheating husband, and is gaining the confidence to not only answer back to Vincent Banecroft, the editor, but to also get into his car voluntarily. To my utter surprise, I found myself to be rather sympathetic to Vincent this time, he is searching for the truth about …………..no spoilers given here! He comes across as quite human for once, but luckily reverts to type,I think he is my favourite character.
We also have an incident with plumbing and a nasty surprise in the shower, a toilet flying through a window( empty, thank goodness!) , and we find out that tattoos can be dangerous. DI Tom Sturgess is still doing investigations, sometimes nobody wants him to report his progress to his boss, then suddenly he becomes the flavour of the month, but not on a Vampire menu!! He certainly keeps an eye, or three on events!!
This series of books has really caught my imagination, and I have been so lucky to be able to read all three!! I’m planning to buy the complete set for my son in law, he loves fantasy novels, and it will make a change from superheroes!!
Read them in order, and become fully immersed in this brilliant screw ball world of oddness, you won’t regret it!
My grateful thanks to Netgalley and Transworld publishers for my advance digital copy, this is my honest and unbiased review. I rate this as a solid five stars.

The second book in the series and just as much fun as the first book. A great creepy storyline and excellent characters. The dynamics between the characters is so entertaining. Plenty of humour, that is just to my taste. A fast-paced enjoyable read.

Brilliant sequel. The staff of The Stranger Times has to deal with the v-word (vampires who shouldn't exist) this time around. We meet Stanley, new member who eats nothing but desserts and rates his own farts. Creepy cult stuff happens and it's still hilarious.

This Charming Man is the second book in the Stranger Times urban fantasy trilogy about the staff of a Manchester newspaper that reports on supernatural phenomena. You definitely need to have read the first book to have any understanding of the characters here, as there is minimal recap of those events but they are referred to repeatedly. These are fun wickedly humorous stories about the monsters that hide in plain sight, and the oddball team trying to investigate them.

A few months after her eventful first weeks at The Stranger Times, and now divorcing her cheating husband, assistant editor Hannah arrives back at work after a break to discover that a vampire has apparently committed suicide - but sources from within The Folk - as the magical community are known - keep insisting they don’t exist. Her slovenly unscrupulous editor, Vincent Banecroft, is determined to get the story, and when more vampires start appearing, our unlikely heroes must risk their lives to learn the truth - even if no one will believe it.

“ She was also cursed with the kind of terrifying certainty found only in drunks, religious zealots and people who used the word ‘sheeple’ on social media.” …
“ ‘Right,’ said Hannah, demonstrating a level of imperviousness to pain normally associated with religious zealots, drunks or someone who had got the chance to punch the kind of person who used the word ‘sheeple’ on social media.”

I have a peculiar sense of humour, so struggle to find authors that actually make me laugh, but this hit the spot with its clever mix of satire and ridiculousness, that pokes fun at the usual UF tropes, and introduces some interesting new characters alongside those we met in the first book. I loved the testy new alliance between sugar-addict Stanley and hopeless gambler Ox, and the evolution of the complicated & fractious evolving partnership between Banecroft and his employees - especially Hannah and Stella. This one had a more complicated plot than the first instalment and it seems there’s plenty more to discover about this very weird world. Looking forward to the next book!

Thanks to NetGalley and Randomhouse UK for the post publication review copy. I’m posting this honest review voluntarily.

The staff at The Stranger Times are back. This time with the knowledge that the weird things that they write about are not so impossible. Especially when one of them lives in the man in the basement and the other one erupts from their newest recruit.
But if all of their supernatural contacts tell them that there are no such things as Vampires, then what is the guy chained in their basement with his aversion to sunlight, fangs and desperate hunger for blood?
Another brilliant story with all new compelling characters, diverting plot and a mystery that keeps you guessing.
This is definitely a series that I would recommend.

As good as the first. Lots more fun with this brilliant group of characters as they try to solve a mystery involving vampires. I absolutely love this series and cannot wait to read book 3

Second in the ‘The Stranger Times’ series this is another great mash-up of crime and fantasy, with a lot of added humour. In this we learn more about the main character Hannah who now divorcing her serial cheat of a bastard husband. DI Sturgess is now billed as her love interest but there is a problem: he has a one-eyed monster living in his head, and he doesn’t know this. If he learns about it the monster will kill him.

A new character is introduced, Stanley, who can rival the Editor Vincent Banecroft for grumpiness.

Very enjoyable. Well written and fast paced and just enough humour. I shall be looking out for the third in the series.

I read a copy provided by NetGalley and the publisher but my views are my own.

Second novel in the series. A little quirky, but I did enjoy it. Thank you for letting me read it. I’ll read the next one too.

Great supernatural sequel. Thoroughly enjoyed it, thank you so much for the ARC. I hope there’s a fourth book in the series.

The second in the Stranger Times series. Quirky, funny and an acquired taste, the novel was not for me.

The last time I carried books around with me, fell asleep cuddling them and so on, I was about seven years old and had just discovered Colin Dann. Since then, Sir Terry Pratchett’s Discworld books have held the undisputed top place in my bookish heart. Until now…

I find it hard to put into words just how much I love these books. So I’ve taken actions instead. Having received ARCs of The Stranger Times and This Charming Man via NetGalley, I still went ahead and bought hardcover copies of both, and the audiobooks of both, and followed the podcast on Spotify. I think I might be a bit of a ‘Simon’ at this point! (In fact, I have tried searching online to see if I can buy an ‘I work for the Stranger Tims’ t-shirt.)

In the first book, we had werewolves that definitely were not werewolves. In this sequel, we have vampires that absolutely cannot be vampires. Cue Hannah and the staff of the Stranger Times, and DI eyeball-in-head Sturgess investigating the latest in Manchester’s weird news stories in their bickery, brilliant way.

It is the characters that really make these stories what they are. I live in dread of C. K. McDonnell killing any (more) of them off, because I cannot imagine the team dynamic without every single one of them. They work so well as foils for each other – all different, but all absolutely necessary. And he’s added more to that mix this time round, with scummy reporter-with-a-hidden-soul Stanley Roker, and quirky duo Cogs and Zeke, now added to my ever-increasing list of favourite characters.

But it’s not just the characters and their witty banter (which Brendan McDonald has captured so well that I now hear his voice in my head while I’m reading). The world-building here is fantastic – so intriguing as it gradually unrolls alongside each plot, with the Founders and the Folk, Manny’s friend and Simon’s hints.

Speaking of which, it’s not all guffawing out loud either, as Banecroft’s side plot that started in the first book and deepens here is almost unbearably poignant. I went from chuckling to shedding an actual tear or two, as the abrasive, intelligent man I already loved was reduced to begging and bargaining in his desperation to… I’m not telling you, of course! No spoilers here. And Stella’s teenage frustration with her situation is palpable too. Ox and Stanley do some odd-couple buddy movie bonding, which should be clichéd but feels fresh and funny instead. And with all of that, Cogs and Zeke still manage to completely steal the show!

I am obsessed with these books. I never want the series to end. I recommend them to everyone in real life. And now I am strongly recommending them to YOU! If you, like me, love urban fantasy, mystery and humour all expertly blended, with worldbuilding that fascinates and characters that live in your head forever, then you cannot go wrong with these books.

And book 3, Love Will Tear Us Apart, releases on my next birthday. Guess what is top of my list?!

Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog

My thanks to Random House U.K./Transworld Publishers/Bantam Press for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘This Charming Man’ by C.K.McDonnell. My apologies for the late feedback.

It was published in February 2022 and is the sequel to ‘The Stranger Times’, featuring the same collection of quirky characters engaged in producing the Manchester-based weekly newspaper that prints the news that no one else will report. Then there’s DI Tom Sturgess, whose life has become increasingly strange since encountering the Stranger Times team.

In ‘This Charming Man’ the theme is vampires, which everyone knows don’t exist. Still, there’s been a murder that seems to have been committed by a vampire or someone who believes they are. Aside from the police, the local supernatural community are interested in finding out what’s going on. No further details to avoid spoilers, though will report that I found it very satisfying and once started couldn’t put it down.

As with ‘The Stranger Times’, C.K. McDonnell has once more skilfully blended a number of genres including urban fantasy, satire, crime fiction all infused with broad humour, witty dialogue, and plenty of pop culture references. While some background is provided, I would suggest that the books are best read in order to appreciate the ongoing story and its characters’ development.

Overall, I found ‘This Charming Man’ just fab on all counts and am excited to see that Book 3 in the series, ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart, is due for publication in February 2023.

Highly recommended.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this review copy. A good second novel in this series. Looking forward to the third.

I didn’t read the first book and, whilst I felt that this would have flowed better for me if I had, I don’t think it is necessary to do so.

An amusing novel based on a newspaper that reports on strange, paranormal incidents.

A funny, individual idea which I can see becoming a popular series.

If you like a light-hearted and ‘strange’ read, this could be the book for you.

A hilarious romp, if you like Ben Aaronovitch's PC Grant series then these are definitely the books for you.

A wonderful protagonists and cast of characters, each interesting and distinct. Can't wait for the next one in the series.