'It is 1890, and in the days before Christmas Sherlock Holmes and Dr John Watson are visited at Baker Street by a new client. Eve Allerthorpe - eldest daughter of a grand but somewhat eccentric Yorkshire-based dynasty - is greatly distressed, as she believes she is being haunted by a demonic Christmas spirit.
'Her late mother told her terrifying tales of the sinister Black Thurrick, and Eve is sure that she has seen the creature from her bedroom window. What is more, she has begun to receive mysterious parcels of birch twigs, the Black Thurrick's calling card...
'Eve stands to inherit a fortune if she is sound in mind, but it seems that something - or someone - is threatening her sanity. Holmes and Watson travel to the Allerthorpe family seat at Fellscar Keep to investigate, but soon discover that there is more to the case than at first appeared. There is another spirit haunting the family, and when a member of the household is found dead, the companions realise that no one is beyond suspicion.'
I'm a bit of a sucker for Sherlock Holmes, and will always be up for reading stories that involve the world's best detective. So when Titan Books asked if I wanted to read their new release, Sherlock Holmes & The Christmas Demon I said yes just because of the name. Then I read the blurb and saw that Holmes and Watson would be investigating a series of events attributed to a Kramus like creature I was even happier. Then I saw the first line of the book was Holmes yelling 'Father Christmas! Halt right there!' and I think I was already in love with the book.
After apprehending a jewel thief posing as Father Christmas Homes and Watson are approached by Eve Allerthorpe, a young woman who had travelled to London to get away from her Yorkshire home, fleeing what she describes as a supernatural Christmas demon. She explains to Holmes and Watson that she is soon to inherit a large fortune, on the condition that she be sane come her 21st birthday; however, following the recent death of her mother, a supposed haunting within the walls of her castle home, and now the appearance of the demonic Black Thurrick she is close to wits end. Agreeing to take on the case, the two detectives head into the snow covered landscape of remote Yorkshire and the imposing Allerthorpe home to try to get to the bottom of the mystery.
Sherlock Holmes & The Christmas Demon is, as the name would suggest, a very festive book, set within the week leading up to Christmas. Fellscar Keep, the Allerthorpe home, is a huge castle sat on a small island in the middle of a frozen lake in the snow covered countryside, and the hall is soon host to a large family gathering to celebrate the holiday. Almost immediately the reader is thrust into this time of year, and it quickly becomes apparent that a cold, snowy day would be the best time to read the book. It conjures feelings that are associated with winter, and you can almost feel the chill of the snow creeping in on you as you read. As I was sick when I read the book I was wrapped in a blanket with a hot up of tea at the time, and this actually enhanced the experience somewhat, especially as if I tried to get out from the blanket I'd be wracked with chills. I'm not saying that people should go out and give themselves the flu before reading the book, but if you're already suffering with it this could be a great way to pass the time.
The central mystery of the story is, thankfully, complex enough that it will keep you guessing throughout. Whilst there were times that I thought I might have figured out some small part of the larger mystery, and was even then wrong a lot of those times, there's no way that a reader will be able to put together everything the way that Holmes manages to here. There are small hints throughout that indicate how a few of these mysteries will pan out, but James Lovegrove manages to keep back enough that you'll be surprised by the revelation. But that's not to say that the author hides important information, there are small clues hidden throughout the book, and Holmes always makes some kind of small comment, or pays attention to things that will later be shown to be a part of the mystery; it's just up to the reader to be able to pick up on these subtle moments and to figure out how they play into the mystery.
James Lovegrove is no stranger to writing Sherlock Holmes books, and has a good few in his bibliography, including some great sounding crossovers with Cthulhu that I really want to read, and his experience with writing the character really shows here. There are some writers who seem to think that Sherlock Holmes can just be written as an unpleasantly grumpy person who makes clever deductions seemingly out of nothing (I'm looking at you BBC's Sherlock), but seem to forget that he's actually a very pleasant person beneath that exterior. James Lovegrove sidesteps this trap completely, and crafts a Holmes who is incredibly endearing and at times absolutely lovely. There is something that happens towards the very end of the book that I won't talk about to avoid spoilers, but it might be one of my favourite Sherlock Holmes moments of all time.
This great characterisation isn't just reserved for the leads, however, as James Lovegrove is able to create an interesting and impressively layered group of supporting characters for our detectives to interact with. Many of them seem one dimensional to begin with, and you'll think that you've got a good handle on what they're like fairly early on, but James Lovegrove manages to surprise, and you'll come to see that there's a lot more to all of the characters than you first think. You'll come to dislike people who at first seem to be kind and open, and you'll find characters that seemed like horrid people when you first meet them turn out to be very kind and even a little lovable.
If it's not clear yet, I absolutely loved Sherlock Holmes & The Christmas Demon. It has quickly become one of my favourite books of the year, and I struggled to put it down so that I could do other things. But even so, I managed to read the whole book in a single day. This isn't because it's a quick or easy read by any description, but because the quality was that good that I kept wanting to come back to it, kept picking it up, and didn't want to stop reading it. Whether you read it at Christmas time or not, this is an absolutely perfect book for any fans of Sherlock Holmes, or people who love a great mystery.
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