Dark Detectives is a collection of short stories combining the detective and supernatural genres. Psychic investigators and investigators of the psychic are brought together in a chronological selection of stories ranging from ancient Egypt to an apocalyptic future.

Well, yes, that's true... but...

What is not clear from the book's blurb is that of the eighteen stories included, eight form an episodic short novel by Kim Newman. This is not so much a short story collection as a Kim Newman novel with other stories interspersed. If you don't like Newman's work, you will not be happy with this book.

Fortunately I do enjoy Newman's counterfactuals. This novel - Seven Stars - pulls together many of his previous threads and characters. It traces the path of a powerful, evil gem through the centuries as it is responsible for disasters from the biblical plagues to Hiroshima. The prologue is set in ancient Egypt, then the stone remains dormant until brought to Victorian London. This is when the Diogenes club become involved, further episodes introducing different Newman characters to the stone. The whole thing ends up in a day-after-tomorrow cyberpunk future. All great fun.

What of the other stories in this book? Well, most of them aren't too bad. There does seem to be an over-reliance on pastiche - deliberate or otherwise! This is unfortunate if only because Newman does it better. By far the worst story is Neil Gaiman's embarrassing "prose poem" Bay Wolf, which manages to fail both as prose and as poetry.

Overall, an annoyingly misrepresented and patchy book. If you enjoy Kim Newman's work, buy this book for his contribution and treat the rest as a bonus. If Newman leaves you cold, don't waste your money.