This charming Victorian fantasy, fifth in the Western Lights series (following 2007’s Bertram of Butter Cross
), surrounds a mystery with cozy world-building. Eugene Stanley, visiting Salthead University to help his uncle complete a long-delayed book, first discovers that a mysterious lamp’s light shows strange spirits and then inadvertently enters the spirit world while seeking missing Professor Haygarth. Though more narrator than hero, Stanley’s determination to find the professor raises him above a mere Watson, and his final decision adds a welcome note of quiet surprise. It’s not explained why mastodons and “saber-cats” roam this alternate England, or what occasioned and resulted from the catastrophe called the sundering, but while these mysteries may lead newcomers to the rest of the series, neither is necessary to appreciate this installment on its own. (Oct.)
