KJ Charles on The Secret Casebook of Simon Feximal ~ Blog Tour, Excerpt, Rafflecopter Giveaway

Prism Book Alliance^® would like to thank KJ Charles for stopping by today.

Title: The Secret Casebook of Simon Feximal

Author: KJ Charles

Publisher: Samhain

Genre: Gay Fiction, Historical, M/M Romance, Mystery, Paranormal

Blurb:

A story too secret, too terrifying—and too shockingly intimate—for Victorian eyes.

A note to the Editor

Dear Henry,

I have been Simon Feximal’s companion, assistant and chronicler for twenty years now, and during that time my Casebooks of Feximal the Ghost-Hunter have spread the reputation of this most accomplished of ghost-hunters far and wide.

You have asked me often for the tale of our first meeting, and how my association with Feximal came about. I have always declined, because it is a story too private to be truthfully recounted, and a memory too precious to be falsified. But none knows better than I that stories must be told.

So here is it, Henry, a full and accurate account of how I met Simon Feximal, which I shall leave with my solicitor to pass to you after my death.

I dare say it may not be quite what you expect.

Robert Caldwell
September 1914

Excerpt

London, 1894. After a couple of encounters, supernatural and sexual, journalist Robert Caldwell can’t get his mind off taciturn ghost-hunter Simon Feximal. He’s hoping to meet again…

***

I had written to Simon suggesting dinner, phrased in terms that also suggested other evening entertainments—one develops a knack for writing in a way that no policeman could point to as criminal—and he had accepted. I named Wyatts as the venue, since one can get a capital chop there, it was half way between our respective rooms, and most significantly, it was very close to Holywell Street and its environs, where gentlemen can take a room for two hours with no awkward questions.

I had, therefore, come to this evening with some anticipation. But the clock ticked on and Simon did not arrive.

I waited. I ordered a dish for myself, and ate it, since I could not afford to leave a meal unconsumed. I took more wine than was good for me, and at last I abandoned my solitary dinner and left the chop house in a fury of disappointment, curiosity, anger. He could, surely, have sent a note, were he occupied with work. Had his interest lapsed in the intervening weeks? Or perhaps he had been unavoidably detained, even injured?

I stewed over these thoughts as I walked, aware of my own absurdity but unable to shrug off his defection. I walked home through Old Compton Street, where a telegraph boy can be had for a shilling, and the thought crossed my mind to look for consolation there, but I could not find the enthusiasm. The fact was, Simon Feximal had come to occupy my thoughts to a degree that was not entirely welcome.

Of course one dreams of forming a deep connexion, but for most of us, a dream is all it can be. Even were Simon to return my interest—and on the strength of this evening I had no reason to suppose he did— then what? He was a most extraordinary man living a most extraordinary life. I had my career to pursue. And the law condemned us both to a hole-and-corner existence when it came to personal affections. What on earth did I expect of him, or of myself? Why indulge in fancies that could only lead to disappointment?

About the Author

KJ Charles is a Rainbow Award-winning romance writer and freelance editor. She blogs about writing and publishing, spends too much time on Twitter, and has a Facebook group for book chat and sneak peeks. The Secret Casebook of Simon Feximal, a Victorian occult m/m romance, is coming from Samhain on 16 June.

Links

The Secret Casebook of Simon Feximal on Goodreads
Samhain
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Amazon CA
All Romance eBooks

Giveaway

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