James Lovegrove’s THE CTHULHU CASEBOOKS: SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE SHADWELL SHADOWS (2016) tells a very different story of Holmes and Watson than The Canon presents. Holmes takes a dream-quest and discovers the Great Old Ones, the Outer Gods, and of course Cthulhu. Meanwhile, Watson reveals the real story of his military service injury from an attack in a terrifying cavern in Afghanistan where ancient creatures lurk.
Holmes and Watson investigate a series of murders where the victims are found drained and wasted as if their life forces had been sucked out of them. Their search takes them to the Dark Side of reality that H. P. Lovecraft presented in his classic works. Lovegrove has written a handful of conventional Sherlock Holmes pastiches-The Stuff of Nightmares (Titan Books 2013, ISBN 978-1781165416), Gods of War, (Titan Books 2014, ISBN 978-1781165430), The Thinking Engine, (Titan Books 2015, ISBN 978-1783295036)–and another book in this series, Sherlock Holmes and the Miskatonic Monstrosities (Titan Books 2017, ISBN 978-1783295951). If you’re a fan of Holmes/Lovecraft mashups (and I am!) you’ll have fun reading James Lovegrove’s series. GRADE: B+
Hope you enjoyed Sherlock Holmes Week! Normal posting resumes tomorrow.
Still no!
Bob, these Sherlock Holmes-Cthulhu mashups are very popular with publishers right now. I could do a whole week of mashups alone!
Cthulhu Rocks! Who knew there were so many Holmes/Lovecraft mashups?
Jeff, not a month goes by without one or two Holmes-Cthulhu mashups being published. And that’s on top of all the faux-Lovecraft books published each month, too!
one of these days, I’ll have to read one of them
Maggie, if you like Sherlock Holmes and H. P. Lovecraft, many of these books provide great fun!
I read his The Thinking Engine and thought it was okay, but these mash-ups just aren’t Holmes. The authors could use any name and write the same story. Since I’m not a Lovecraft fan, these mashups in particular leave me cold.
Now that you’ve wrapped up the week (with TWO Lovecraftian works!), I have some suggestions for readers who might be interested in other works.
For a film, I would suggest THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS with George C. Scott. Quite well done. I was pretty sure you’d pick it this week.
For reading more genuine Holmes, THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES edited by Mike Ashley is excellent. Then there is THE SEVEN PERCENT SOLUTION, and for those who want something more recent UNQUIET SPIRITS is pretty good. Then of course there are the MX BOOK OF NEW SHERLOCK HOLMES ADVENTURES volumes, of which, at this date there are eight, with two more on the way. All of these stories are written as Doyle would have written them, meaning in the correct time period, not fantasy or SF elements, it’s like reading more of the originals, as if Doyle had kept writing the canon.
So if you want comedy, or monsters or mash-ups, you have made some great (or…interesting) suggestions this week, and certainly the Brett version of HOUND is the real thing, but for those who wish Doyle had written more stories, the my suggestions should fill the bill.
Rick, I’m tempted to do another SHERLOCK HOLMES week in August. I’ll take your suggestions under advisement. There’s so much Holmes material being published I can hardly keep up! And, you could do your own SHERLOCK HOLMES week on your blog! I’m sure there would be plenty of interest!
In film I always enjoyed A Study In Terror and Without A Clue.
Otherwise I’m still waiting for a Jeeves Cthulu mashup.
Steve, I’ll keep my eyes peeled for a Jeeves-Cthulhu mashup!
Scream for Jeeves, by P.H. Cannon (2012).
https://www.amazon.com/SCREAM-JEEVES-P-H-Cannon-ebook/dp/B007BVAO2U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1523406821&sr=8-1&keywords=scream+for+jeeves
Brad, thanks for the link! I knew there had to be a Jeeves-Cthulhu mashup out there!