The Sirens

After the traumatic events of The Amulet, Glasgow P.I. Derek Adams chucked it all in and retired from the sleuth business, going to work for a newspaper instead. That didn’t last long, and within a few weeks, he went back to the old game, hiring his friend Doug, emotionally scarred by the previous case, as his assistant.

When the book opens, Adams is taking a routine case. A woman hires him to find her son, who has run off to a remote fishing village, and soon Adams is on the trail. What are the chances this remains a simple job? None, really, since Adams is the Midnight Eye, and eldritch horror waits for him on every case. Soon, Adams is up to his neck in mermaids, ancient curses, and Norse mythology. And there’s this strange janitor hanging around with a glass eye…

As I mentioned when talking about The Amulet, a lot of writers have tried their hand at mixing horror themes with the private eye genre, generally with poor results, but Meikle has a good grasp on the mixed genres. I loved The Amulet, but The Sirens is even better. If the concept of a private dick investigating cases mixed with classic horror themes interests you, I urge you to give them a try. Reading The Amulet first helps fill in the backstory of the characters, but isn’t essential.

Mr. Meikle has written a third Derek Adams adventure, and hopefully it will see publication soon. Oh, and if you’re wondering, as I was, his name is pronounced MEE-kle, according to a friend of mine. Then again, the friend is a Scot, and could have been having me on.