The Curse of the Blue Scarab

Josh Lanyon has written a fun and entertaining adventure. I would gladly share this book with younger and older readers. Again — lots of fun.

This book is well written, fun to read and engrossing. I loved the setting, the cast of characters and the plot.
I look forward to reading other books by this author.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

I received this ARC via Netgalley and the publisher in return for an honest review. This book combines a Sherlockian type protagonist and supernatural events, such as the Mummy Returns. Dr. Armiston is a small-practice doctor, invited to join a secret society know as the Society of Osiris as, primarily, an impartial observer. This is necessary as the members of the society are dying off, after each is entrusted with the care of an Egyptian sarcophagus and the resident mummy. He is particularly interested as he meets Captain Maxwell, a society member, and recognizes their attraction. As homosexuality is outlawed (and Mummy's don't come to life!) in England, this is a tricky situation as Dr. Armiston's scientific approach to the world is called in question during his investigations. Not a cosy but an interesting story; the author does an excellent job of the character building.

I am a fan of literary mash-ups ever since I read Pride and Predjudice....and Zombies. When I saw this book by Josh Lanyon and realized it was a mashup of The Mummy by Riccardo Stephens....I just had to read it! I'm a HUGE fan of classic monster stories...and I haven't read anything by Josh Lanyon. A classic mashup....and discovering a new-to-me author! Woot!

Not only am I new to Josh Lanyon's writing....but this is the first time I've read a book with M/M romance. Lanyon has written more than 60 books...action, adventure, mystery, all with M/M romantic subplots. I don't usually read romance novels of any sort....just not my thing. But mix in the Mummy....and let the main character have some romantic emotions come into play all while trying to escape a classic monster....yeah, I'm in.

**If you are not one to enjoy a LGBTQIA story.....then pass this by. For those who do enjoy them, don't expect graphic love scenes or a sex-filled subplot. That isn't what this book is about. It's a mashup of a classic monster tale written in 1912. Lanyon just added a bit of romantic tension, plus some mashings from a couple other books on opium addiction. The Mummy is a well-written classic book, but the style is antiquated when compared to more modern writing. Be aware the style and writing in the original book has been preserved. I saw several reviews that complained about the "flowery language,'' slow moving plot, differences between the writing in this book and in Lanyon's other books, etc etc etc. I think those readers/reviewers didn't understand that Lanyon was adding elements to the text of a book written in 1912. This story is a MASHUP....that means Lanyon took the text of the classic book and added elements. The language, writing style, main plot and basics are all more than 100 years old. Keep that in mind when reading. I find it awesome that Lanyon tackled such a project -- skillfully, I might add!**

All in all, I enjoyed this book! And I bought an ebook copy of the original book by Stephens. At first it was just to compare this book with the original, but I got pulled into the story and ended up reading both versions. Great monster story!

**I voluntarily read a review copy of this book from JustJoshin Publishing via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.**