Strange Practice

By: Vivian Shaw

Narrated by: Suzannah Hampton

The first book in a delightfully witty fantasy series in which Dr. Greta Helsing, doctor to the undead, must defend London from both supernatural ailments and a bloodthirsty cult.

Greta Helsing inherited her family's highly specialized and highly peculiar medical practice. In her consulting rooms, Dr. Helsing treats the undead for a host of ills: vocal strain in banshees, arthritis in barrow-wights, and entropy in mummies. Although she barely makes ends meet, this is just the quiet, supernatural-adjacent life Greta's been groomed for since childhood.

Until a sect of murderous monks emerges, killing human and undead Londoners alike. As terror takes hold of the city, Greta must use her unusual skills to stop the cult if she hopes to save her practice and her life.

Praise for the Dr. Greta Helsing Novels:

"An exceptional and delightful debut, in the tradition of Good Omens and A Night in the Lonesome October."―Elizabeth Bear, Hugo-award winning author

"Shaw balances an agile mystery with a pitch-perfect, droll narrative and cast of lovable misfit characters. These are not your mother's Dracula or demons."―Shelf Awareness

Dr. Greta Helsing Novels
Strange Practice
Dreadful Company
Grave Importance

Critic reviews

"In Vivian Shaw's Strange Practice, a charmingly unusual doctor and her charges keep the city of London from grave danger. In the process, they peel back the covers of familiar (and according to them, somewhat "libelous") stories to find that reality - especially with the undead - is more poignant and complex than it seems at first glance. An excellent adventure."—p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Calibri; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000}span.s1 {font-kerning: none}Fran Wilde, award-winning author of Updraft, Cloudbound, and Horizon

"Strange Practice is written with elegance, wit, and compassion. The prose is gorgeous, the wit is mordant, and the ideas are provocative. Also, there are ghouls."—p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Calibri; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000}span.s1 {font-kerning: none}Laura Amy Schlitz, Newbery Medal winner

"A satisfying and surprising read, with rich imagery, nuance, and real compassion for its characters--give Strange Practice a shot!"—Elliott James, author of Charming

"An exceptional and delightful debut, in the tradition of Good Omens and A Night in the Lonesome October."—Elizabeth Bear, Hugo-award winning author

"A darkly delicious adventure featuring a quirky new heroine. Strange Practice breathes new life into the undead."—James Bennett, author of Chasing Embers

"Shaw's lively debut introduces a great cast of characters who should sustain this new series for many volumes to come.... Shaw brings her Victorian monsters into the modern age."—Library Journal

"Shaw balances an agile mystery with a pitch-perfect, droll narrative and cast of lovable misfit characters. These are not your mother's Dracula or demons ... Strange Practice is a super(natural) read."—Shelf Awareness

"An appropriately dark breath of fresh air."—Booklist

"Readers will look forward to more of Greta's adventures. An imaginative, delightfully droll debut."—Kirkus

"A book to settle into. A warm quilt of a thing that's made for curling up with ... I miss this newest Helming already."—NPR

"This book is a joy to read, unlocking every bit of delicious promise in the premise."—B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog

"What a splendid adventure this is - Dr. Greta Helming is a brilliant character, world-weary doctor on-call at all hours, sorting out the ills of the undead and trying to run her Harley Street practice without drawing too much (or any) attention to her patients from the living world ... a splendid new urban fantasy series."—Espressococo

I need more of this author now!

Strange Practice is a fantastic listen. I purchased this title to listen to on an upcoming car trip and already finished it-before my trip! I could not stop listening. Susanna Hampton does a fantastic job capturing the different characters' personalities. I love Shaw's writing style. This paranormal tale is thankfully a breath of fresh air in that it does not feature a predictable love triangle full of angst with a mortal and a vampire and/or other paranormal beings. There are a few f-bombs and other language used (not an issue for me, but some readers may want to know.) Also, in case anyone is concerned or maybe excited for who am I to judge, there's no gratuitous sex scenes or anything so feel free to listen without earbuds and not offend anyone in your immediate vicinity.

I really hope Vivian Shaw writes more of Greta's adventures and I hope she writes them soon! I was laughing and gasping throughout the book and would highly recommend this title!

What an entertaining novel by Vivian Shaw

Couldn't get enough of this novel. I finished it and purchased book 2 "Dreadful Company". Our heroine is Gretta Helsing and she is physician to the supernatural. I love the premise of a doctor for supernatural creatures, and how that would intersect with modern medicine and technology. This book is packed with fun references to historical supernatural fiction & folklore from around the world & some well crafted weird science you'll want to dig into a bit. Susan Hampton, the narrator did a great job. All in all the book was very enjoyable and entertaining. There is a lot going on and sometimes I got lost w/ all the names and who they belonged to whom. But I would suggest it to my friends. Enjoy

Ruthven is pronounced Rivven

Call me a stickler, but I don't know why I, an American, know this and this presumably British narrator does not. And she says it at least 50 times in the first chapter so I don't even know if I can finish the book because it's bothering me just that much.

Otherwise I found the narrator's voice delightul and I think the premise is interesting, although I personally don't understand why people go so far out of their way to save the lives of beings that have already had an extra few hundred years of living.
That's probably just me and the mood I'm in because of the whole Ruthven thing.

I am finding it suitably dark for the subject and interesting, though a little slow.

So where did the cheap plastic rosaries come from?

Disembodied entity. Blind brainwashed "monks" living in tunnels under London. Where did the cheap plastic rosaries come from? I guess Amazon will deliver anywhere.

Strange and fun

Unique concept, lively characters, well-written dialogue that establishes who each character is (in his or her own right). Well done. I thoroughly enjoyed it