The Weather in Middenshot

Deranged old Mr. Jarrow stubbornly insists his (very much alive) wife is dead and will only communicate with her through seances. Obsessed with all things gruesome and horrible, he delights in reading accounts of murders in the newspaper and leaving rotting animal corpses on his neighbor's doorstep. Much to his joy, a murderous lunatic has arrived in Middenshot, slitting villagers' throats by night in the foggy lanes. But his daughter Grace is worried. Why is her father going out late at night, and just what is he hiding in the coal shed? When two rather unconventional detectives come to town on the case, strange truths will be revealed and things will never again be the same in Middenshot. A strange mix of Gothic horror and morbid black humor, infused with the author's controversial ideas on treatment of criminals and the mentally insane, The Weather in Middenshot (1952) is one of the most unusual novels by Edgar Mittelholzer (1900-1965), one of the first great Caribbean novelists and author of the classic horror stories My Bones and My Flute (1955) and Eltonsbrody (1960). "A most bizarre and entertaining book." - Western Morning News "[D]ifferent ... original ... the style is refreshing ... I can promise you that you will be fascinated, horrified and amazed." - Richmond Times-Dispatch "Five innocent victims are murdered. Fog shrouds the middle section of the novel. Unseen wings flap inaudibly through the room. And people who go in for gore and gloom will find it in The Weather in Middenshot." - Chattanooga Daily Times