Saturday 10 September 2016

Ghosts Of Tsavo by Vered Ehsani + Free book


Ghosts of Tsavo by Vered Ehsani
Published on February 14th 2014.

One of my WorldReads from South Africa.

Ghosts Of Tsavo is the first in the Society Of Paranormals series. It's free alone as an ebook, but I've learned of an excellent special offer on a boxset of the first four books right now. The boxset is just 99c / 99p on Amazon.com / Amazon.co.uk / Smashwords until midnight tonight (no idea whose time zone!). Hurry!

Where to buy this book:



How I got this book:
Received a free copy from Vered Ehsani as a reward for signing up to her email newsletter

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

'Where African myth meets Victorian manners: Armed with Victorian etiquette, a fully loaded walking stick and a dead husband, Beatrice Knight arrives in colonial Kenya desperate for a pot of tea and a pinch of cinnamon. But she’ll need more than that if she’s to unravel the mystery of the Ghosts of Tsavo without being eaten in the process. She must endure all manner of inconveniences while surviving the machinations of her best friend’s dashing godfather and the efforts of her safari guide to feed her to any lion willing to drag her away. What is a ghost-chasing widow to do?
Ghosts of Tsavo is the first case in “Society for Paranormals”, in which a paranormal detective refuses to let danger, death and unwanted suitors inconvenience her in colonial Kenya. Welcome to a series concerning dead husbands, African mythology and the search for a perfect spot of tea. If you adore “Pride & Prejudice”, appreciate British humor, enjoy paranormal mysteries, or would love to experience adventure in colonial Africa, download Ghosts of Tsavo to start your supernatural safari today.'

This steampunk novel is set in late-Victorian era Nairobi in the days when this city was still just a rough settlement in a swamp. We travel there with English expatriate family the Sewards as they try to make themselves a new life away from the social disaster of their bankruptcy back home. Ehsani has created great characters for this family: the mother who is desperate to maintain her English lifestyle despite its total impracticality, the daughter who seems to see no point in living anywhere without fashionable shops, and the father who may nominally be the head of the family, but who doesn't really stand a chance!

Leading our novel is the formidable Mrs Beatrice Knight, tea drinker, widow and paranormal investigator. I loved her forthright way of thinking and dry sense of humour, especially where Ehsani includes nods to the rigid social rules of the day even as our heroine resolutely ignores them. I frequently found myself smiling and giggling as I read. Historical Nairobi is nicely evoked to give an atmospheric backdrop to the ghostly mystery that occupies Beatrice, however perhaps a little more focus could have been given to the lions themselves as they did seem almost incidental at times. There is so much else going on! I particularly thought the wrapping up of the lion storyline was hasty and would have liked to have learned more about how exactly this would pan out in the future.


Search Lit Flits for more:
Books by Vered Ehsani / Steampunk fiction / Books from South Africa

4 comments:

  1. The Society Of Paranormals 99c boxset offer has now finished, but you can get the 4 novel boxset for just $2.99 on Smashwords through the link above. Superb value!

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  2. It's $2.99 on Amazon, Kobo, iTunes and Barnes&Noble as well! For the next few days at least.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Vered!
      I got mine through Smashwords and completely forgot the other venues when commenting. D'oh!

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  3. There's now a Ghosts Of Tsavo audiobook available, deliciously narrated by Alison Larkin. And a fab price drop: download the free ebook from Amazon first (links in the post above) to get a 78% discount on the audiobook!

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