The Curse of Kali

The Curse of Kali is the 10th volume in the Jason Dark series by Guido Henkel.

The intrepid Inspector Lestrade needs all the help he can get after a the decapitated corpse of a rich writer is found in the hands of a statue of the Hindu goddess Kali. Not even sure if he's looking for a human killer or something worse, he calls on the two greatest detectives at large in Victorian London.

The Curse of Kali follows Jason Dark in his latest adventure but this time he is also working with one of the greatest minds of the Victorian era, for the most part this works very well but I must admit I would have liked to see more screen time for this investigator and being ultimately trumped by Dark may not sit well with fans of the super-sleuth. The characterisation is handled very well though as is the interplay between the two greats and we get further developments in the relationship between Dark and Lin.

There appears to be a little more tongue in cheek humour than there has been previously (sticky rice, really!) and the story is as engaging as ever, it's still got all the elements of the classic horror novel which is mixed in with the sherlock style detective novel and again it does work very well in the Victorian setting.

The story is absorbing, if fairly straight forward and there is a nice use of past events that helps to create a good sense of continuity. Overall another strong Jason Dark story and more importantly a good read.