- The Cthulu Casebooks: Sherlock Holmes and the Miskatonic Monstrosities.
- James Lovegrove.
- 464 pages.
- Fiction / Fantasy / Urban / Mystery.
- My Rating: Hell Yeah Book Review.
Book Blurb:
His health nearly broken after a decade combating eldritch entities and evil cultists, Holmes must marshal his inner resources in order to tackle his most dangerous and terrifying case yet. Miskatonic University in Arkham, Massachusetts, has a new resident academic, a certain Professor James Moriarty. In tandem with a young biology undergraduate called Herbert West, Moriarty is attempting a diabolical experiment that will enable him to conquer the world on behalf of his evil, elder-god masters. Holmes and Watson must travel to America to stop their nemesis before he can tap the secrets of the fabled Necronomicon and unleash hell on earth.
Book Review:
I received a free copy of this book courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
The Miskatonic Monstrosities is the second book in Lovegrove’s The Cthulu Casebooks trilogy and takes place over a decade after the events that transpired in the first book, The Shadwell Shadows.
The blurb does a fine job of recapping the story told within the pages of the Miskatonic Monstrosities without going into any overt detail or giving away any plot twists, it’s a mystery that you as the reader will have fun investigating and deducing along with Holmes and Watson.
I will say, however, that anyone who has read The Shadwell Shadows or has even a passing familiarity with the Holmes canon will guess the true identity of a certain character. It’s not detrimental to the story and waiting for the penny to drop and the reveal to finally happen is fascinating.
I found the Miskatonic Monstrosities to be a far better book overall than its predecessor. That’s not to say that The Shadwell Shadows wasn’t a decent read, it was and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I just feel that with the Miskatonic Monstrosities, Lovegrove has honed his writing and storytelling and created a far more stellar read.
Lovegrove uses the same style that Conan Doyle incorporated into a couple of his own original Holmes novels, namely that of a secondary narrative. During the course of the Miskatonic Monstrosities Holmes and Watson come to a point in their own investigation and tale that enables a recounting of past events (namely that of the expedition down the Miskatonic river) pivotal to the present storyline. This works really well as firstly, it gives us a break from the current storyline and focus on Holmes and Watson before we revert back to focus on them and the conclusion of the story. And, secondly, it allows another voice and character to take over and gives us a first-hand telling of the journey down the Miskatonic and what really transpired on the voyage.
There’s lots to like about the Miskatonic Monstrosities, it’s an absorbing page-turner of a book, well-written and paced and just like with its predecessor the merging of the Conan Doyle and Lovecraft creations work really well staying true to the original while creating something unique and new.
I’m not a fast reader, in fact, I’m far closer to being a sedate paced reader but I devoured the Miskatonic Monstrosities in three days (it’s a 450-page plus book) which is a testament to how much I was engaged and engrossed by the story.
What Lovegrove has done with the Miskatonic Monstrosities is blend together two classic canons to create a gripping and thoroughly entertaining read.
Purchase The Cthulu Casebooks: Sherlock Holmes and the Miskatonic Monstrosities:
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I have yet to read a single Sherlock Holmes book, but it fascinates me that Conan Doyle managed to create such a seemingly immortal character…Holmes must have made quite an impression for authors to want to carry on his legacy and adventures. I think it’s great that Lovegrove has written it in the style of some of Conan Doyle’s books because I imagine not every author who’s taken on this fictional legend has. It means readers can transition easily between the originals and these this book and its predecessor 🙂
Awesome review! Like I said, I have to delve into the world of Sherlock Holmes but your review might just have convinced me 😛
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Sherlock Holmes is fantastic! The whole original canon from Conan Doyle is great. There’s a couple of books but the rest are short story collections and are for the most part, all quality. A few of the shorts aren’t as good as others but that’s to be expected.
I’m fairly sure that the complete collection is available for free on the Kindle/e-readers. You definitely should get it if it is!👌
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Sounds intriguing and great review – beautifully worded 👌🏼👊🏼
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Thank you, it is intriguing, perhaps a strange mix putting Holmes and Cthulu together but it works really well.
I don’t think I’ve ever had a review I’ve written referred to as ‘beautifully worded’ before!😂
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😂 I even knew when I was typing it that ‘beautifully worded’ would crack you up! Just couldn’t think of another way to put it – the review just flowed and came across well!
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*splutter* What! James Lovegrove is writing an alternate Sherlock Holmes series? I knew nothing about this! I LOVE his writing… Thank you so much for a cracking review – I need to track these down.
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The first one was out last year!😂 He’s definitely a great writer, absolutely fantastic couple of books.👌
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I’ve recently finished reading his first Dev Harmer book (I read them out of order) and I have The Age of Zeus on my TBR pile. I love his writing style.
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Fantastic review Drew! Seriously! I love that these seem to be improving as they have been on my list. Not sure when I will have the time, but you have sold me completely on this one 🙂
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Thank you. That’s the bane of us all ‘these are on my list but don’t know when I’ll have time’ always too many books!😂😂😂
Yeah, I really enjoyed the first one but this one seemed better in every aspect.
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This honestly sounds like a phenomenal book. I’m not always super excited about non-canon Sherlock Holmes stories just because my expectations are high and can’t be lowered, but this one has a nice twist to the whole thing, and even maintains some of the iconic Conan Doyle writing style. I’ll definitely be on the lookout for this. It even has a gorgeous cover. Might have to hunt for a hardcover copy of something. Great review, sir.
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Thank you. It’s definitely a stunning looking cover, the first one has a fantastic cover too. Only a small thing but the overall presentation is top quality.👌
It’s a great read, I don’t know much about the Cthulu mythos but they work well together and I agree, expectations are high with Holmes but this works really well.
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Great review, Drew! Really great… I don’t think I have read anything to do with Holmes.. nope, I haven’t! (had to think for a while there).. it sounds proper good, though…
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Thank you.
Oh no, not you as well! Jazz hasn’t read any Holmes either, at least Sproggy has the naivety of youth to blame but you EbenLizzy Scrooge should know better!😂
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Hey, I am NOT that old! 😀
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Brilliant and concise review drew , I think I remember the review of the first book , but as I have said before I am not a fan of extending the already awesome saga of Holmes beyond Doyle’s pre-existing work .Hence , it’s unlikely I’ll ever read this but it sure sounds fun 🙂
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