BLOG TOUR REVIEW!!! The Haunting Scent of Poppies by Victoria Williamson

The War is over, but for petty criminal Charlie his darkest days are only just beginning.

Charlie Briggs is never off-duty, even when a botched job means he’s forced to lay low in a sleepy Hampshire town for the holiday season. Always searching for his next unwitting victim, or a shiny trinket he can pilfer, he can’t believe his luck when he happens upon a rare book so valuable it will set him up for life. All he needs to do is sit tight until Boxing Day. But there’s a desperate story that bleeds beyond the pages; something far more dangerous than London’s mobsters is lurking in the shadows.

Could the book be cursed? Why is he haunted by the horrors of war? Can he put things right before he’s suffocated by his own greed?

Proof that good things can indeed come in small packages, Victoria Williamson’s novella The Haunting Scent of Poppies offers readers two very different kinds of horror: the chills of a classic ghost story and the visceral horrors of trench warfare.

Petty thief Charlie Briggs is trying to lay low after a job gone wrong. When he stumbles across a valuable rare edition of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War in a sleepy Hampshire bookshop, however, the temptation is too much too resist. Undeterred by the personal significance of the book – and by the misfortune it appears to have bought to its previous owners, Charlie makes off with it and holes up in a cosy little guesthouse to sit tight until Boxing Day, when he can return to London and use the profits from his theft to set himself up for life.

Within hours, however, Charlie is regretting his dismissal of the bookshop owner’s warnings. Assaulted by horrific visions of warfare, it seems something – or someone – is reaching out from beyond the pages of the book. Pursued by shadowy figures and haunted by dreams of mud-filled trenches, is Charlie being haunted by the previous owner of The Art of War? Or is he being pursued by his own guilty conscience?

Although only a little over 100 pages in length, Victoria Williamson’s novella packs in plenty of chills. Infused with atmosphere, the reader is transported from the frozen and fog-covered winter streets to the mud-soaked trenches of the First World War. The overall atmosphere is eerie and unsettling, with the reader following Charlie as he is jolted between past and present.

Charlie himself is a thoroughly unlikeable character. I’ve seen several reviewers say that he’s the sort of character that you love to hate and that really hits the nail on the head! At times, I was reminded of Scrooge but, unlike in Dickens’s classic, there is no redemption for Charlie Briggs. Characterised by self-pity rather than remorse, his attempts at redemption are far too little and come far too late.

Cleverly, Williamson never makes it wholly clear exactly what is haunting Charlie. Is it a malevolent spirit? Something more benign that offers redemption? Or his own tormented conscience? Williamson plays expertly with the thin line between psychology and the paranormal to keep both Charlie – and the reader – on their toes!

Eerie and poignant, The Haunting Scent of Poppies is a tale that, like all good ghost stories, haunts the mind of the reader long after you’ve turned the final page. It is sure to appeal to lovers of classic ghostly tales and would make the perfect festive stocking filler for anyone looking for quick but satisfying read.

The Haunting Scent of Poppies by Victoria Williamson is published by Little Thorn Books (first edition) and Silver Thistle Press (second edition) and is available now from Amazon.

If you can, please support a local indie bookshop by ordering from them either in person or online! Some of my favourites include Booka Bookshop, Sam Read Booksellers, Book-ish, Scarthin Books, Fox Lane Books, and Berts Books. 

My thanks go to the publisher for providing a copy of the book in return for an honest and unbiased review and to The Write Reads for organising and inviting me onto this blog tour. The tour continues until 15 December 2023 so please do check out the other stops using the #TheWriteReads #UltimateBlogTour for more reviews and content!

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