This mystery balances on the borderline between conventional mystery and occult thriller. The visions that Father Gilbert are convincingly prescient, yet could be explained away as an overactive imagination or the product of an unbalanced mind. In any case, the discovery of an ancient medallion on a body preserved in peat leads to a series of other murders and mysterious deaths, and possible black magic. Fast moving, but seems to have an agenda of convincing the reader of the existence of diabolic evil. It is rather odd that a writer on occult subjects would not know that the elements attributed to the points of the pentacle are earth, air, fire, water and spirit (or aether); not "air, light, wind, fire and water." This reads as either ignorance or as an attempt to protect the reader from the real occult.

I received a copy of this book as an Early Reviewer. Father Gilbert is an Anglican priest whose previous vocation was as a detective at Scotland Yard. His dual vocations enable him to solve what proves to be a mystery on a supernatural level. It all begins when Father Gilbert has an encounter with a man planning to commit suicide, who suddenly disappears, and a 200 year old body is found under a bridge. The two events are connected and lead to more evil happenings.The book is absorbing and fun to read even though it is obvious that the plot is rather far fetched. Father Gilbert is an appealing character and it is easy to sympathize with his struggles both natural and supernatural. I hope more Father Gilbert books are being planned. ( )

This is the first book in the Father Gilbert mystery series. Father Gilbert used to be a Scotland yard detective until a case made him look at the world in a different manner. Now Father Gilbert is an Anglican priest serving his flock in Stonebridge.

There has been a feud between a couple of the families for generations. Only now it appears that things might be heating up, or at least someone wants everyone to think so. One of the families, the Hayshams, first find a Stonebridge in land they are trying to drain for development, and then a body is found underneath it.

The man who found the body ran home and committed suicide. And Father Gilbert is subjected to a strange vision that haunts him about the man who took his own life. More strange things happen and he is the recipient of more terrible visions. So he tries to help the police As the body count rises, he fears there might be more than just human intervention going on.

I think this was an interesting mystery with a bit of the supernatural thrown in. An ex-detective and a man of the cloth fighting evil where it exists. I very much enjoyed the story and I look forward to reading more of Father Gilbert and his adventures. ( )

This was weird but engrossing. It's a sort of supernatural twist on the priest-solves-murders subgenre, which is new and different, but it's not clear to me that the supernatural element is necessary or illuminating in this particular story. Still, the mystery is solid and the writing carries it ably, despite a not-insignificant amount of underexplained backstory. I'm curious to see where the author intends to take the supernatural element as the series continues, but I'm not sure I'm super-interested in a world inhabited by literal demons. (But I might be slightly more interested in one where Lord Peter Wimsey is driving a motorcar around Regency England, as he apparently is in McCusker's world.) In any case: a quick, diverting read. ( )

I couldn't hang. Adding a non-explained mystical element breaks all the "rules" of mysteries. I'm supposed to be able to use all the known information to figure out that mystery right on time - but "I had a vision" really doesn't give as much information to work from and jumbles up the usual timelines and logic. Not for me.