Sherlock Holmes: Adventures in the Realms of H.P. Lovecraft: Volume One

by Derrick Belanger (Editor and Author), Will Murray, Brian Belanger (Editor)

SHERLOCK HOLMES: the Great Detective. A man obsessed with cold logic and focused rationality.

H. P. LOVECRAFT: the 20th century’s undisputed master of macabre madness and cosmic horror.

What if the darkness of Lovecraft’s decadent New England overlapped into the Victorian era of Sherlock Holmes? What if a trail of clues led to impossible visions, malevolent gods, and unspeakably eldritch vistas of terror? Could Holmes survive? Could his sanity survive?

Twenty-five new stories across two volumes pit Holmes and Watson against myriad nightmares from Lovecraft’s fiction––and against those nightmares which his writings have inspired. Join us as we journey from the familiar fog of Baker Street to the rotting gambrel roofs of Arkham, the blasphemous library of Miskatonic University, and beyond….

Genres: Horror, Cthulhu Mythos, Anthologies, Short Stories, Crime

377 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 9, 2023

About the author

Author Derrick Belanger's publications include an eclectic mix: book reviews, articles for education journals, short stories, poems, comic books, and the graphic novel, Twenty-Three Skidoo! A former instructor at Washington State University, and a current middle school Language Arts teacher, Derrick lives in Broomfield, Colorado with his wife Abigail Gosselin and their two daughters, Rhea and Phoebe. Currently, Derrick is working on several Sherlockian projects: the Young Adult novel Sherlock Holmes and the Transformers of Time, the teaching guide Sherlock Holmes for Teachers, the pastiche novel The Funeral of Sherlock Holmes, and the film studies book The Hound of the Baskervilles: From Page to Screen. He also co-authors the web site Mystery Aircraft.com with author Chuck Davis.

Reviews

[Winry Weiss · Rating 5 out of 5]

To be honest, I've enjoyed this anthology a lot more than the illustrious Shadows Over Baker Street - might be because I now have a better grasp of the Lovecraftian horror, or the stories included herein suited my taste a bit more. Again, as with any anthology, some contributions hit all (or nearly all) of my "yes" bullet points, whereas some, sadly, missed.

That being said, there's something incredibly alluring about this particular battle, about pitting humane rationality represented by Holmes against the madness-inducing mythos. And this book delivered exactly what I wanted from it.

Hic sunt spoilers, possibly:

Will Murray - The Horror of the Drowned Souls - 5/5
A seemingly unconnected string of suicides of men with (quite literally) fishy surnames leads Holmes to the possession of a peculiar scrying mirror.

Kay Hanifen - The Theft of the Cursed Tome - 5/5
During a lecture tour in America, at the stop at Miskatonic University, Holmes and Watson run across one Wilbur Whateley... a spectacular crossover with The Dunwich Horror.

Nathaniel Webb - The Adventure of the Witch's House - 3/5
or The weird geometry of certain lodging-room and the ROUS. Felt a bit rushed, almost like two stories mashed together... Although, I liked the idea of Professor Moriarty being interested in non-euclidean geometry and the occult in general.

Gina Easton - The Thing in the Cistern - 3/5
Holmes and Watson are called to America to investigate a series of mysterious disappearances in the small town of Hammond's Plain near Boston, Massachusetts. Something approaches.

Bret McCormick - Sherlock Holmes and the Professor from Innsmouth - 2/5
Hahaha! No, nope, never! I must admit though, it is well-written and quite intriguing, but I just do not like when stories venture along these particular lines.
Holmes recounts to Watson a certain incident from his time in America that haunts his conscience.

Silas K. Henderson - The Transition of Sherlock Holmes - 2/5
A pulpy adventure. Long-retired Holmes is accosted at his home in the South Downs and subsequently saved by Randy, a young American investigating the trafficking of priceless artefacts. A bit disjointed, a longer format would suit this story more, I daresay.

David Marcum - The Peculiar Affair of the Three Owed Deaths - 5/5
... or, quite honestly, 10/5. Mwah! Mr Marcum is a name to be counted on in the genre of traditional Holmesian pastiches, so I was pleasantly surprised by his appearance in this anthology - he delivered a story that could be both Lovecraftian and traditional, and it's such a joy.
While on an errand for Mycroft, Holmes and Watson are consulted on a series of seemingly innocuous accidents that nearly lead their potential client to a watery grave. Things take a serious turn when the man is discovered drowned the next morning.

DJ Tyrer - The Case of the Yellow Sign - 5/5
That accursed play... Holmes and Watson are tasked with helping an inheritor haunted by the same nightmarish vision that led to his cousin's sudden death.

Josh Reynolds - A Dream of the Commonplace - 4/5
Leverton, a Pinkerton agent and acquaintance of Holmes and Watson, asks the duo to help him locate a missing young American. They trace the missing man to a mysterious house on Holywell Street - a place from a feverish nightmare that simultaneously does and doesn't exist.

Emma Darcy - Sherlock Holmes and the Crab Pot Conspiracy - 4/5
This one had the potential for a lengthier novel, but it reined itself in nicely. Told from Holmes' PoV.
En route to an investigation, Holmes and Watson must stop and spend the night at an oddly decrepit fishing village. There they get entangled in a weird series of events connected to a quite recently returned ship, practically a wreck, and her institutionalised captain.

Paul Hiscock - The Case of the London Particular - 4/5
During a particularly foggy season, rich with violent crimes, Holmes seems oddly disinterested in a case that a worried mother brings to their agency. Thus Watson ventures on his own on an investigation of a strange device displayed in the Royal Society by mysterious Mr Nyarlathotep.

Derrick Belanger - What Lurks Beyond Baker Street - 3/5
Watson recounts a complex tale of his and the Holmes brothers' entanglement in the war between Mi-go and the Iremin, unknown to the majority of humankind.

[Otto Hahaa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Voiko Sherlock Holmes, järjen ääni, joka tuo järjestyksen kaaokseen, kohdata Lovecraftin maailmat, jossa järki lähtee ensimmäisenä ja kaaokseen kaikki kuitenkin päättyy? Gaiman kirjoitti omassa esseessään jossain, että ei voi. Mutta tämän kirjan kirjoittajat kuiten ovat päättäneet yrittää. Lähestymistavat ovat erilaisia, mutta teemat samoja. Sanoisinko, että tarinat ovat vähän epätasaisia? Ja toimittaja olisi voinut olla vähän ankarampi: Jos toisessa tarinassa huolellisesti kerrotaan, että Watson ei voi kantaa asettaan laillisesti Yhdysvalloissa, ja heti seuraavassa voi, niin joku olisi voinut ottaa selvää miten asia on, ja pakottaa käyttämään tätä molemmissa tarinoissa. Välillä selitetään liikaa, mutta niinhän sekä Lovecraft- ja Holmes-jutuissa on vaarana tapahtua. Muutamissa tarinoissa paljastuu, että Holmes oli oppinut Lovecraft-jutuista Tiibetissä jo etukäteen, joten asiat ovat yllätyksiä vain Watsonille. Ehkä olisin kaivannut tarinaa, jossa olisin jotenkin yllättynyt itsekin. Tämäkin on tunnettu ongelma, fanit tietävät mitä on tulossa ja yllätyksille ei ole paljoa tilaa. Muutamissa tarinoissa vähän liikaa actionia (laiva uppoaa yliluonnollisessa myrskyssä, mutta sankarimme jäävät eloon, kun tajuttomina ovat sattuneet ottamaan kiinni jostain kelluvasta?). Mutta kokonaisuudessa ollaan plussan puolella.

[Beverly Laude · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting collection of stories, supposedly written by Sherlock Holmes' partner, Doctor Watson. All of the story have a Lovecraftian twist and most are set in his part of New England. Some of the tales were pretty good while others were just plain weird (but, it's Lovecraft, so what should you expect?).

I would recommend this for diehard Holmes fans and diehard Lovecraft fans. Other readers might enjoy the stories, but might also be completely lost! I do wish that there had been a better flow or a consistent timeline between the various works.

The narrator did a good job and added a lot to these creepy cosmic horror tales.

[Christopher Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second Holmes/Lovecraft book I have read, and the previous (Shadows Over Baker Street) was a much stronger collection of stories, but these were better in terms of horror tales. They were creepy and sometimes very disturbing tales that kept the characters consistent and plausible in their situation.

[Alan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not a bad story in the bunch

I have read a number of pastiche collections both of Sherlock Holmes and of HP Lovecraft. While normally they have some strong stories they also have some fairly weak ones. Belanger Books has done a great job of collecting solid stories all the way through their collections.

There are a few outstanding stories In this collection and all are worth a read.

[Daniel F. Geroux · Rating 1 out of 5]

Crap

I could not even finish these stories. I have read well over 700 Sherlock stories and these stories were terrible.

[Tony Ciak · Rating 5 out of 5]

when universes collided...fun!