by Mark Gatiss

Target/BBC Books, out now

Something ghastly is afoot in Victorian Yorkshire. Something that kills. Bodies are washing up in the canal, their skin a waxy, glowing red… But just what is this crimson horror?

Mark Gatiss adapts his 2013 Series 7 story featuring the Eleventh Doctor and Clara, and it’s a wonderful example of how a Target novelisation can be so much more than a text retelling of an on-screen tale.

Effectively two stories for the price of one, The Crimson Horror that we know and love doesn’t begin until page 63, the preceding chapters serving as a whole new quest for the Doctor, Madam Vastra and Jenny. The novel features shifting points of view, frequently in the epistolary format of written remembrances, and at one point even a wax cylinder recording. Strax’s pompous and belligerent field reports are particularly hilarious, and yes the Thomas Thomas joke is still here. We even get to find out which Victorian confectionery meets the Sontaran’s approval.

In chapter City of Dreadful Delights, Jenny mentions a number of cases that the Paternoster Gang had solved, all of which I’d happily pay to read. As the Big Finish series of audios has demonstrated, there’s a lot of love for Vastra, Strax, and now Gatiss gives us a side quest about Trapeze artists, the Britannia Aptitude Contest, a crime syndicate with an acronym, and an attempt on the Prince of Wales’ life.

This era is of course Gatiss’ wheelhouse, and one can imagine him chuckling away as he adds another cheeky, knowing, period detail they could just as easily be applied in one of his Lucifer Box novels. Dedicated to Dame Diana Rigg, who played the deliciously evil Mrs Gillyflower, this is a joy for start to finish.

Verdict: Come for the complete story of The Crimson Horror within this ‘Penny Dreadful’ compendium of Victoriana horror, but stay for the equally compelling, shocking new tale of the Madman and his box of crime fighters. 9/10

Nick Joy

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