We are dealing here with a set of three loosely connected stories, that all take place in the mystic and ancient city of Khrem. The first part named ‘The Reach of Talanturos’ lets us see through the eyes of one Cargill the bookseller – retired masterthief and painfully avoiding notice of any authority. But finally he’s found out by the young and ambitious police captain Drayton. Cargill is ‘persuaded’ to switch sides and join forces with the  local police to use his considerable abilities in order to solve more of the too many mysterious murders in Khrem.  As fate decrees there are quiet a few very mysteroius ones under way, and we follow with an enormous pace through explorations of crime scenes coupled with interesting flashbacks from Cargills past. What at first seems to be an ordinary crime story within a medieval metropolis, soon progresses into realms of fantasy, as the unknown opponent turns out to be more on the supernatural side. Will Cargill be able to live up to his reputation?

The second part ‘The Cistern’ takes place in a not defined time shortly after ‘The Reach of Talanturos’. Some neighbour’s child steps on the wrong place in the garden and the earth swallows him. Cargill soon discovers that the young one might still be alive but  in grave danger. The boy has fallen into an old cistern which might or might not belong to the ancient undercity of Khrem, a place where unimaginable creatures wait for someone stupid or despaired (or in this case unfortunate) enough to enter into their dark realm.

Cargill – once sworn to never enter again – overcomes his fear and takes it into his hands to save the young boy from a dreadful fate. Of course it’s not so easy, as our hero discovers soon enough, because the boy is not alone in the ancient ‘cistern’…

The last and in my opinion best part ‘The Ghost of Candlewalk Lane’ pulls us into the resurrected dark past of our former master thief. He is in need of his hard learned skills in order to save ordinary men from certain death by the – for want of another word – hands of the ghost of five young ladies, who were murdered some seventeen years back. One of this young girls was the great love of Cargill, so he does everything legally and illegally possible to take revenge on the killer. This, so he hopes, gives the ghost and thereby the city rest in peace.

Coupled with interesting flashbacks that explain how Cargill became the man he is now, we step into the story of his – until now – last investigation in which we meet our supernatural power from the first part again. Will it all work out?

I must say that I sometimes quite enjoyed reading those stories. They are written from the perspective of Cargill the bookseller/masterthief. We follow him through the stories and hear his thoughts and share his feelings. Regrettably – perhaps because of the relative shortness of the three stories – it is difficult to develop a true liking for this character. The deeper aspects of his personality are shown, but the great pace with which the book moves on, condemn them to a mere side aspect. Some parts of The Ways of Khrem were real pageturner material and they made reading this novel quite enjoyable.

All in all D.Nathan Hilliard created a promising world of darkness, mystery and ancient legacies that might contain enough secrets to start a series of paranormal crime stories. I’m looking forward to a full length novel about Mr. Cargill, with the imaginative writing and the interesting setting Mr.Hilliard calls his own.