A review by being_b
A Study in Brimstone by G.S. Denning

4.0

That was just tremendous fun. Retellings of the early Sherlock Holmes stories if Sherlock were a none-too-bright Warlock instead, and Watson the investigator. As matters go on things get more and more interesting. Bought the next two books immediately.

A note for the people complaining about the stupidity of
Spoilerthe extended donut joke in
the first mystery: A Study in Scarlet, the very first Sherlock Holmes story, suffers from what can charitably be called "creative" narrative choices by Doyle. It's got a boring story in third-person omniscient POV that is used to explain the killer's motivations and backstory, and Denning justifiably mocks it. By replacing Lucy the woman (whose kidnapping, forcible marriage and eventual death drive the killer's desire for revenge in the original story) with
SpoilerLucy the donut
, the author lampshades how totally irrelevant Lucy-the-person is to a narrative that is supposedly all about the killer's love for her. All in the spirit of DeConnick's "sexy lamp" test (can the female character can be replaced by a sexy lamp and the narrative still makes sense?)- clever idea, but it does make for flat reading.