Sherlock Holmes and the Three Winter Terrors is the latest contribution to the vast pastiche material from James Lovegrove. This is actually three novellas that are connected by a familial thread over a period of five years between 1889 and 1894. Holmes is back to debunking various supernatural incidents, which is a trail that I don’t often appreciate.
The first story involves a curse from a long dead accused witch. Then a client is apparently killed after a haunting a year later. Finally, Holmes meets a possible cannibal after a body is found to be uniquely ravaged in the woods.
Lovegrove is obviously quite an admirer of the Arthur Conan Doyle’s works and does well with the characterizations of Holmes and Dr. Watson. Once again, he seems overly fond of placing Holmes as some kind of myth buster.
Even though this novel sort of contained a practice I find a little irksome, I did end up enjoying it quite a bit more than I expected. Christmas was mentioned only briefly, but I go to other inspirations for that particular joy.
Lovegrove’s prose style manages to be easy to read and yet somehow seems faithful to Doyle’s original literary voice. Kudos to Lovegrove, but it would be nice if he wrote a different type of Holmes story without having him dip into these supernatural undertones.
Lee Child, the creator of the Jack Reacher series, started collaborating with his brother, Andrew, as he prepares to retire from full-time writing. I am next trying out their first joint literary venture, The Sentinel.
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