Comedic supernatural mystery. Is that a thing?

A Study in Brimstone by G.S. Denning
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I like the premise of this novel. I like most iterations of the Holmes character, anyway, and I'm also a fantasy reader, so it's a natural fit.

I had some misgivings, though. For one, it seemed like Holmes was unsympathetic--at first. I changed my mind later, and enjoyed the role, and started to care about him, but I'm still a little unsure if it really works. (I'm 4/5 sure. 80% sure.)

I am also a little ambivalent about the way it is organized into a series of lightly connected short stories. The overall arc continues through the book, to a degree, but there are several discrete stories here. I kept waiting for characters to return to events from a previous story--such as Groggson's difficult love affair--but I guess when one story's done it's done. Unless book two shows me something else.

Also, slight spoiler--it ends with a cliffhanger. Sort of. I'm opposed to cliffhangers in general; I prefer a book to be self-contained. However, the missing resolution doesn't detract too much for me. Overall, it's a quick read and actually quite fun throughout, and I'm content to look up the next book and keep the story going.

The parodying of Sherlock tropes and titles and plot lines is well done and clever. It reminds me of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (PPZ) and a few others in that vein in the way it combines classic stories with the supernatural, but the tone here is both lighter and more believable. I think that is because Watson is an ordinary person who is not used to vampires and warlocks and trolls any more than we are IRL, and he helps us navigate the extraordinary events. (I liked PPZ, but I prefer the way Watson keeps us grounded.) It's also pretty funny, which I do not usually look for in fantasy, but I liked it here.

In sum--I did have a rather uneven response to the book, especially in the beginning, but I enjoyed it more and more as I went on. It's fun and fast and clever enough that I will go find the next one, and I recommend the series to anyone intrigued by the premise the way I was.

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