Robert Somerlott – The Inquisitor’s House

Robert Somerlott – The Inquisitor’s House (Sphere, 1970)

Blurb:

At the stroke of midnight on the day of the dead a mysterious explosion shakes a haunted mansion in a Mexican city, bringing instant death to five people who have gathered there for a seance. The links between these five, and their reasons for seeking communion with the dead, provide material for a substantial novel of the occult, adventure and suspense. The narrative is fast-moving, the nineteenth century bakground bloody, and the guilt of the doom-laden characters colorful.

Robert Bloch – The Living Demons

Robert Bloch – The Living Demons (Sphere, 1970)

Life In Our Time
The Indian Spirit Guide
Lucy Comes To Stay
The Plot Is The Thing
Underground
The Beasts Of Barsac
Philtre Tip
The Unspeakable Betrothal
Black Bargain
The Girl From Mars
Beauty’s Beast
Tell Your Fortune

Richard Tate – The Dead Travel Fast

Richard Tate – The Dead Travel Fast (Sphere, 1971)

Problems beset a film crew shooting a new version of “Dracula” in the Carpathian Mountains. Unbeknown to each other, the cast are being independently blackmailed, everybody is receiving threats, and the director has just been gruesomely done away with. There also appears to be a vampire lurking about the village, judging by the state of the lead actress’s jugular. Unfortunately, Occult detective Marcus Obadiah makes it his business to investigate, and he’s such a shrewdie you just know he’ll put a stop to all the fun and games.

My abiding memory of this book is the grotesque image of one of the corpses after a particularly sadistic murder.

‘Richard Tate’ was a psuedonym of  Anthony Masters, author of the non-fiction book The Natural History Of The Vampire (Mayflower, 1972) and editor of Cries Of Terror (Arrow, 1976)

William Hughes – Lust For A Vampire

William Hughes – Lust For A Vampire (Sphere, 1971)

Given that the film is so marvelously off the wall, this is a plodding, strangely subdued retelling which doesn’t come close to recalling the glories of the movie. I think t’s possible the fault was with me, reading it when I wasn’t in the right frame of mind, although the way the demise of a central character is skipped over in a couple of “… and then this happened” sentences suggests the author was functioning on auto-pilot.

Mind you, Mr. Hughes didn’t have tops theme song Strange Love to fall back on when the going got ‘emotional’, so he was on a hiding to nothing.

Angus Hall – The Scars Of Dracula

Angus Hall – The Scars Of Dracula (Sphere, 1971)