"Harry Challenge is investigating a haunted museum in Paris 1897 (which means the first book was set around the same time, though Goulart alludes to another adventure between them The Prisoner of Blackwood Castle and this one). The museum is having a hard time keeping night watchmen due to being chased away by a mummy. Harry and his reporter pal Jennie Barr spend the night there, but once the mummy appears, Barr shoots it dead –turns out it was a Scooby style set-up and the mummy was a regular guy all wrapped up. Harry learns that guy was probably hired by arms dealer named Zaytoon. Despite killing someone in cold blood, Jennie had been hypnotized to prevent Harry from learning anything (nice). She and Harry, with help from their magician friend, The Great Lorenzo, and learn that the Osiris Obelisk within the museum has something hidden it, and some are willing to kill for its secrets."
The Curse of the Obelisk is the second and last book
featuring Harry Challenge (after 1984’s The Prisoner Of Blackwood Castle. He
did, apparently, write a few short stories released in 2012, but he ultimately moved on to
other things, including his Groucho Marx series). Here, Goulart takes on the old
Egyptian curse story, with an Obelisk at the center of it. But like a lot of
the writer’s stories, it’s not straightforward. Sure there is a curse on it and
so far five archaeologists who discovered the Obleisk in different countries have died, but they may
have been done in by a huge mechanical vampire bat, than say, anything supernatural.
While the story still resembles The
Wild Wild West, it adds a bit classic Doctor Who (Pyramids of Mars) and Agatha Christie to the
narrative. It’s a bit more lighthearted than the previous book, but still some
fine entertainment from Goulart.
I mean, it’s forgettable, but fun while you’re reading it.
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