The Ruminations of Freekly Oldacre: The Adventure of the Curse of the Mummy's Toenail

by H.N. Lloyd

London 1855, the Egyptian mummies of the British Museum have awoken, stalking the fog-bound streets. Freekly Oldacre, a congenitally deformed hunchback, albino, but still the British Empire’s Premier Private Consulting Detective, sets out to investigate. He’s aided in the investigation by his friend Professor Enoch Beard, a nervous three-foot midget, and Tsai Sparrow, an Egyptologist crippled by Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. The case leads the peculiar trio to follow a bloody trail of murder, as they desperately try to recover a cursed toenail-clipping; taken from the long-dead Egyptian High Priestess Amunet. Freekly is not alone is his search for the toenail. Close on his tail are an Egyptian Death Cult, and the Prussian Empire’s most dangerous and deadly spy. As Freekly is embroiled in a heart-stopping chase from London to Cornwall, and across the moors to Dartmoor gaol; he must discover why such disparate groups are so desperate to recover the ancient curiosity, uncovering an ancient secret that could change the world. By turns nail-bitingly tense and uproariously hilarious, this fast paced, gripping, and twisting tale of suspense, murder deceit and intrigue will have you breathlessly waiting for the next time they ‘leave it to Freekly’.

Genres: Thriller

279 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 5, 2011

Reviews

[Chris Shaw · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good read

[Caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable caper, let down by lack of proof reading: some terrible spelling mistakes and word substitutions: 'he spoke in a horse whisper' for example. There were also some odd turns of phrase which didn't quite sit right. I would have liked some more female characters too: the few there were were bit parts and caricatures. If a bit more time was spent on tidying it up, it could be even better.