Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner
Otherworlds
Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Barbara Michaels
Class/Genre: Mystery Supernatural Private Investigator
HarperCollins, Feb 1999, $23.00, 256 pp.
ISBN: 0-06-019235-6
This book consists of two brilliant novellas that will thrill fans of detective tales and ghost stories as a group of renowned personage provides their spin on the alleged supernatural.
"The Bell Witch Ghost". Frank Podmore (skeptic in chief of the Society for Psychical Research), Dr. Nandor Fodor (former Director of the International Institute for Psychical Research), Harry Houdini, Conan Doyle, and a guest meet to discuss the Bell Witch ghost. Houdini provides the background material about the appearance of an 1817 spirit in Tennessee visiting the Bell family. People, in turn, provide their interpretation to Houdini's narration.
"The Phelps Case" has pretty much the same participants, except the guest is a woman. She provides the story to the attendees of a visit of a spirit to the Phelps home. This time, however, the participants debate what happened on Connecticut.
OTHER WORLDS is a fascinating book that is must read for fans of ghost stories and detective tales. Houdini and Doyle come so alive in these novellas, readers will believe they are sitting at the same table with the two men. The story lines of both books are crisp, fun, and intriguing. The meeting attendees, and the Phelps and Bell characters all feel genuine. With this fiction, Barbara Michaels owes readers more tales starring this elite group of thinkers.
Harriet Klausner
Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner
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