A great book this is an anthology of stories featuring Richard Jeperson, the most values member of the Diogenes Club. The stories are a mashup,of spy/horror/mystery/history and well balanced
The Diogenes Club was first described in Sherlock Holmes stories and has been developed by Kim Newman from there. The main protagonist is a pastiche of 1960’s and 1970’s characters Jason King and John Steed, but is also a ‘talent’ able to sense individuals’ thoughts, moods and feelings. There is a kind of timeline of the stories from the 70’s to the 2000’s that shows changes in the political landscape towards the Diogenes Club. The last one is quite sad, showing an ageing Jeperson, essentially having been put out to pasture.
Stories are self contained but have the theme running through them. They are a great read, mixing speculative fiction and history. There are some obvious references to the political landscape of the late 1960’s and 1970’s. I understand from other reviewers that there are overlaps with Newman’s other works. I’m going to find out! There’s a nice glossary at the back-originally requested for the American publication, but useful for some of the references and certainly for readers of a younger vintage than myself-who probably remember much that is in there, having grown up in the seventies. Definitely worth reading.

From the 1860s to the present day, the Diogenes Club has been the least-known of Great Britain’s intelligence and law enforcement services. Founded by Sherlock Holmes’s cleverer brother Mycroft, the Club protects the realm – and this entire plane of existence – from occult menaces, threats born in other dimensions, magical perfidy and the Deep Dark Deadly Ones.

This collection of 10 stories features psychic investigator Richard Jeperson and friends as they pursue the mission of the Club. Most occur during the 1970s, which is a nice change from the usual late 19th century settings for these types of books. I enjoyed most of these stories, although they tend to be more of novella length than short story length. I can always count on Kim Newman to bring interesting plots. A handy glossary is included at the back of the book which identifies all of the “Britishisms” for those Americans that might feel lost in some of the slang. However, Mr. Newman’s writing style runs more toward the clever turn of phrase as opposed to clarity, concentrating more on colorful commentary through dialog at the expense of traditional storytelling. At times this becomes overbearing and made me feel a bit lost, like I was missing a few too many inside jokes. But as long as you can hang in there, these stories can be a real treat.

Note that these stories can be read and enjoyed without benefit of having read the author’s “Anno Dracula” series of alternate history novels, even though the Diogenes Club plays a prominent role in those books.

This is a book of short stories. Some of them are pretty good but they all have some elements that just don’t work.

I've never read any of Newman's books before and picked this up on the strength of the cover alone. It just jumped out of the display and the book blurb sealed the deal.
In this collection of 10 stories, featuring the psychic detective Richard Jeperson (a Jason King pastiche) Newman exploits and subverts the spy/detective/ghost hunter genres to great effect. There are some great stories here. "The Man Who Got Off The Ghost Train" though is the star of the piece; an absolute gem of a ghost story.

Oh Kim Newman, by all rights you should be too clever for your own good. He's fully embraced camp and genre tropes. He loves meta references. And for the most part he's just so over the top that everything should garner eye-rolling. But he's a damn good writer, clever and witty, and creates characters and scenarios that are just downright engaging.

I heart the Diogenes Club stuff. I really just want more and more. I want to know all the weird supporting characters and I care about their history. Everyone of them could have a lead role in their own novel and I'd be happy. In this book we get to see mostly the 70s era with some glimpses of the past and the present. This book is crammed with fun, big ideas and a good dose of action to go with it. This is a must read for any fan of genre fiction.

Austin Powers meets X-files. The main characters conveniently both have significant amnesia, possibly the author's attempt to justify their complete lack of depth. Half of the content was about the exact size, shape, and opacity of the clothes of female characters. All of which are hot, while the men are uniformly shlubby. The book itself is a collection of short stories featuring the same investigators, rather than a single story with an actual story arc. The individual stories are so bizarre as to be completely unpredictable, but with plenty of violence and torture. The result is disorienting - you are thrown into one scenario and have no time to get your bearings before being launched into a completely new setting. I'm not sure how this ended up on my to-read list, but it gives pulp a bad name.

Superspy Richard Jesperson is the Avengers and the occult with a little of the rest of the swinging superspy scene. Goofy but at points brilliant.