Tag Archives: James Lovegrove

Amy Caudill’s Reviews : Sherlock Holmes and the Highgate Horrors

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Sherlock Holmes and the Highgate Horrors by James Lovegrove

Sherlock Holmes and the Highgate Horrors by James Lovegrove

Amy Caudill‘s review

What a good book to read to start off the spooky season!  This fourth volume in the series by James Lovegrove combines the classic characters of Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes with the monsters of H.P. Lovecraft to weave a tale that brings our heroes into a secret war against alien monstrosities that not only influence our world from afar, but now are found to walk among us.

This novel, presented as sort of an addendum to the three prior, skillfully takes the original characters of Holmes and Watson, as well of some of the original author’s specific cases, and weaves into to them a secret subtext that Watson, as the “author” whose works appeared in The Strand, chose to keep hidden from the public.  Lovegrove, as the “heir” to these secret case notes, has decided the time is right to reveal what really happened behind the scenes.

This particular volume delineates happenings from not only earlier cases, but also particulars at the end of Holmes and Watsons’ careers and lives.  For instance, the “real” reason Holmes retired to the country, and what “really” happened to Irene Adler.  Throughout, the reader is treated to multiple cases where the duo fights against the hordes of the Outer Gods and worshippers of The Great Old Ones, so named from Lovecraft’s work. 

Now, though, it appears a cabal of humans is assisting the otherworldly creatures in conquering a much nearer and dearer target, Earth itself.  Why have the invaders come to Earth, despite their different physiology and inability to survive under Earth’s atmosphere and gravity?  The reason is not revealed till deep in the text and is shocking in its insidiousness and desperation.  The culmination of the final story shows links between all the cases and reveals the ultimate plot of the aliens, who are no longer united in their goals.

This book is a treat for fans of the original works of classic authors, Conan Doyle, and Lovecraft, and combines their characters in a plausible way that can delight a whole new generation of readers.  Fans of the series’ will easily recognize specifics, but can also enjoy the new stories, like that rare well-written piece of fan fiction with an original plot.  I award Lovegrove four stars and recommend this volume to fans of Holmes, Cthulhu, classic mystery and horror books.

Amy Caudill’s Reviews : Sherlock Holmes and the Miskatonic Monstrosities

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Sherlock Holmes and the Miskatonic Monstrosities by James Lovegrove

Sherlock Holmes and the Miskatonic Monstrosities (The Cthulhu Casebooks, #2) by

James Lovegrove

Amy Caudill‘s review

In the second volume of author James Lovegrove’s trilogy The Cthulhu Casebooks, he once again combines the characters from the classic author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle with creatures and situations from another classic author, H.P. Lovecraft.

The second book opens approximately fifteen years after the conclusion of the events of the first, as the author shares a somewhat edited manuscript he supposedly inherited from Lovecraft himself, which was written by the real Dr. John Watson.  As before, the text is told in one continuous linear story line, and bears only passing resemblance to Watson’s “fictional” published stories, which are supposedly both a source of income for Watson and Holmes and a sanitized outlet for Watson to share the horrific events the duo have endured.

In “reality,” the “true” events Watson and Holmes have participated in and resolved are much more terrifying than dealing with thieves, murderers and forgers. They are the main champions in a very small selective group of men who are aware that the Old Gods and Gods from Outer Realms are alive, present, and capable of enacting and reacting to events and beings on Earth.  They remain dedicated to not only thwarting and containing this evil, but protecting the world at large from knowledge and panic over its existence.

The first and third parts of this narration are the usual for Holmes and Watson; an event causes a spark of concern, an investigation that leads into danger, a clue appearing at an opportune moment, and a confrontation that may become deadly. 

The second part of the story is actually a journal read aloud by the heroes that was written by Zachariah Conroy, depicting his own encounters with the arcane through a fellow student and colleague, Nathaniel Whateley, at the fictional Miskatonic University, an Ivy League school in Massachusetts. Whateley possesses a copy of the same book that Holmes has fiercely guarded, that allows him to conjure and control various creatures of the supernatural order.  Unfortunately, Whateley does not possess Holmes’ strength of will and moral constitution, and Conroy is too involved in his experiments to understand the true nature of the beast they will release, until it consumes him.

In the end, we see a return of a supposedly dead body-jumping nemesis, as two lives are forever destroyed, and a great threat upon humanity is held back, but for how long?

This novel, as with the first, is faithful to the characterizations of Holmes and Watson while placing them into situations Doyle never envisioned, and at the same time contains enough Lovecraftian horror to satisfy diehard fans of that genre.  Overall a well done and engaging story, that I give five stars.  I will definitely check out the third volume of The Cthulhu Casebooks in the future, and perhaps some of James Lovegrove’s other Sherlock Holmes stories.