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qalminator's review
3.0
Note: I started reading this because I am preparing to set up to run one-shots using the Trail of Cthulhu system and was looking for plot ideas. The first story is promising that way, and I'll update once I'm through.
Update after finishing: Most of the stories have elements that could be used in a ToC scenario, but are not sufficient in themselves without a lot of extras added in. As for the quality of the stories, they're mostly middle of the road with a few standouts (The Ignoble Sportsmen, The Lizard Lady, The Song of a Want), and a few duds.
Introduction by Charles Prepolec - I confess that I mostly skipped this, except for skimming a few paragraphs here and there. I opened the book to read stories, not people talking about stories.
The Cuckoo’s Hour by Mark A. Latham [3 stars, 4 ToCA] - Kind of meh story with some cool mechanisms, but I can definitely work with the basic idea as a one-shot plot. Given Holmes' tendency to ignore information not immediately relevant to understanding human behavior, his immediate recognition of the myth is suspect. UPDATE: After adapting this to an RPG scenario, I have more problems with it: (1) Bronze statues are not made in such a way that a person falling into a vat would result in a statue (text says "brass", but every time I looked for brass statue making, I instead found bronze); (2) The staircase arrangement makes no sense. If that's the only way down, it's ridiculously inconvenient to get raw materials into the foundry, and the stairs would have to be ridiculously reinforced. So... yeah. Still made a good scenario based on it, but had to do a lot of fixing.
The Spirit of Death by David Stuart Davies [3 stars, 1 ToCA] - Enjoyable yarn, with a more direct use of the paranormal than the first. Too short to work as a full one-shot adventure, sadly, but the concept and villain are borrowable.
Father of the Man by Stephen Volk [3 Stars, 1 ToCA] - Interesting but did we really need Holmes to be connected both to Edgar Allan Poe and Jack the Ripper? Not particularly adaptable to an RPG scenario, as there's too much tie to specific people and places and times.
The Strange Case of Dr. Sacker and Mr. Hope by James Lovegrove [3 stars, 1 ToCA] - * sigh * Another "Holmes meets X" one, much bleaker than the one above. It was well-written, and followed the premise to a logical conclusion, but was not to my taste.
The Ignoble Sportsmen by Josh Reynolds [4 stars, 4 ToCA] - Finally we're back to an actual mystery with paranormal elements. Very, very well written, too, nearly matching the original Conan Doyle in style. Minor quibble: It's clear in the original Conan Doyle tales that Holmes doesn't care whether a problem is mundane, only whether its solution is, so I would reword a paragraph near the beginning. Otherwise, fascinating tale with just the right amount of supernatural weirdness.
The Strange Adventure of Mary Holder by Nancy Holder [2 stars, 2 ToCA] - When this one forgot to do overwrought purple prose, the writing was decent, but the first few paragraphs were an utter chore to get through (and nothing like Watson's usual style), but the story ... put it this way: When I read in the author bio that this author also wrote for the Buffyverse, suddenly what the story was trying to do made sense. It didn't work, but at least I could see what was going on.
The Lizard Lady of Pemberton Grange by Mark Morris [4 stars, 3 ToCA] - Enjoyable tale that would fit just as well in a regular Holmes anthology (though the author's grasp of Watson's character is a bit off). There are details that could work well in an RPG scenario, but it would need padding out.
The Magic of Africa by Kevin P. Thornton [2.5 stars, 3 ToCA] - Tried a bit too hard for plausible deniability on the paranormal aspect, but still mostly entertaining. Another one with usable elements for ToC, but too short on its own.
A Matter of Light by Angela Slatter [2 stars, 2 ToCA] - If this did not attempt to feature Holmes, it might be 3 or 4 stars. However, it badly misuses Holmes, so as a Holmes story, it's not worth much. The problem is that Holmes would have noticed all the things that Kit Whatsis did. If he's present, they either need to be in friendly competition (because one household member called Holmes and one called Kit), or Holmes needs to be utterly incapacitated in some fashion. Better, still, if Holmes were unable to come at all, and so Watson called Kit instead. The mild supernatural element was both fairly obviously telegraphed, and utterly irrelevant to the story, though.
The Song of a Want by Lyndsay Faye [4 stars, 2 ToCA] - A Holmesian prequel, giving a case prior to Watson, and indicating how the "Baker Street Irregulars" got started. Enjoyable, though a bit odd. Nothing overtly supernatural (though arguments can be made for the timing of the disease after the "doctor" spoke to Meggie), but plenty of creepy stuff. To adapt for RPG, I would need to make those elements overt.
Update after finishing: Most of the stories have elements that could be used in a ToC scenario, but are not sufficient in themselves without a lot of extras added in. As for the quality of the stories, they're mostly middle of the road with a few standouts (The Ignoble Sportsmen, The Lizard Lady, The Song of a Want), and a few duds.
Introduction by Charles Prepolec - I confess that I mostly skipped this, except for skimming a few paragraphs here and there. I opened the book to read stories, not people talking about stories.
The Cuckoo’s Hour by Mark A. Latham [3 stars, 4 ToCA] - Kind of meh story with some cool mechanisms, but I can definitely work with the basic idea as a one-shot plot. Given Holmes' tendency to ignore information not immediately relevant to understanding human behavior, his immediate recognition of the myth is suspect. UPDATE: After adapting this to an RPG scenario, I have more problems with it: (1) Bronze statues are not made in such a way that a person falling into a vat would result in a statue (text says "brass", but every time I looked for brass statue making, I instead found bronze); (2) The staircase arrangement makes no sense. If that's the only way down, it's ridiculously inconvenient to get raw materials into the foundry, and the stairs would have to be ridiculously reinforced. So... yeah. Still made a good scenario based on it, but had to do a lot of fixing.
The Spirit of Death by David Stuart Davies [3 stars, 1 ToCA] - Enjoyable yarn, with a more direct use of the paranormal than the first. Too short to work as a full one-shot adventure, sadly, but the concept and villain are borrowable.
Father of the Man by Stephen Volk [3 Stars, 1 ToCA] - Interesting but did we really need Holmes to be connected both to Edgar Allan Poe and Jack the Ripper? Not particularly adaptable to an RPG scenario, as there's too much tie to specific people and places and times.
Spoiler
It's also quite likely that the lid of the casket would have collapsed under the weight of the earth. If they'd reinforced that, in addition to giving the calming drugs, it would be more plausible.The Strange Case of Dr. Sacker and Mr. Hope by James Lovegrove [3 stars, 1 ToCA] - * sigh * Another "Holmes meets X" one, much bleaker than the one above. It was well-written, and followed the premise to a logical conclusion, but was not to my taste.
The Ignoble Sportsmen by Josh Reynolds [4 stars, 4 ToCA] - Finally we're back to an actual mystery with paranormal elements. Very, very well written, too, nearly matching the original Conan Doyle in style. Minor quibble: It's clear in the original Conan Doyle tales that Holmes doesn't care whether a problem is mundane, only whether its solution is, so I would reword a paragraph near the beginning. Otherwise, fascinating tale with just the right amount of supernatural weirdness.
The Strange Adventure of Mary Holder by Nancy Holder [2 stars, 2 ToCA] - When this one forgot to do overwrought purple prose, the writing was decent, but the first few paragraphs were an utter chore to get through (and nothing like Watson's usual style), but the story ... put it this way: When I read in the author bio that this author also wrote for the Buffyverse, suddenly what the story was trying to do made sense. It didn't work, but at least I could see what was going on.
Spoiler
The problem was that they jumped to killing as a solution far too soon. If the premise is that there's something else inside the girl, wouldn't an exorcism have been a more reasonable first step? In the Buffyverse where they could point to Demon-subtype-Q and say, "Nope. No other alternatives," it would be more defendable. As is? Utter rubbish.The Lizard Lady of Pemberton Grange by Mark Morris [4 stars, 3 ToCA] - Enjoyable tale that would fit just as well in a regular Holmes anthology (though the author's grasp of Watson's character is a bit off). There are details that could work well in an RPG scenario, but it would need padding out.
The Magic of Africa by Kevin P. Thornton [2.5 stars, 3 ToCA] - Tried a bit too hard for plausible deniability on the paranormal aspect, but still mostly entertaining. Another one with usable elements for ToC, but too short on its own.
A Matter of Light by Angela Slatter [2 stars, 2 ToCA] - If this did not attempt to feature Holmes, it might be 3 or 4 stars. However, it badly misuses Holmes, so as a Holmes story, it's not worth much. The problem is that Holmes would have noticed all the things that Kit Whatsis did. If he's present, they either need to be in friendly competition (because one household member called Holmes and one called Kit), or Holmes needs to be utterly incapacitated in some fashion. Better, still, if Holmes were unable to come at all, and so Watson called Kit instead. The mild supernatural element was both fairly obviously telegraphed, and utterly irrelevant to the story, though.
The Song of a Want by Lyndsay Faye [4 stars, 2 ToCA] - A Holmesian prequel, giving a case prior to Watson, and indicating how the "Baker Street Irregulars" got started. Enjoyable, though a bit odd. Nothing overtly supernatural (though arguments can be made for the timing of the disease after the "doctor" spoke to Meggie), but plenty of creepy stuff. To adapt for RPG, I would need to make those elements overt.
meltingpenguins's review
1.0
I had such high hopes for this one after the initial story (The Cuckoo's Hour), but it turned out that one was a diamond studded golden needle in a dung heap. I got so frustrated that I completely skipped the last story (Song of Want) and have no intention of given it or any of those stories I dnfed a second try.
In Detail:
1. The Cuckoo's Hour. 4-4.5/5
A very solid and enjoyable read, albeit riddled with factual errors (one could write them off to the supernatural, maybe, but there's no hint of that in the story). A young woman asks Holmes to solve a riddle in the estate of her late uncle, after the disappearance of a relative, who also attempted solving the riddles set up within the house's walls and gain the hidden inheritance. The solution makes sense and hints aren't grossly withheld from the reader. The supernatural element might feel a little tagged on, but unlike other stories in this collection, it doesn't feel haphazardly and forced.
2. The Spirit of Death. 2.5/5
Solid again, but felt it would have fared better if longer, with a few more twists and turns.
This one concerns murder by telekinesis or something akin to astral projection, perhaps. Interesting premise, rushed execution.
3. Father of the Man. -/5
Skipped this one. Pre-Canon story, something something, Edgar Allan Poe, Jack the Ripper. Didn't managed to pique my interest, so no rating for this one.
4. Dr Sacker & Mr Hope. 0/5
Oh, how I hate, hate, hate stories that mistake dark/creepy with cynical. As the title suggests this takes inspiration from Jekyll&Hyde, and as a lot of stories that think dark equals cynical the bad guys win and it's presented as something good? What? If I'd want the glorification of brutal crime investors, I'd read modern crime or something. Really, this was where the whole collection started going down the drain.
5. The Ignoble Sportsmen. 2.5/5
It was a good idea and competently executed, but it is a story that would have fared better with a mundane solutions. There's an episode of Murdoch Mysteries with this premise that does that, much prefer that one.
6. The Strange Case of Mary Holder 0.5/5
Started of well enough, looking back at the fate of a canonical character, but dear Heavens does is deteriorate rapidly. It's as if the author didn't know what she wanted to do with the story to begin with, and then remembered this was supposed to be somehow supernatural after finishing things close to deadline, and haphazardly shoehorned something in about the canonical character somehow being pure evil and needs to be killed and... what? No, thanks.
7. The Lizard Lady of Pemberton Grange 0/5
This one is just bad. Again it has an interesting start, but what follows is 'All the things on a 'how not to write a good mystery' list', to put it mildly. The plot is cluttered and erratic, information is withheld from the reader for the sake of it, and to a degree that didn't happen in canon. Sure, Holmes sometimes withheld information (or maybe Watson did for the sake of suspense), but what's going on here is best put an asspull. At least we didn't get actual lizard people as solution, 'cause good gracious the implications and present undertones and all are bad enough.
8. Magic of Africa 1.5/5
This one was on the -eh- side. Not too bad itself, would have likely earned a 3 or 3.5, if not for two factors: 1. The tagged one supernatural bit that was unnecessary, again feeling as if the author remembered that it's ought to be there last minute, and 2. The framing of this case being so strange and meaningful that Watson arranged for it not to see the public eye until over a hundred years later. The case does not live up to that, at all. Canonical there have been cases with the same caveat, but Conan Doyle at least delivered on cases that could easily have some massive impact. This one... not so much.
9. A Matter of Light. 0/5
This one broke me. I dnfed it about two or three pages in, when it became clear we are dealing with an author who is not only having Holmes clash with her own OC, but said OC is so much better than Holmes, and certainly not like other girls, and generally so much better, oh and Holmes hates women, and OC will clearly teach him better (she does, I did check the end of the story). No f*cking thank you. Look, a lot of writers start out with this idea of 'good characters', but many learn that, no, this kind of overpowered infallibility is no good for a good story. If characters that are *just better than everyone else' only ever fail cause drama and wordcount demand it, there's not much of a tale to be told. It's the ups and downs that come naturally that make a character good. (I ought to stop rambling, but damn...)
10. Song of Want. -/5
Didn't read this one.
Yes, all in all extremely frustrating and disappointing. There's some great Holmes vs the Supernatural stories out there, but it seems the Gaslight series doesn't hold (m)any of them.
Someone wrote in a review of a different instalment of the series how a lot of stories feel as if the authors are more focused on the deadline than on spinning and weaving a good tale, and yes, this absolutely seems to be the case.
Unfortunately.
In Detail:
1. The Cuckoo's Hour. 4-4.5/5
A very solid and enjoyable read, albeit riddled with factual errors (one could write them off to the supernatural, maybe, but there's no hint of that in the story). A young woman asks Holmes to solve a riddle in the estate of her late uncle, after the disappearance of a relative, who also attempted solving the riddles set up within the house's walls and gain the hidden inheritance. The solution makes sense and hints aren't grossly withheld from the reader. The supernatural element might feel a little tagged on, but unlike other stories in this collection, it doesn't feel haphazardly and forced.
2. The Spirit of Death. 2.5/5
Solid again, but felt it would have fared better if longer, with a few more twists and turns.
This one concerns murder by telekinesis or something akin to astral projection, perhaps. Interesting premise, rushed execution.
3. Father of the Man. -/5
Skipped this one. Pre-Canon story, something something, Edgar Allan Poe, Jack the Ripper. Didn't managed to pique my interest, so no rating for this one.
4. Dr Sacker & Mr Hope. 0/5
Oh, how I hate, hate, hate stories that mistake dark/creepy with cynical. As the title suggests this takes inspiration from Jekyll&Hyde, and as a lot of stories that think dark equals cynical the bad guys win and it's presented as something good? What? If I'd want the glorification of brutal crime investors, I'd read modern crime or something. Really, this was where the whole collection started going down the drain.
5. The Ignoble Sportsmen. 2.5/5
It was a good idea and competently executed, but it is a story that would have fared better with a mundane solutions. There's an episode of Murdoch Mysteries with this premise that does that, much prefer that one.
6. The Strange Case of Mary Holder 0.5/5
Started of well enough, looking back at the fate of a canonical character, but dear Heavens does is deteriorate rapidly. It's as if the author didn't know what she wanted to do with the story to begin with, and then remembered this was supposed to be somehow supernatural after finishing things close to deadline, and haphazardly shoehorned something in about the canonical character somehow being pure evil and needs to be killed and... what? No, thanks.
7. The Lizard Lady of Pemberton Grange 0/5
This one is just bad. Again it has an interesting start, but what follows is 'All the things on a 'how not to write a good mystery' list', to put it mildly. The plot is cluttered and erratic, information is withheld from the reader for the sake of it, and to a degree that didn't happen in canon. Sure, Holmes sometimes withheld information (or maybe Watson did for the sake of suspense), but what's going on here is best put an asspull. At least we didn't get actual lizard people as solution, 'cause good gracious the implications and present undertones and all are bad enough.
8. Magic of Africa 1.5/5
This one was on the -eh- side. Not too bad itself, would have likely earned a 3 or 3.5, if not for two factors: 1. The tagged one supernatural bit that was unnecessary, again feeling as if the author remembered that it's ought to be there last minute, and 2. The framing of this case being so strange and meaningful that Watson arranged for it not to see the public eye until over a hundred years later. The case does not live up to that, at all. Canonical there have been cases with the same caveat, but Conan Doyle at least delivered on cases that could easily have some massive impact. This one... not so much.
9. A Matter of Light. 0/5
This one broke me. I dnfed it about two or three pages in, when it became clear we are dealing with an author who is not only having Holmes clash with her own OC, but said OC is so much better than Holmes, and certainly not like other girls, and generally so much better, oh and Holmes hates women, and OC will clearly teach him better (she does, I did check the end of the story). No f*cking thank you. Look, a lot of writers start out with this idea of 'good characters', but many learn that, no, this kind of overpowered infallibility is no good for a good story. If characters that are *just better than everyone else' only ever fail cause drama and wordcount demand it, there's not much of a tale to be told. It's the ups and downs that come naturally that make a character good. (I ought to stop rambling, but damn...)
10. Song of Want. -/5
Didn't read this one.
Yes, all in all extremely frustrating and disappointing. There's some great Holmes vs the Supernatural stories out there, but it seems the Gaslight series doesn't hold (m)any of them.
Someone wrote in a review of a different instalment of the series how a lot of stories feel as if the authors are more focused on the deadline than on spinning and weaving a good tale, and yes, this absolutely seems to be the case.
Unfortunately.
uncle_bunkle's review
2.0
A volume dedicated to the supernatural adventures of Sherlock Holmes seems like a contradiction in terms. Holmes is course the arch rationalist who can be relied upon to comprehensively debunk ghosts, vampires, devil dogs and other manifestations of the uncanny. In fairness, editor Charles Prepolec’s introductory essay does a good job of planting Holmes squarely in the gothic tradition and makes a persuasive case for the great detective taking on the eerie and unearthly.
Sadly much of the essay’s good work is undone by the quality of the stories. Two in particular are atrociously written: Mark A Latham’s “The Cuckoo’s Hour” descends into incomprehensible wibbling about secret tunnels, hidden doors, clocks that strike thirteen that leaves the reader enervated and ultimately underwhelmed by the final supposedly horrific pay off. Angela Slatter’s “A Matter of Light” is even worse, a miserable attempt to insert the author’s own Mary Sue character into what reads like a bad “Twilight” fanfic. Shockingly bad.
None of the other stories approach the sheer ineptitude of Latham and Slatter’s but there’s often an irritating gimmicky quality to them e.g. walk ons by created by other authors. Thus we have Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr Jekyll showing up in “The Strange Case of Dr Sacker and Mr Hope” and Edgar Alan Poe’s Dupin in “Father of the Man”. Poe himself also appears as it’s revealed that he and Dupin are in fact one and the same! He and Holmes team up to catch a globe trotting serial killer who turns out to be...wait for it…Jack the Ripper! Despite chucking in everything but the kitchen sink author Stephen Volk strangelyfails to explain what Holmes is hanging about with someone he is on record as regarding as a “very inferior fellow.”
Other stories start out promisingly but fizzle out in welter of unconvincing exposition. “The Strange Case of Mary Holder” by Nancy Holder (presumably no relation) is a case in point. An intriguing set up bogs down in unconvincing magical flummery whose workings are dictated by the exigencies of the plot. There’s also the outing of the true villain of the piece which, while not entirely unexpected, is presented to the reader as a fait accompli with no real evidence to back it up, they’re a creature of “unimaginable evil” and that’s it.
Of the better stories Lyndsay Faye’s “The Song of a Want” scores points for its social realist depiction of one of the children who became The Baker Street irregulars. He assists Holmes in the investigation of genuinely bizarre and unsettling crime. I can’t help feeling that Holmes’s adopted nom de guerre of Scott Williamson smacks slightly of a tin ear on Faye’s part though.
Best story of the lot is “The Lizard Lady of Pemberton Grange” by Mark Morris which is a fine attempt at reproducing Conan Doyle’s style and plotting. It’s a rather gory affair but there’s nothing eerie or eldritch about it. The motivations of the villains are utterly human, and realistically banal. Ironic that this should be the standout tale in a volume devoted to pitting Holmes against the “weird, supernatural and the uncanny”.
Sadly much of the essay’s good work is undone by the quality of the stories. Two in particular are atrociously written: Mark A Latham’s “The Cuckoo’s Hour” descends into incomprehensible wibbling about secret tunnels, hidden doors, clocks that strike thirteen that leaves the reader enervated and ultimately underwhelmed by the final supposedly horrific pay off. Angela Slatter’s “A Matter of Light” is even worse, a miserable attempt to insert the author’s own Mary Sue character into what reads like a bad “Twilight” fanfic. Shockingly bad.
None of the other stories approach the sheer ineptitude of Latham and Slatter’s but there’s often an irritating gimmicky quality to them e.g. walk ons by created by other authors. Thus we have Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr Jekyll showing up in “The Strange Case of Dr Sacker and Mr Hope” and Edgar Alan Poe’s Dupin in “Father of the Man”. Poe himself also appears as it’s revealed that he and Dupin are in fact one and the same! He and Holmes team up to catch a globe trotting serial killer who turns out to be...wait for it…Jack the Ripper! Despite chucking in everything but the kitchen sink author Stephen Volk strangelyfails to explain what Holmes is hanging about with someone he is on record as regarding as a “very inferior fellow.”
Other stories start out promisingly but fizzle out in welter of unconvincing exposition. “The Strange Case of Mary Holder” by Nancy Holder (presumably no relation) is a case in point. An intriguing set up bogs down in unconvincing magical flummery whose workings are dictated by the exigencies of the plot. There’s also the outing of the true villain of the piece which, while not entirely unexpected, is presented to the reader as a fait accompli with no real evidence to back it up, they’re a creature of “unimaginable evil” and that’s it.
Of the better stories Lyndsay Faye’s “The Song of a Want” scores points for its social realist depiction of one of the children who became The Baker Street irregulars. He assists Holmes in the investigation of genuinely bizarre and unsettling crime. I can’t help feeling that Holmes’s adopted nom de guerre of Scott Williamson smacks slightly of a tin ear on Faye’s part though.
Best story of the lot is “The Lizard Lady of Pemberton Grange” by Mark Morris which is a fine attempt at reproducing Conan Doyle’s style and plotting. It’s a rather gory affair but there’s nothing eerie or eldritch about it. The motivations of the villains are utterly human, and realistically banal. Ironic that this should be the standout tale in a volume devoted to pitting Holmes against the “weird, supernatural and the uncanny”.
kikiandarrowsfishshelf's review
3.0
Disclaimer: I received an ebook ARC of this book via a giveaway at Librarything.
Gaslight Gothic is a collection of ten stories that combine Sherlock Holmes with gothic literature, in terms of style and characters. Poe makes an appearance in one story as does Hyde for example. Most of the stories are more gothic in style and plot than borrowing characters.
As in the majority, if not all, short story collections, the stories are a mixed bag. Many of the them follow the conceit of having Watson write the stories. In “The Strange Adventure of Mary Holder”, Nancy Holder nails Watson’s voice the best. In many ways, she also captures the character of Holmes the best. “The Cuckoo’s Hour” by Mark A. Latham is also a strong contender for best story in the collection. It does remind the reader of the Holmes stories that take place on a country estate. James Lovegrove’s use a well-known gothic tale works extremely well.
The use of Holmes and the gothic novel does seem to fill a hole in the Sherlock Holmes oeuvre that I didn’t know needed filling.
Gaslight Gothic is a collection of ten stories that combine Sherlock Holmes with gothic literature, in terms of style and characters. Poe makes an appearance in one story as does Hyde for example. Most of the stories are more gothic in style and plot than borrowing characters.
As in the majority, if not all, short story collections, the stories are a mixed bag. Many of the them follow the conceit of having Watson write the stories. In “The Strange Adventure of Mary Holder”, Nancy Holder nails Watson’s voice the best. In many ways, she also captures the character of Holmes the best. “The Cuckoo’s Hour” by Mark A. Latham is also a strong contender for best story in the collection. It does remind the reader of the Holmes stories that take place on a country estate. James Lovegrove’s use a well-known gothic tale works extremely well.
The use of Holmes and the gothic novel does seem to fill a hole in the Sherlock Holmes oeuvre that I didn’t know needed filling.
vesper1931's review
3.0
A collection of ten Sherlock Holmes stories of varying standard but the one that stood out for me was “Father of the Man by Stephen Volk" apart from being a good well-written and interesting story it contained the characters of Edgar Allan Poe and Auguste Dupin.
Received an ARC from LibraryThing
Received an ARC from LibraryThing
aimiller's review
4.0
I will say right off the bat, I received a copy of this book through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program, and I'm grateful to the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.
This was a really interesting collection of mysteries, all different enough to not feel like the same material over and over again, and yet definitely feeling connected and in touch with the gothic theme. I think my favorite story was the first one, but each one was interesting in its own way, and each story was sort of bite-sized enough that I raced through this book. If you love gothic, and/or Sherlock Holmes, you'll definitely want to pick this up.
This was a really interesting collection of mysteries, all different enough to not feel like the same material over and over again, and yet definitely feeling connected and in touch with the gothic theme. I think my favorite story was the first one, but each one was interesting in its own way, and each story was sort of bite-sized enough that I raced through this book. If you love gothic, and/or Sherlock Holmes, you'll definitely want to pick this up.
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