H.P.Lovecraft&C.J.Henderson The Tales of Inspector Legrasse

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H.P.Lovecraft & C.J. Henderson – The Tales of Inspector Legrasse (Mythos Books, 2005, 217 p.)

Spawned from the classical horror-hunt of Inspector Legrasse, in H. P. Lovecraft's seminal tale, now his further adventures have been taken directly from the notes of Professor William Channing Webb of the American Archaeological Association and written up for your edification by author C.J. Henderson, the dedicated chronicler who has exhaustively reported the occult adventures of Anton Zarnak, Jack Hagee and Teddy London, amongst many others.

These seven tales details the epic confrontation of an unsuspecting mankind with the unimaginable horrors of the Cthulhu Mythos. After a wait of half a century, from the combined hands of H.P.Lovecraft and C. J. Henderson, finally comes the answers to all the maddening riddles of the legendary first tale of the Mythos!


Yeah, right. Considering what Lovecraft had to say about some of the pulpier stories in WT, I guess even he in his generosity would have been rather displeased with this one. But I am biased. I only read one story of this which I so thoroughly disliked that I didn't bother with the rest.

Beginning with a reprint of Call of Cthulhu - after the usual foreword by Robert M. Price -, so they could put the name of Lovecraft in the title,  here are six tales starring the character created by Lovecraft, Inspector Legrasse from New Orleans. A sound idea, in theory.

Locked Room, a short story, now teams Legrasse up with Anton Zarnak, Lin Carter (needless) supernatural sleuth. In a nutshell a speaking hound of Tindalos hunts Zarnak, who with his friends, some occult nonsense, a lot of machine guns, grenades and finally a broken bottle with which he blinds the hound triumphs. This is so far removed from cosmic horrors that it resembles a 70s comic book script for a series like Gold Key's Dr. Spektor. I guess the writer just wanted to have fun with the bland characters and the Lovecraft props. Of course this is a matter of taste, but I thought it a waste of an potentially interesting concept.