The Hypnotic Tales of Rafael Sabatini consists of two novelettes the author wrote about murder, mystery and hypnotism in the early 1900's. The first nThe Hypnotic Tales of Rafael Sabatini consists of two novelettes the author wrote about murder, mystery and hypnotism in the early 1900's. The first novel 'The Avenger' is about a series of strange deaths that friends of the deceased deduce as murders by hypnotism. Dr. Roger Galliphant (a hypnotist himself) and Martin Scholes, friends of the two young men who are murdered have worked out that one of the two was hypnotized to sleep walk on a dangerous high wall at the owners manor house and when awoken fell to their death. This leaves the manor house to the next surviving relative and when he dies in his sleep as a very young man the two friends vow to avenge their deaths. They follow 'the money' and begin to investigate James Chester who is the current beneficiary of the manor house. This turns into a duel of hypnosis between two very well versed and talented hypnotists. This story is quite clever, spooky and engaging and I can see why Sabatini was so popular a writer in his time.
The second novel is called 'The Dream' which happily enough employs Dr. Roger Galliphant as an expert witness, (so to speak), to exonerate our hero Major Frank Orpington of the crime of murdering his egotistical, arrogant and schemingly evil cousin. These two novels are extremely fun to read and I absolutely love the written language of the era, so dramatic and eloquent. I also loved the cover art of the somnambulant figure wandering on the high cliff. I will definitely be reading more of Mr. Sabatini's work as this book has been my first introduction to it. Well done. Five stars....more
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