The Hammer of Dr Valentine by John Llewellyn Probert

Two years ago, a series of horrific murders shocked the city of Bristol. These were killings so in their planning, and so outrageous in their execution, that they made national headlines for weeks. Now the journalists who wrote the stories behind those headlines are beginning to die, in even more gruesome, even more flamboyant, and even more unbelievable than the murders they themselves wrote about at such length in the national dailies all those months ago. Dr Edward Valentine, brilliant surgeon and the maniac responsible for the Nine Deaths, has not been seen since he escaped the police following a final confrontation. Has he returned? Is he now intent on punishing the British tabloid press that he feels has misrepresented him? Has he chosen as the most appropriate method of punishment that most British of institutions, The Hammer Horror film? And how many times will the Hammer of Dr Valentine strike before he can be stopped? Of course, there’s only one way to find out… Back in 2012 I was lucky enough to read The Nine Deaths of Dr Valentine. It was a wonderfully ghoulish, blacker-than-black tale from the deranged mind of John Llewellyn Probert. What could be better than…

The Nine Deaths of Dr Valentine by John Llewellyn Probert
Horror , John Llewellyn Probert , Spectral Press / September 21, 2012

The police in Bristol have been confronted by a series of the most perplexingly elaborate deaths they’ve ever encountered in all their years of murder enquiries. The only thing which connects them is their seemingly random nature and their sheer outrageousness. As Detective Inspector Longdon and his assistant Sergeant Jenny Newham (with the help of pathologist Dr. Richard Patterson) race against time to find the murderer, they eventually realise that the link which connects the killings is even more bizarre than any of them dared to think… Imagine a British police procedural with a dark, sinister undertone, and a villain who delights in staging devilishly macabre crimes. Like the bastard son of Hammer House of Horror and A Touch of Frost, with just a dash of Tales of the Unexpected thrown in for good measure, The Nine Deaths of Dr. Valentine is the latest from small publisher Spectral Press. Outlandish as it is engrossing, I’ve read it a couple of times now and I reckon it’s a perfect little gem of a story. Who should read this then? Well, personally I think everybody, but if you are a fan of the likes of Hammer and Amicus (especially the films of Vincent Price) then you’ll be particularly…