What do you think?
Rate this book
Murder Most Deadly
Murder Most Deadly is an earthy British horror comedy in the style of Carry On, Monty Python, Blackadder all wrapped up in a Hammer Film.
Bianca Penhale, celebrity author, has a dark secret that must be protected at all costs. Her delightful Cornish fishing village is proud to have her, but the gossips have already started. Then Maldini the Magician discovers her secret and blackmails her. This triggers Bianca’s dark side but Maldini has a few tricks up his sleeve.
Bianca’s troubles go viral when her conniving cousin, Hugh, arrives begging for money. His devious antics attract all manner of problems that soon spirals out of control, sending poor Bianca into despair.
And if things weren’t bad enough, she must do battle with witches, ghosts, werewolves, vampires, zombies and Piskies. Bianca’s once cosy life has been turned upside down. Can she hold on to her dark side and survive the onslaught?
Bianca Penhale, celebrity author, has a dark secret that must be protected at all costs. Her delightful Cornish fishing village is proud to have her, but the gossips have already started. Then Maldini the Magician discovers her secret and blackmails her. This triggers Bianca’s dark side but Maldini has a few tricks up his sleeve.
Bianca’s troubles go viral when her conniving cousin, Hugh, arrives begging for money. His devious antics attract all manner of problems that soon spirals out of control, sending poor Bianca into despair.
And if things weren’t bad enough, she must do battle with witches, ghosts, werewolves, vampires, zombies and Piskies. Bianca’s once cosy life has been turned upside down. Can she hold on to her dark side and survive the onslaught?
- GenresAdventure
264 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 2, 2014
17 people want to read
About the author
Simon Okill
12Ìýbooks296ÌýfollowersSimon Okill lives somewhere trapped on the internet with his vivid imagination.
Luna Sanguis is the story of Eternal, a 19 year old woman - an amnesiac vampire treated in an asylum in France 1925.
Luna Aeturnus follows hot on its heels as Eternal must face her dreaded enemy in a battle of the vampires.
Luna Sanguis is the story of Eternal, a 19 year old woman - an amnesiac vampire treated in an asylum in France 1925.
Luna Aeturnus follows hot on its heels as Eternal must face her dreaded enemy in a battle of the vampires.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
December 4, 2014
Pre-read reaction: It's .99 cents and I figure this won't kill me for the experience of reading it and taking one for the team. I hope. *gulps*
Give me a couple of hours with this one, I'll come back with an honest review about it. I promise to be thorough and let you guys know how it goes.
Post-read reaction: Dude, I can't believe I survived reading this. What was I thinking? I don't even know. I guess in the interest of science/curiosity/proving that critical opinions matter, this was a complete bust because I would rather scrub my brain than have to remember the experiences I had reading this book in order to write this review. It was not worth 3+ hours of reading time and $1.08 paid on Amazon. I could return the book, but what would be the point?
More to come in the full reflection. :(
Full review:
All right, I'll bite. Before I jump into this full review, I'll say this is the first read I've had from Simon Okill. I'm not so sure I want to pick up another work by him after reading "Murder Most Deadly," to be brutally blunt about it. For me, it was pretty much that bad of an experience. I can't say that other people will have the same experience with this one though. I understood this was something of a tongue in cheek supernatural farce, with over the top characters and random as all heck scheme of events. But even with it being that, I think this book really didn't have a plot to shape from, nor did it have characters that i could remember other than being pains in the neck. I also didn't like the overfocus on graphic depictions of sex and gore - it was overmuch and overemphasized.
My first sign that this narrative would have problems was in the overly long blurb. Blurbs are not meant to spoil the story or explain it - that's the job of the story to tell (well, show) these things. For a while, I didn't know what the heck was going on, judging from the story text itself. The characters were difficult to follow and I couldn't make head for tails of their personalities. For a while, the only character I really knew was Bianca, and she's one of those characters that you'd love to hate - completely hate.
I guess the very barest thread of a story is that Bianca's a famous person who's written a book and comes from a high profile life, but she's a murderess and a "crazy" person. She murders her lover Maldini, a magician who then becomes a lecherous ghost. She has henchmen (Joey and Topsy) burying the bodies for her (and they're kinda dim-witted, especially Topsy - I almost thought of them as a haphazard Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, but they're not developed enough or tongue in cheek for that). Hugh is the well-meaning cousin of Bianca who discovers his cousin's dark secret after Bianca kills Tara, Hugh's fiance. But then Hugh falls for a witch named Megan who seems to have it out for Bianca.
From there, I don't think it makes a bit of sense. It's on the level of absurdist humor on a supernatural level, but I don't think the execution worked for it because it felt repetitious and gratuitous with too many things being thrown at the wall and very little to no development. It's really a shame because I do like off-beat humor styles from the U.K. (my love for "Conker's Bad Fur Day" being an example. Gregg the Grim Reaper will always be one of my favorite characters, despite him hating cats.), but I just don't think this worked at all, even for adult humor and for what it chose to show. It wasn't carried well enough for the delivery to hit home.
On a final note: I know this might be the first star review that this book has and a very critical one, but I'm writing a review for it and owning it as my open, honest opinion. Other people may feel differently about it, but I would say it's contributing to the dialogue surrounding the book, and it's worth expounding upon. People should have the right to say their piece about a work without being made to feel afraid or undermined for their opinions. I stand by this opinion, and I assert it with confidence. I respect the right of others to have their respective thoughts and sentiments regarding the work and see no reason why some feel the need to try to censor it if it isn't entirely conforming or complimentary.
So I'll say that this didn't work at all for me personally. I can't recommend it for its many problems and it leaves much to be desired on a number of levels for the work. The read, in comparison to other parodies or humor in its vein, was very lacking, and I know it could've been better than this.
Overall score: 0.5 stars
Give me a couple of hours with this one, I'll come back with an honest review about it. I promise to be thorough and let you guys know how it goes.
Post-read reaction: Dude, I can't believe I survived reading this. What was I thinking? I don't even know. I guess in the interest of science/curiosity/proving that critical opinions matter, this was a complete bust because I would rather scrub my brain than have to remember the experiences I had reading this book in order to write this review. It was not worth 3+ hours of reading time and $1.08 paid on Amazon. I could return the book, but what would be the point?
More to come in the full reflection. :(
Full review:
All right, I'll bite. Before I jump into this full review, I'll say this is the first read I've had from Simon Okill. I'm not so sure I want to pick up another work by him after reading "Murder Most Deadly," to be brutally blunt about it. For me, it was pretty much that bad of an experience. I can't say that other people will have the same experience with this one though. I understood this was something of a tongue in cheek supernatural farce, with over the top characters and random as all heck scheme of events. But even with it being that, I think this book really didn't have a plot to shape from, nor did it have characters that i could remember other than being pains in the neck. I also didn't like the overfocus on graphic depictions of sex and gore - it was overmuch and overemphasized.
My first sign that this narrative would have problems was in the overly long blurb. Blurbs are not meant to spoil the story or explain it - that's the job of the story to tell (well, show) these things. For a while, I didn't know what the heck was going on, judging from the story text itself. The characters were difficult to follow and I couldn't make head for tails of their personalities. For a while, the only character I really knew was Bianca, and she's one of those characters that you'd love to hate - completely hate.
I guess the very barest thread of a story is that Bianca's a famous person who's written a book and comes from a high profile life, but she's a murderess and a "crazy" person. She murders her lover Maldini, a magician who then becomes a lecherous ghost. She has henchmen (Joey and Topsy) burying the bodies for her (and they're kinda dim-witted, especially Topsy - I almost thought of them as a haphazard Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, but they're not developed enough or tongue in cheek for that). Hugh is the well-meaning cousin of Bianca who discovers his cousin's dark secret after Bianca kills Tara, Hugh's fiance. But then Hugh falls for a witch named Megan who seems to have it out for Bianca.
From there, I don't think it makes a bit of sense. It's on the level of absurdist humor on a supernatural level, but I don't think the execution worked for it because it felt repetitious and gratuitous with too many things being thrown at the wall and very little to no development. It's really a shame because I do like off-beat humor styles from the U.K. (my love for "Conker's Bad Fur Day" being an example. Gregg the Grim Reaper will always be one of my favorite characters, despite him hating cats.), but I just don't think this worked at all, even for adult humor and for what it chose to show. It wasn't carried well enough for the delivery to hit home.
On a final note: I know this might be the first star review that this book has and a very critical one, but I'm writing a review for it and owning it as my open, honest opinion. Other people may feel differently about it, but I would say it's contributing to the dialogue surrounding the book, and it's worth expounding upon. People should have the right to say their piece about a work without being made to feel afraid or undermined for their opinions. I stand by this opinion, and I assert it with confidence. I respect the right of others to have their respective thoughts and sentiments regarding the work and see no reason why some feel the need to try to censor it if it isn't entirely conforming or complimentary.
So I'll say that this didn't work at all for me personally. I can't recommend it for its many problems and it leaves much to be desired on a number of levels for the work. The read, in comparison to other parodies or humor in its vein, was very lacking, and I know it could've been better than this.
Overall score: 0.5 stars
December 14, 2014
"Murder Most Deadly" by Simon Okill is a fun-filled horror story that will have you in stitches. Just like the publicity for this story promises, there is a distinct hint of Hammer Horror in this, although better plotting and characters that are a little more evolved than Hammer occasionally delivered.
Set in Cornwall, which has its own history of ghosts and spook, the story centers around the Bianca and her boyfriend, failed Magician Maldini, who soon turns into an enemy. This murderous and thrilling mayhem will scare you as well as it entertains and keeps you at the edge of your seat. Okill has a unique talent for combining hilarious fun with darker elements and proves that genre crossing can work.
A truly great read and a must for fans of hammer, horror and dark comedies.
Set in Cornwall, which has its own history of ghosts and spook, the story centers around the Bianca and her boyfriend, failed Magician Maldini, who soon turns into an enemy. This murderous and thrilling mayhem will scare you as well as it entertains and keeps you at the edge of your seat. Okill has a unique talent for combining hilarious fun with darker elements and proves that genre crossing can work.
A truly great read and a must for fans of hammer, horror and dark comedies.
January 19, 2015
Still stand by what I said previously. Vulgar and crass. Not to stereotype but I'm clearly not the target reader,
December 13, 2014
A Delightfully Macabre Romp! Woe Is Me!!
In his new book, “Murder Most Deadly,� Simon Okill really stirs the caldron, proving that psychotic writers, murder, ghosts, and greed can actually make you laugh. Yet Casper the Friendly Ghost this book most certainly is not! It starts out with Bianca, a rich, psychotic writer enjoying her entitlements to the hilt. Add a cup each of past ghosts, an avaricious cousin, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumber employees, as well as ex-lovers, and you’re hooked. Blend in a half cup of exorcism, the Beast of Bodrin, vampires, and British black-humored slang, and you’re really wondering where’s this all gonna end. But wait, not yet! Tablespoons of dead ‘bods,� competing females, witch covens, precious coins, a policeman whose horniness overrides his better judgment await you, but by this time, you’re just sitting back, hands cupped behind your head, and enjoying the ride until finally, Okill delivers one of the best twist endings I’ve read in a long time.
Now, I’m definitely not a vampire-zombie fan, but the way Okill gently dovetailed them all in, I was too involved with the characters and story to turn up my usually snooty nose. How’s THAT for good writing? A very recommended read, for sure...
In his new book, “Murder Most Deadly,� Simon Okill really stirs the caldron, proving that psychotic writers, murder, ghosts, and greed can actually make you laugh. Yet Casper the Friendly Ghost this book most certainly is not! It starts out with Bianca, a rich, psychotic writer enjoying her entitlements to the hilt. Add a cup each of past ghosts, an avaricious cousin, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumber employees, as well as ex-lovers, and you’re hooked. Blend in a half cup of exorcism, the Beast of Bodrin, vampires, and British black-humored slang, and you’re really wondering where’s this all gonna end. But wait, not yet! Tablespoons of dead ‘bods,� competing females, witch covens, precious coins, a policeman whose horniness overrides his better judgment await you, but by this time, you’re just sitting back, hands cupped behind your head, and enjoying the ride until finally, Okill delivers one of the best twist endings I’ve read in a long time.
Now, I’m definitely not a vampire-zombie fan, but the way Okill gently dovetailed them all in, I was too involved with the characters and story to turn up my usually snooty nose. How’s THAT for good writing? A very recommended read, for sure...
January 7, 2015
Typically a writer’s job is to make his leads likable and easy to project ourselves into. But every once in a while an author takes another approach, as with the film American Psycho, and gives us a lead that is so deliciously off-balance, so psychologically bizarre that the best we can hope for is empathy mixed with a good bit of belly-laughter. Needless to say the latter approach is the one taken with Murder Most Deadly, and it’s done to excellent effect. Without a doubt the real joy of the read is seeing what goes on inside twisted minds, and how folks let their darker emotions mold them into something� well, something no longer entirely human.
Bianca plays our supernatural femme fatal, who kills and performs black magic against those who do her wrong, and since she’s a wealthy, beautiful woman, they’re lining up to do her wrong. As it turns out, many of her marks may be lowdown, but that doesn’t make them pushovers. Enter a whole other level of fun for the reader, watching the scheming masterminds do everything within their power to get the best of one another as Bianca and her gentleman callers, determined to milk her of her money play mental chess from opposite sides of the table. If any of these characters were an ounce less twisted, less devious, less plotting and scheming, and less colorful, you might not care what ends any of them come to, but you can’t help but be fascinated and drawn in, because while this genre makes no bones about toying with reality, the characters themselves are highly realistic, perhaps too realistic. As social satires go, this one has the potent effect of a hundred Aesop’s Fables with their moralistic messages, and any number of Catholic school sermons, none of which could have gotten the message to sink in better. Namely, even before you go cleaning up your potty mouths, flush your potty minds!
Disclaimer: The reviewer is partial to darkly humorous tales, where, for all the guffaws, the comedy never eclipses the drama so much as exposes and amplifies it, as is the case here.
Bianca plays our supernatural femme fatal, who kills and performs black magic against those who do her wrong, and since she’s a wealthy, beautiful woman, they’re lining up to do her wrong. As it turns out, many of her marks may be lowdown, but that doesn’t make them pushovers. Enter a whole other level of fun for the reader, watching the scheming masterminds do everything within their power to get the best of one another as Bianca and her gentleman callers, determined to milk her of her money play mental chess from opposite sides of the table. If any of these characters were an ounce less twisted, less devious, less plotting and scheming, and less colorful, you might not care what ends any of them come to, but you can’t help but be fascinated and drawn in, because while this genre makes no bones about toying with reality, the characters themselves are highly realistic, perhaps too realistic. As social satires go, this one has the potent effect of a hundred Aesop’s Fables with their moralistic messages, and any number of Catholic school sermons, none of which could have gotten the message to sink in better. Namely, even before you go cleaning up your potty mouths, flush your potty minds!
Disclaimer: The reviewer is partial to darkly humorous tales, where, for all the guffaws, the comedy never eclipses the drama so much as exposes and amplifies it, as is the case here.
December 30, 2014
*** Weird, Wacky and Wonderful ***
Simon Okill continues his offbeat rampage through the various writing genres with his latest (and to my mind, best so far) offering, "Murder Most Deadly". His novel - set in Cornwall - is a heady mix of humour, murder, magic and skulduggery, populated with a cast of weird and off-the-wall characters.
His trademark wacky plot lines weave in and out of this most unusual book. It is hard to be specific without spoilers, but suffice to say, if you enjoy a "different" type of entertainment, "Murder Most Deadly" is a refreshing change from the staid narratives that are all-too-common on our virtual bookshelves.
Simon Okill continues his offbeat rampage through the various writing genres with his latest (and to my mind, best so far) offering, "Murder Most Deadly". His novel - set in Cornwall - is a heady mix of humour, murder, magic and skulduggery, populated with a cast of weird and off-the-wall characters.
His trademark wacky plot lines weave in and out of this most unusual book. It is hard to be specific without spoilers, but suffice to say, if you enjoy a "different" type of entertainment, "Murder Most Deadly" is a refreshing change from the staid narratives that are all-too-common on our virtual bookshelves.
January 5, 2015
A great mix of horror, paranormal, and dark comedy
Bianca Penhale, a rich, psychotic writer living in a village in Cornwall, Maldini, the Magician, and a cast of other interesting human and not so human characters create a great story where horror, intrigue, and fun mingle. This book will scare and entertain you at the same time.
Bianca Penhale, a rich, psychotic writer living in a village in Cornwall, Maldini, the Magician, and a cast of other interesting human and not so human characters create a great story where horror, intrigue, and fun mingle. This book will scare and entertain you at the same time.
January 29, 2015
Racy, Sexy and Gruesome
In a world of ghosts and magic, an
axe murder takes place in chapter one. After that, things get weird.
Murder Most Deadly isn't a who dunnit or a psychological thriller. It is a Monty Python romp through a world of characters who have plenty of problems and have a knack for creating still more.
This book proudly wears an R rating for sex and violence in a paranormal setting not too far removed from the real world we live in. It's hard to know who to root for in this story, but that's just part of the fun.
In a world of ghosts and magic, an
axe murder takes place in chapter one. After that, things get weird.
Murder Most Deadly isn't a who dunnit or a psychological thriller. It is a Monty Python romp through a world of characters who have plenty of problems and have a knack for creating still more.
This book proudly wears an R rating for sex and violence in a paranormal setting not too far removed from the real world we live in. It's hard to know who to root for in this story, but that's just part of the fun.
February 6, 2015
“Murder Most Deadly,� by Simon Okill - an author with a unique talent of combining hilarious fun with darker elements certainly a great read for fans of hammer, horror and dark comedies. i loved this read and recommended.
April 4, 2017
I was taken in by the blurb (comparing it to Monty Python and Blackadder) and for that, the author/publisher should be ashamed. For shame!
This was a violent, crass, bloody mess and I'm sorry I spent the hours reading it.
If you like your horror like the movie, Saw, you'll probably love this book.
My Rating: 2 stars
This was a violent, crass, bloody mess and I'm sorry I spent the hours reading it.
If you like your horror like the movie, Saw, you'll probably love this book.
My Rating: 2 stars
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
Can't find what you're looking for?
Get help and learn more about the design.