The Ghost of Artemus Strange

Sir Humphrey Strange and his wife Lady Clem own an Elizabethan manor and run it as a guest house in an idyllic English village called Batch Magna on the border between England and Wales. It’s weeks before Christmas and Humph has told the matron of the local hospital he will dress as Father Christmas and bring presents for the children in the hospital. As the big day approaches he has no idea how he is going to scrape up the money or tell his wife and community that he’s going to have to go back on his word and cancel the holiday celebration. All the while, his friend, Phineas, has a grand idea to start bringing in more money to the Hall: a ghost experience. The pub down the road makes a killing doing ghost tours and Phineas thinks, why can’t they do it to? Will they be able to pull off the new show? Will they be able to make enough revenue to save Christmas at the hospital?
I didn’t really know what I was walking into when I started The Ghost of Artemus Strange. I picked it based solely on the title and crazy cover. But I was not disappointed one bit that it wasn’t actually about a haunting. I loved the cast of crazy characters and the hijinks they all got up to. I cannot wait to read more from this series.

An entertaining book full of eccentric characters. It reminded me of the very watchable timeless Ealing Comedies but in book form and one could easily imagine some of the actors (alas largely no longer with us) the various characters would be. The village of Batch Magna is a crazy place but, in truth, not that far removed from a great many small villages, all with their own stories which would be easily recognised by residents of these villages I felt some of the characters could have been more developed but it's a read to just go with at face value and enjoy the eccentric country living that many of us love.

I got a copy of "The ghost of Artemus Strange" thankfully to the author, publisher and NetGalley, in exchange for a fair review.
To be totally fair is a challenge, I loved the book and can argue about all its qualities for hours. I will recommend it to my students, for many reasons. First and foremost, this is absolutely a work of a writer who is crafting with great attention every single sentence of his creation. The harmony of the descriptions, the rolling dialogues, the rythme, the plot, the sub-plot, the characters, all is great. Secondly, the story. You never know what will happen, and this is a strong element of a page turner. As a reader, you feel in great company, in a great landscape, and then comes the dilemna. To read or to wait a little longer, just to enjoy the possibility to have (once more) the pleasure to relax, knowing that the following moments will be of pure delight ? Luckily, there are several books in the series, it is possible to read any book at any time, and just to savour going back to be with the people and to enjoy the landscape and the story. The term "'read vacation" describes the experience, when you are reading the books of the series, you simply and truly are on holidays.

The Ghost of Artemus Strange is the 5th Batch Magna book by Peter Maughan. Due out 22nd Aug 2019 from Prelude on their Farrago imprint, it's 320 pages and will be available in ebook and paperback formats.

This is a humorous nostalgic ensemble novel written around the inhabitants of a fictitious village on the border between England and Wales. There are several returning characters, Sir Humph, who's a distant American cousin of a scion branch of the manor family who inherits the title unexpectedly, his wife Clem, Bill Sikes (a canine), and others.

Despite being the 5th book in the series, it works quite well as a standalone. I had no trouble following the gently meandering plot. There's not a lot of dramatic tension although there's a strange interlude involving the London criminal underclasses in the middle of the book. Mostly it's a wryly written bucolic village pastiche with (very) eccentric players.

The book is written with British slang and idiom, so readers from elsewhere should be prepared for that. I didn't find it onerous at all; everything is clear from context. Readers who have enjoyed other nostalgic village pastiches (Miss Read's Fairacre and Thrush Green spring to mind) will most likely enjoy this one as well. It is less openly sarcastic than Watson's Flaxborough chronicles, but still in roughly the same vein.

Four stars. Enjoyable read for fans of British village slice-of-life novels.

A well written, fun to read and entertaining book.
I loved the other books in this series and I loved this one.
The quirky characters, the dry humour and the amazing style of writing make it a very pleasant and gripping read.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Oh, I do enjoy these Batch Magna books of Peter Maughan! They provide a gentle escape from reality for a couple of hours, leaving me with a smile and a yearning to re-visit the Welsh Marches.

I’m going to assume that you’re familiar with Maughan’s Batch Magna Chronicles and that you remember how Sir Humph became translated from being a short order chef in New York to the ninth baronet of Batch Hall. If that leaves you looking blank, please do read the first book in the series - The Cuckoos of Batch Magna – and re-join us after that. Although Artemus can be read as a stand-alone novel, it is much much more enjoyable if you understand the geography and meet the characters as old friends rather than new acquaintances.

Sir Humph has a problem. He’s dressing up as Santa to visit the local children’s hospital and in an unconsidered moment of huge generosity, he’s promised to bring a sack of toys for the children. That moment was not only unconsidered, it was also unfunded: Humph is skint. You or I, dear reader, would confess all to our life-partner and to the matron; and accept the consequential rollocking and pursed lips of disappointment. Not Humph – he just digs himself a deeper hole.

The suggestion that the Hall has a ghost – that of Artemus Strange, a young cavalier of 350 years ago – offers a commercial opportunity that might – just might – provide the funds to buy the toys….

I love the one-liners, such as Rupert beating Humph at draughts: “See, Rupe, this game’s called checkers in the States,” Humphrey said […] “Well, we’ll call it checkers, Humph, if you think it will help,” Rupert offered mildly, and took another two of his pieces.

And the episodes featuring the management team from a local sweet factory on a team-building weekend, spouting the meaningless drivel common to such occasions had me sniggering.

#TheGhostOfArtemusStrange #NetGalley

Madcap Schemes Abound.....
Escape from the madness of life for a short while into the glorious eccentricity of Batch Magna once again, revel in its surroundings, its people, its comings and goings - which, often as bizarre as they are, usually work out for the best. Madcap schemes abound here, in this fifth book in the series, and the result is as greatly unpredictable as it is great fun. Wonderfully warm, gently witty, woefully wry and utterly, utterly compulsive. For me, as enjoyable as earlier books in this series - whilst this can be read as a standalone there is greater enjoyment to be had in reading from the start of the series. Recommended.

Princess Fuzzypants here: Batch Magna, straddling the border between England and Wales also straddles other borders. It’s a whimsical tale that would best be filmed by the old Ealing Studios of the 40’s and 50’s. The reader is never quite sure if this is a modern story or a vintage one. There are clues but never anything definitive. That allows it to poach from both past and present.
Sir Humphrey or Humph, as he likes to be known, is the unexpected heir to a castle. Born and raised in New York, he is swept from what he has known but not mastered into a world where he is expected to be Master. The locals, including his wife Clem, have not only accepted him but hugged him to the community bosom. He likewise has embraced his new future so much so that in his big hearted way, he offers to do something that he does not have the means to do. Then his good intentions spiral out of control, risking all the good will he has built.
Concurrent to his crisis, he and his family and friends try desperately to put his castle on a paying foot. They want to turn the castle into a successful B & B. In looking for a hook, the true story of Artemus Strange becomes the focal point of a means to entice paying guests.
The jolly cast of characters, who truly are, in the best English sense, characters, provide humour and a bit of pathos. There are some lovely side stories such as a trip to London that does not turn out quite as expected and the bittersweet friendship between two aged folk whose lives have known great loss.
This would be a great book to read sitting in an English garden on a summer’s day. I give it five purrs and two paws up.

Peter Maughan has created a lovely set of characters,living in an idyllic setting. These are a gentle series of books and make ideal holiday reading. However, punctuation pedants be warned, the Netgalley copy has a fairly scattergun approach to using the humble comma!

I highly recommend not starting this series with this book. It is further down the series that I would have liked to continue with the story that I rather enjoyed in the first installment, but since I had access to it, I had to give requesting a chance to it a shot. This is a kind of series where the emotional investment in the characters in the narration have a huge role in deciding how one's reading experience would be. Although the Strange family is the main name in the town, all the 'smaller' players are not exactly small players. Each brings with them strengths and weaknesses, that make the reader root for them in times of adversity. It has been a while since I last left all of them and a lot has changed, with new kids on the scene. At the same time, the troubles have stayed a constant, especially the heavy burden in trying to keep the Hall running and an added issue of a promise Humph made out of the goodness of his heart. Christmas is upon them and since there is no special income coming in, all the heads pitch in with ideas. In trying to implement these ideas more things go wrong than right. 

The joy of the series is watching the events unfold, there is no hurry in trying to get to the end. It is the kind that for each actual trouble within the book, it is harder to put down but once that is passed and before the next trouble is in sight, it can be set aside and resumed with ease. The people (it needs iterating) are the core of this story and this one mostly features Humph, Phineas, and Rupert: The local Lord, the pub owner, and local resident writer and the tramp. It is an odd combination of brains but they are rich enough characters to send ripples into their surroundings. This book is better read after an introduction to how they were before this tale.

I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers but the review is completely based on my own reading experience.

I absolutely loved this book.
Story - Amazing
Characters - Amazing

Really had so much fun with this one

A Christmas Story

We are starting in the middle of a series with this book, so the details of how a not-quite-er from Brooklyn becomes a squire (beyond the obvious workings of primogeniture) are only vaguely filled in; we pick up from context that the man has a heart and a conscience, and is trying really hard to hold onto and repair the fortunes of his inheritance. And also figure a way not to disappoint the hospitalized children he is to visit as Father Christmas. Maybe a ghost tour to bring in some much-needed income? Besides becoming better educated about the English Civil War (theirs was every bit as nasty and with lasting effects as that occurring in the U.S.), I was thoroughly entertained by the various members of the variegated household.

Like its prequel, this is a romp of a book.
We are plunged amongst an eccentric cast of energetic characters in a rural English setting at Christmas. Sir Humphrey continues to have problems financing the castle he’s inherited. He turns it into a bed & breakfast but still needs something more, so a ghost from the days of the Civil War will come in handy.
Luckily, things aren’t going to go smoothly so there’s lots for us to enjoy along the way.
This author has a fantastically readable style and packs so much cleverness and wit into his writing. It makes for truly delightful reading.