It is the autumn of 1880, and Dr John Watson has just returned from Afghanistan. Badly injured and desperate to forget a nightmarish expedition that left him doubting his sanity, Watson is close to destitution when he meets the extraordinary Sherlock Holmes, who is investigating a series of deaths in the Shadwell district of London. Several bodies have been found, the victims appearing to have starved to death over the course of several weeks, and yet they were reported alive and well mere days before. Moreover, there are disturbing reports of creeping shadows that inspire dread in any who stray too close. Holmes deduces a connection between the deaths and a sinister drug lord who is seeking to expand his criminal empire. Yet both he and Watson are soon forced to accept that there are forces at work far more powerful than they could ever have imagined. Forces that can be summoned, if one is brave – or mad – enough to dare…
“The pastiche is pitch-perfect; Lovegrove tells a thrilling tale and vividly renders the atmosphere of Victorian London.” —Guardian
“Lovegrove does an outstanding job of evoking Doyle’s style and mixing in healthy dollops of the macabre and fantastic that define the Cthulhu Mythos . . . Sherlock Holmes and the Shadwell Shadows sets a pretty high bar. I look forward to seeing Lovegrove meet it with future installments.” —San Francisco Book Review
“What’s great about these books is that Holmes and Watson aren’t so much reimagined as their context is reinvented; Lovegrove has a lot of fun peering at the classic mysteries through this terrifying new lens, completely distorting the canon and leaving you to decide which universe was “real” and which was just “fiction.”” —Barnes & Noble
“[A] crossover tale for the ages that's bound to please fans of both literary canons.” —Starburst Magazine
“Playfully blurring the lines between fact and fiction [with] . . . rich [and] vivid prose.” —SFX Magazine
“With its canny reflection of the modern metropolis . . . the Cthulhu Casebooks is a lot of fun.” —Times Literary Supplement
“A mashup designed to entertain.” —Kirkus Reviews
James Lovegrove is the New York Times best-selling author of The Age of Odin. He was short-listed for the Arthur C. Clarke Award in 1998 for his novel Days and for the John W. Campbell Memorial Award in 2004 for his novel Untied Kingdom. He also reviews fiction for the Financial Times. He is the author of Sherlock Holmes: Gods of War,Sherlock Holmes: The Stuff of Nightmares and Sherlock Holmes: The Thinking Engine for Titan Books.
It is the autumn of 1880, and Dr John Watson has just returned from Afghanistan. Badly injured and desperate to forget a nightmarish expedition that left him doubting his sanity, Watson is close to destitution when he meets the extraordinary Sherlock Holmes, who is investigating a series of deaths in the Shadwell district of London. Several bodies have been found, the victims appearing to have starved to death over the course of several weeks, and yet they were reported alive and well mere days before. Moreover, there are disturbing reports of creeping shadows that inspire dread in any who stray too close. Holmes deduces a connection between the deaths and a sinister drug lord who is seeking to expand his criminal empire. Yet both he and Watson are soon forced to accept that there are forces at work far more powerful than they could ever have imagined. Forces that can be summoned, if one is brave – or mad – enough to dare…
Reviews
“The pastiche is pitch-perfect; Lovegrove tells a thrilling tale and vividly renders the atmosphere of Victorian London.” —Guardian
“Lovegrove does an outstanding job of evoking Doyle’s style and mixing in healthy dollops of the macabre and fantastic that define the Cthulhu Mythos . . . Sherlock Holmes and the Shadwell Shadows sets a pretty high bar. I look forward to seeing Lovegrove meet it with future installments.” —San Francisco Book Review
“What’s great about these books is that Holmes and Watson aren’t so much reimagined as their context is reinvented; Lovegrove has a lot of fun peering at the classic mysteries through this terrifying new lens, completely distorting the canon and leaving you to decide which universe was “real” and which was just “fiction.”” —Barnes & Noble
“[A] crossover tale for the ages that's bound to please fans of both literary canons.” —Starburst Magazine
“Playfully blurring the lines between fact and fiction [with] . . . rich [and] vivid prose.” —SFX Magazine
“With its canny reflection of the modern metropolis . . . the Cthulhu Casebooks is a lot of fun.” —Times Literary Supplement
“A mashup designed to entertain.” —Kirkus Reviews
Author
James Lovegrove is the New York Times best-selling author of The Age of Odin. He was short-listed for the Arthur C. Clarke Award in 1998 for his novel Days and for the John W. Campbell Memorial Award in 2004 for his novel Untied Kingdom. He also reviews fiction for the Financial Times. He is the author of Sherlock Holmes: Gods of War,Sherlock Holmes: The Stuff of Nightmares and Sherlock Holmes: The Thinking Engine for Titan Books.
