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…