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A Puzzle of Poppies
He expected magic. What he got was murder.
Following a disastrous stint in Her Majesty’s army, Dr. Wilfred “Wilf” Jarvis finds himself jaded and directionless. Hoping for a fresh start, and perhaps a bit of the storybook magic he’d yearned for as a boy, he accepts a diplomatic posting among the Fair Folk of the Seelie Court. When he arrives, however, he is drawn into a web of political machinations and bitter grievances that prove just as disappointing as his other pursuits - until the body of a British soldier is discovered in Folk territory.
Before he realizes exactly what’s happened, he’s enlisted by Honoria Sherwood, a brilliant half-Folk, half-human polymath, in a worryingly high-stakes murder investigation. With tensions mounting between the Folk and the British Empire, the two must track down the killer or lose their only chance to see true justice done.
Following a disastrous stint in Her Majesty’s army, Dr. Wilfred “Wilf” Jarvis finds himself jaded and directionless. Hoping for a fresh start, and perhaps a bit of the storybook magic he’d yearned for as a boy, he accepts a diplomatic posting among the Fair Folk of the Seelie Court. When he arrives, however, he is drawn into a web of political machinations and bitter grievances that prove just as disappointing as his other pursuits - until the body of a British soldier is discovered in Folk territory.
Before he realizes exactly what’s happened, he’s enlisted by Honoria Sherwood, a brilliant half-Folk, half-human polymath, in a worryingly high-stakes murder investigation. With tensions mounting between the Folk and the British Empire, the two must track down the killer or lose their only chance to see true justice done.
156 pages, Paperback
Published March 26, 2024
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December 28, 2024So far, I haven't read the blurbs for any of our assigned books before picking them up. This wasn't intentional (I actually think in some cases it's to a book's benefit that one read the blurb first), but, probably because the novellas are available to us as eBooks, I've consistently just opened up the file and started reading. With that said, I didn't know what to expect from A Puzzle of Poppies. Murder, yes. Historical fantasy, probably. APoP delievered on both counts, being a fantasy mystery set in an alternate Victorian Britain in which the Fair Folk (called "the Folk" in APoP) are real and have lived alongside humans for centuries, if not millennia. I also finished the novella before realizing it was a "reimagining" of Conan Doyle's "A Study in Scarlet" (and should probably be a little embarrassed about it, given that Edwards states this in the front matter!). Well written, with a clear sense of style and attention to detail, I was impressed overall while being a little nervous about its similarity to its source material. Fans of historical fantasy, Sherlock Holmes, and Jeannette Ng should take note!
Our story opens on Wilfred Jarvis as he takes up a new post on the island of Ynis Witrin as one of a number of British military officials placed in service to Queen Mab. Once there, Jarvis is introduced to a number of local higher ups, each individually full of character. There are obvious tensions between the human and Folk on the island, as well as political unrest in terms of the relationship of Mab's government to its human British counterpart. The murder of a well-to-do human named Enoch Drabber, whose corpse is discovered with the word "Sais" (a pejorative, Folkish term for humans and the English specifically) beside it, sends the island into a further frenzy. Jarvis, along with several compatriots and the genius female detective Honoria Sherwood, are tasked with solving the mystery and identifying the murderer. Along the way, Jarvis's understanding of the culture and history of Ynis Witrin deepens, enriching the story and allowing Edwards to comment more deeply on issues of oppression, marginalization, and colonialism.
If the plot sounds familiar, that's by design. As previously mentioned, APoP is a fantasy retelling of the very first Sherlock Holmes adventure. One of my only criticisms of the novella actually has to do with this point, though I confess to being slightly on-the-fence as to whether it's a valid criticism at all. I've mentioned previously that retellings and reimaginings are a hard sell for me. I need to feel like a work is bringing something genuinely new to the table, and not just new for the sake of it, but meaningfully so. Here, because I only realized it was a retelling after the fact, I'm left unsure how to approach the story in retrospect. I've never read "A Study in Scarlet," and though I've doubtless seen screen adaptations of it, I didn't recognize the story. Yet, when I read "A Study in Scarlet"'s plot synopsis, I realized that both it and A Puzzle of Poppies were nearly beat-for-beat identical. This left me a bit uneasy, despite how much I'd enjoyed Edward's novella. Holmes's adventures have also all been adapted and reimagined by a number of other writers, perhaps "A Study" more than most others, in fact, so again, I'm left unsure about the fairness of critiquing A Puzzle on this basis. What I will say, having not read "A Study," is that I valued the small details Edwards likely added to the narrative that dealt with the culture of Ynis Witrin and its inhabitants, as well as the relationship between various side characters (including one Robin Goodfellow) and the marginalized place of the Folk within a larger British context. Readers more familiar with Holmes and "A Study" in particular, however, may be left a little wanting.
All that aside, one of APoP's undeniable strengths is its commitment to style. Edwards is a clever, careful writer--something rare that I really appreciate. Even if the Author's Note at the end didn't confirm the level of research that went into bringing a Victorian feel to the page, it would be obvious from the prose and detail alone that this was an element of the story she cared deeply about. There are glimmers of Jeannette Ng's Under the Pendulum Sun and Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell to the way Edwards fuses history, folklore, and fairies (though APoP is considerably less Gothic and dark than UtPS, for anyone worried about trying this one out). The consistency of both style and tone was another aspect of the story that truly impressed me. While I find that anachronism can be a useful tool when used intentionally, too often it's the mark of a lazy writer and researcher and can betray a lack of respect for other cultures, places, and times. Nowhere did I sense this when it came to APoP. Where a less skilled writer and worldbuilder might have gone too far trying to make her point of view character likeable to a modern audience, Edwards also displayed a solid balance of making Wilfred (and friends!) characters you could root for, while still grounding him in his historical context.
Prior to discovering that APoP was a retelling, my main (and very slight) criticism was that I felt the opening could have been tighter to allow us to get right to the murder mystery itself. The first few chapters consist of Wilfred's letters to his sister (the whole novella is in epistolary format) detailing his return from abroad, and without having read the blurb I was left wondering when the story would begin in earnest. I'm not a reader who needs to know, immediately, where a plot is going, but it did inhibit my initial investment. Once the murder had happened and Wilfred and Sherwood's investigation had begun, however, I soon found myself completely sucked in by the story and the glimpses into Folkish history and culture. It's probably obvious already that I enjoyed Edwards's inclusion of Robin Goodfellow, but I would like to particularly highlight her take on the character, which felt original and exciting, while simultaneously making the figure somehow more mundane and realistic. All in all, Edwards's approach to her fairy characters felt more grounded and textured than it did whimsical, and I think this was to the story's credit. The entire novella had a texture to it that allowed me to immerse myself in the period while being intrigued by the fantastical worldbuilding.
My misgivings and uncertainty about its originality vis-a-vis the original aside, I thoroughly enjoyed A Puzzle of Poppies while I was reading it. If it's any indication of the story's quality, I immediately bought the next novella in the series, along with Edwards's full novel. I'd recommend trying this one out to anyone who enjoys historical fantasy, fantasy mysteries, retellings (especially of the Holmesian variety), and intentional, measured prose.
Our story opens on Wilfred Jarvis as he takes up a new post on the island of Ynis Witrin as one of a number of British military officials placed in service to Queen Mab. Once there, Jarvis is introduced to a number of local higher ups, each individually full of character. There are obvious tensions between the human and Folk on the island, as well as political unrest in terms of the relationship of Mab's government to its human British counterpart. The murder of a well-to-do human named Enoch Drabber, whose corpse is discovered with the word "Sais" (a pejorative, Folkish term for humans and the English specifically) beside it, sends the island into a further frenzy. Jarvis, along with several compatriots and the genius female detective Honoria Sherwood, are tasked with solving the mystery and identifying the murderer. Along the way, Jarvis's understanding of the culture and history of Ynis Witrin deepens, enriching the story and allowing Edwards to comment more deeply on issues of oppression, marginalization, and colonialism.
If the plot sounds familiar, that's by design. As previously mentioned, APoP is a fantasy retelling of the very first Sherlock Holmes adventure. One of my only criticisms of the novella actually has to do with this point, though I confess to being slightly on-the-fence as to whether it's a valid criticism at all. I've mentioned previously that retellings and reimaginings are a hard sell for me. I need to feel like a work is bringing something genuinely new to the table, and not just new for the sake of it, but meaningfully so. Here, because I only realized it was a retelling after the fact, I'm left unsure how to approach the story in retrospect. I've never read "A Study in Scarlet," and though I've doubtless seen screen adaptations of it, I didn't recognize the story. Yet, when I read "A Study in Scarlet"'s plot synopsis, I realized that both it and A Puzzle of Poppies were nearly beat-for-beat identical. This left me a bit uneasy, despite how much I'd enjoyed Edward's novella. Holmes's adventures have also all been adapted and reimagined by a number of other writers, perhaps "A Study" more than most others, in fact, so again, I'm left unsure about the fairness of critiquing A Puzzle on this basis. What I will say, having not read "A Study," is that I valued the small details Edwards likely added to the narrative that dealt with the culture of Ynis Witrin and its inhabitants, as well as the relationship between various side characters (including one Robin Goodfellow) and the marginalized place of the Folk within a larger British context. Readers more familiar with Holmes and "A Study" in particular, however, may be left a little wanting.
All that aside, one of APoP's undeniable strengths is its commitment to style. Edwards is a clever, careful writer--something rare that I really appreciate. Even if the Author's Note at the end didn't confirm the level of research that went into bringing a Victorian feel to the page, it would be obvious from the prose and detail alone that this was an element of the story she cared deeply about. There are glimmers of Jeannette Ng's Under the Pendulum Sun and Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell to the way Edwards fuses history, folklore, and fairies (though APoP is considerably less Gothic and dark than UtPS, for anyone worried about trying this one out). The consistency of both style and tone was another aspect of the story that truly impressed me. While I find that anachronism can be a useful tool when used intentionally, too often it's the mark of a lazy writer and researcher and can betray a lack of respect for other cultures, places, and times. Nowhere did I sense this when it came to APoP. Where a less skilled writer and worldbuilder might have gone too far trying to make her point of view character likeable to a modern audience, Edwards also displayed a solid balance of making Wilfred (and friends!) characters you could root for, while still grounding him in his historical context.
Prior to discovering that APoP was a retelling, my main (and very slight) criticism was that I felt the opening could have been tighter to allow us to get right to the murder mystery itself. The first few chapters consist of Wilfred's letters to his sister (the whole novella is in epistolary format) detailing his return from abroad, and without having read the blurb I was left wondering when the story would begin in earnest. I'm not a reader who needs to know, immediately, where a plot is going, but it did inhibit my initial investment. Once the murder had happened and Wilfred and Sherwood's investigation had begun, however, I soon found myself completely sucked in by the story and the glimpses into Folkish history and culture. It's probably obvious already that I enjoyed Edwards's inclusion of Robin Goodfellow, but I would like to particularly highlight her take on the character, which felt original and exciting, while simultaneously making the figure somehow more mundane and realistic. All in all, Edwards's approach to her fairy characters felt more grounded and textured than it did whimsical, and I think this was to the story's credit. The entire novella had a texture to it that allowed me to immerse myself in the period while being intrigued by the fantastical worldbuilding.
My misgivings and uncertainty about its originality vis-a-vis the original aside, I thoroughly enjoyed A Puzzle of Poppies while I was reading it. If it's any indication of the story's quality, I immediately bought the next novella in the series, along with Edwards's full novel. I'd recommend trying this one out to anyone who enjoys historical fantasy, fantasy mysteries, retellings (especially of the Holmesian variety), and intentional, measured prose.
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