Warlock Holmes #2
This installment of Warlock Holmes finds Warlock and Watson coming to terms with the events of the last volume. They do this in a rather strange way. Pinkertons are involved but they are somewhat like a certain famous group of wearers of black.
The two Holmes stories that are used include, of course, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Silver Blaze, and the Solitary Cyclist. The Cyclist sequence is particularly funny while the Baskervilles give us more detail about Warlock. It isn’t quite as funny but there are some shining moments.
As always, the humor comes from the asides that Watson does. In this case, Watson deals with issues as complex as fake beards, tricycles, and Canadians. The charm of the series is Watson’s down to earth musings that deal with issues raised in the original stories – for instance walking sticks. So, it is like you have an urban historical fantasy novel with a high shot of realism.
If you like fantasy and Sherlock Holmes, you should read this series.
Garston’s narration is particularly wonderful. He doesn’t do silly woman’s voices. His Watson sounds close enough to Edward Hardwicke to make a connection to Holmes seamless. His Holmes is not quite what you would think, but is brilliant nonetheless.
