Originally published on Set The Tape
James Lovegrove is a name that fans of the Titan Books Sherlock Holmes novels will know well, as he’s written a number of books for them, including festive mysteries, and a sequel to The Hound of the Baskervilles. But he’s also veered somewhat away from the traditional Holmes tales on occasion, blending horror into the world of the consulting detective with The Cthulhu Casebooks series. As the title suggests, this series of books brings the work of H.P. Lovecraft to that of Sherlock Holmes, and crafts a story where Holmes and Watson face off against otherworldly horror in order to protect our world from begins of cosmic power.
The Cthulhu Casebooks: Sherlock Holmes and the Highgate Horrors might be the fourth book in this series, but it’s as accessible as if it were the first, and doesn’t rely on the reader having knowledge of what came before. As with the original stories, the books are written in such a way that they’re episodic and isolated, with only small references to things that have come before. This book tells several short stories set in this universe, all of which could stand on their own as superb supernatural tales, but together make for a wonderful collection.
Despite blending these two classic literary worlds together the book never loses the charm that the Sherlock Holmes stories have, and it’s still very much one of his books. I’ve read a lot of pastiches where Holmes is blended with other properties or genres, and there are occasions when that melding becomes a bit too much, and the book basically ceases to resemble what it was drawing from. Lovegrove knows how to avoid this, and can have Sherlock Holmes confronting zombies and monstrous creatures whilst still being the same character that you’ve read in the original tales.
Whilst the reading experience for this book is enriched if you have already read the other books in the series, its ability to stand on its own means that anyone leaning towards reading it can pick it up and try it out. It acts as both a great companion piece to the series, and a stand-alone book that fans of the two genres can enjoy.
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