Gaslight Grotesque: Nightmare Tales of Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes Gaslight

by J.R. Campbell (Editor), Charles Prepolec (Editor, Introduction), Leslie S. Klinger (Foreword)

THE MONSTERS ARE DUE ON BAKER STREET!
Between the shadowy realms of fear and the unforgiving glare of science lies a battleground of unspeakable horror. In vile alleyways with blood-slick cobblestones, impenetrable fog, and the wan glow of gaslight, lurk the inhuman denizens of nightmare.
CAN REASON PREVAIL WHEN ELIMINATING THE IMPOSSIBLE IS NO LONGER AN OPTION?
Faced with his worst fears, Sherlock Holmes has his faith in the science of observation and deduction shaken to the core in thirteen all-new tales of terror from today's modern masters of the macabre! 

Contributors Include:

Leslie S. Klinger - "Foreword"

Charles V. Prepolec - "Introduction"

Stephen Volk - "Hounded"

Lawrence C. Connolly - "The Death Lantern"

William Meikle - "The Quality of Mercy"

James A. Moore - "Emily’s Kiss"

William Patrick Maynard - "The Tragic Case of the Child Prodigy

Hayden Trenholm - "The Last Windigo"

Neil Jackson - "Celeste"

Robert Lauderdale - "The Best Laid Plans"

Leigh Blackmore - "Exalted are the Forces of Darkness"

Mark Morris - "The Affair of the Heart"

Simon Kurt Unsworth - "The Hand-Delivered Letter"

Barbara Roden - "Of the Origin of the Hound of the Baskervilles"

J. R. Campbell - "Mr. Other’s Children"

Genres: Horror, Mystery, Anthologies, Short Stories, Fiction, Fantasy, Occult Detective

311 pages, Paperback

First published November 15, 2009

Reviews

[Karl]

Contents:

001 - Foreword by Leslie S. Klinger
014 - Introduction by Charles V. Prepolec
021 - "Hounded" by Stephen Volk
048 - "The Death Lantern" by Lawrence C. Connolly
063 - "The Quality of Mercy" by William Meikle
080 - "Emily’s Kiss"by James A. Moore
193 - "The Tragic Case of the Child Prodigy" by William Patrick Maynard
125 - "The Last Windigo" by Hayden Trenholm
141 - "Celeste" by Neil Jackson
165 - "The Best Laid Plans" by Robert Lauderdale
179 - "Exalted are the Forces of Darkness" by Leigh Blackmore
209 - "The Affair of the Heart" by Mark Morris
232 - "The Hand-Delivered Letter" by Simon Kurt Unsworth
245 - "Of the Origin of the Hound of the Baskervilles" by Barbara Roden
279 - "Mr. Other’s Children" by J. R. Campbell

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

IVERALL: Generally creepy stories involving Holmes and monsters of some sorts. Some are pretty good, few are amazing, lots are meh. Worth the read but I prefer the companion "Gaslight Grimoire" much more.


Hounded - Stephen Volk (3/5): Weird enough, slightly eerie but just didn't quite do it for me.

The Death Lantern - Lawrence C. Connolly (3.5/5): Interesting reactions to watching brutality over and over again. Makes me wonder about all the violence we watch

The Quality of Mercy - William Meikle (4/5): Very creepy. Forces Holmes just doesn't know how to deal with, ditto with Watson, and one man more than willing to believe it for his own sake.

Emily's Kiss - James A. Moore (3/5): Again, creepy enough but I find not knowing about what happened to Watson or the family more frustrating than anything.

The Tragic Case of the Child Prodigy - William Patrick Maynard (4/5): Such a sad story. Thrilling, but tragic for the titular character.

The Last Windigo - Hayden Trenholm (3.5/5): And now you push my Canadian buttons. Loved the idea and loved the execution if not the end.

Celeste - Neil Jackson (3/5): Creepy abandoned ships that sailors will not go near are always a bad time. Always. People need to learn this.

The Best Laid Plans - Robert Lauderdale (2.5/5): Lestrade met Moriarty first apparently. I don't know, I should have liked this one but again it just didn't seem quite right to me.

Exalted are the Forces of Darkness - Leigh Blackmore (4/5): This one was truer to Holmesian form than the rest. A grisly murder, magic being done improperly, and Holmes refusing to believe what has happened. Well played!

The Affair of the Heart - Mark Morris (5/5): Holmes has a human heart delivered to his door and then he and Watson end up in a time portal or sorts where they figure out who the heart belongs to. Random idea but man does it work well! It's fantastic.

The Hand Delivered Letter - Simon Kurt Unsworth (5/5): James Moriarty survived the falls and has a special letter, and a special fate, all ready for Holmes. Oh man is this creepy. Zombies aren't just for fun...

Of the Origin of the Hound of the Baskervilles - Barbara Roden (3.5/5): The hound isn't a hound; he's a werewolf. That's essentially it.

Mr. Other's Children - J.R. Campbell (3/5): creepy crawlies ahoy. Creepy.

[Jeannie Sloan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful Sherlock Holmes stories.They were very entertaining and really showed well the Victorian mind set of the times in which Sherlock solved his crimes.

[Amy H. Sturgis · Rating 4 out of 5]

As Leslie S. Klinger says in the Forward, each of the stories in this collection is built on the premise of calling upon "the pillar of Victorian reason and intellect, Sherlock Holmes," "to confront the forces of darkness in every form." To my delight, a majority of these tales are quite good, and some are truly excellent.

Stephen Volk's "Hounded" ripped my heart into pieces as it considered an aged Watson followed by the spectre of the hound - or, perhaps, symptoms of his own failing mind. The retired Lestrade's appearance here as Watson's last and only contact was perfect. This one will haunt me a long time. Brilliant.

Lawrence C. Connolly's "The Death Lantern" is a thoughtful, even brooding meditation on how technology was changing the world - and the nature of how investigators encountered and experienced murder - at the turn of the century. The interaction between Holmes, Watson, and Lestrade here (all of whom are deeply impacted by the death they witness via film) is well done.

William Meikle's "The Quality of Mercy" delivers more scares than substance, and I'm ambivalent about the final note it strikes, but I'll give it credit for underscoring not only Watson's decency, but also his stubbornness and courage in the face of the unknown.

James A. Moore's "Emily's Kiss" has lots of Lovecraftian touches: family afflictions and secrets, quests for esoteric knowledge, strange fungi, and bizarre carvings from around the world of something horrible and unnameable. The ending - poor, dear Watson! - made my blood run cold. Dark and delicious. Two tentacles up!

"The Tragic Case of the Child Prodigy" by William Patrick Maynard seems a half-hearted effort, perhaps trying to do too much (including using a child prodigy to comment on Holmes's own childhood and nature and introducing an anemic would-be Aleister Crowley figure to lead the Hellfire Club) and instead falling into cartoonish action, unconvincing peril, and over-obvious resolution. This is one of the collection's weak links.

In "The Last Windigo," Hayden Trenholm takes Holmes and Watson to Canada for a chilling encounter on the frontier. A solid story with an imaginative and satisfying incorporation of Native mythology.

Re: "Celeste" by Neil Jackson: While marrying the mystery of the Mary Celeste to the Holmes universe intrigues me, this story didn't do the premise justice. Incompletely conceived and poorly executed, with lamentable writing and characterizations, this tale is a disappointment.

Robert Lauderdale's "The Best Laid Plans" had me at the idea of a broken, haunted Lestrade dreaming of absolution and understanding from John Watson. This is a tale that sticks with you, one of an undying/undead Moriarty and a mistake(?) that costs Holmes his life and may cost Lestrade his soul. I would've loved this to be even longer and more developed, but as it is, it'll follow me around a long time. Well done.

"Exalted Are the Forces of Darkness" by Leigh Blackmore is a decent mystery involving the occultist Aleister Crowley and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Fine but ultimately forgettable.

Mark Morris's "The Affair of the Heart" is an excellent, atmospheric tale of altered time. Seeing Holmes and Watson encounter Holmes's slain and mutilated body is quite a powerful moment. A chilling story well told.

Simon Kurt Unsworth's "The Hand-Delivered Letter" is a stand-out story in this collection: bleak, horrifying, absolutely wrenching. I don't want to give away the premise, because it's brilliant. I'll be remembering this one.

"Of the Origin of the Hound of the Baskervilles" is a remarkably chilling addition/corrective to Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles, in which Watson recounts the "real" story he could not share in the original published version. This new and even darker tale fits beautifully over/in between the lines of the original novel and makes it all the more haunting. Very effective and beautifully done.

J.R. Campbell's "Mr. Other's Children" grabs the reader with a compelling hook - why is Inspector Bradstreet attempting to take his own life? - and it never really lets go. It serves as a worthy ending note for this satisfying volume.

[Bev · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gaslight Grotesque: Nightmare Tales of Sherlock Holmes (2009), edited by J. R. Campbell and Charles Prepolec, is a walk on the wild, gruesome, slightly supernatural side with the great detective. There's murder galore--but it's not always human agents at work and even Holmes has his faith in pure logic shaken at times. As with all short story collections some of these work better than others and I can definitely say that I preferred the ones that did not mess with the Holmes canon. Not one, but two of these stories tell us that Watson flat-out lied to us about the Hound of the Baskervilles. I'm perfectly happy to have Holmes pastiches address all those stories that Watson tells us "the world is not yet ready for," those that get a passing mention in the original works. Or to have brand-new stories featuring Holmes at work in the horror and speculative fiction realms. But don't tell me that Watson got it wrong--whether deliberately or because Holmes didn't tell him the truth or whatever. I'm not buying it.

Another thing I'm not in the market for is a story that tells me that Moriarty also survived the Reichenbach Falls without supernatural intervention. Given the nature of the collection, I might believe that Moriarty survived zombie-fashion or was a vampire who could only die with a stake through the heart or some other-worldly creature took over his body--but don't tell me this normal human fell down the falls, bounced off a couple of huge rocks, and somehow survived to take revenge on Holmes. Just don't. We've already bought the Holmes return from the dead story and there's only so many impossible things that can be believed before...or after...breakfast.

Beyond that, there are some ingenious and haunting stories including "The Death Lantern" by Lawrence C. Connolly where Holmes, Watson, and Lestrade watch a man die (repeatedly) on an early version of the silent movie. But is all as it seems? Other favorites are listed below with brief synopses.

“The Tragic Case of the Child Prodigy,” by William Patrick Maynard: A ruthless man uses diabolical means to control the mother of a young violinist and the wealth generated by the prodigy.

“Celeste,” by Neil Jackson: Holmes and Watson are delegated by the Prince of Wales to discover the mystery behind the abandoned ship. There are some secrets that are better left alone....especially if you don't burn the secret up with fire once discovered.

“The Affair of the Heart,” by Mark Morris: In which a human heart is delivered to Holmes and he and Watson find themselves involved in a time loop of sorts. Once they know whose heart it is will they be able use the time loop properly to save him/her?

“Mr. Other’s Children” by J. R. Campbell: finds Holmes in a particularly nasty situation. Having correctly identified the evil at work, he is unable to stop its escape into the world at large. Quite a horrific note on which to end the collection.

First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.

[Phil · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a brilliant book if you're into Sherlock Holmes, Gothic and Victoriana. Here's a review I wrote for Horror News.

http://horrornews.net/48389/book-revi...

[Orrin Grey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full review here.

[Christopher Roden · Rating 3 out of 5]

i'd like to have made it three and a half stars, but that option's not available.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this several years ago, and while a few stories held up, most really didn't. Bad characterizations and ridiculous scenarios seemed to be a running theme. There are so many Holmes pastiches out there, yet so few do the Canon justice. Water, water everywhere...

[Philip Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of Sherlockian tales in which, to quote Leslie S. Klinger’s Forward, “…the pillar of Victorian reason and intellect, Sherlock Holmes, would be called upon to confront the forces of darkness in every form.” Make no mistake. This is a collection of horror stories, not the usual Sherlockian investigations of human crime. In this book, Holmes and Watson deal with monsters, not twisted humans, but horrors out of myth and nightmare

In the opening tale, “Hounded,” by Stephen Volk, Watson attends a seance. What he finds there is what he had hoped to escape, his own memories of The Hound. Once confronted, they lead him to his only escape. “The Death Lantern,”by Lawrence C. Connolly, tells of a magician who filmed himself practicing one of his illusions, catching an explosive bullet in his teeth. The early silent movie is destroyed after Holmes, Watson and Lestrade witness the death(?) of the magician. William Meikle’s “The Quality of Mercy” is a story of an old Army friend of Watson’s yearning for a dead sweetheart. The form that desire takes is gruesome to say the least.

“Emily’s Kiss,” by James A. Moore, is one of the most horrifying tales in my opinion. The events are described but the cause and explanation are never stated explicitly, leaving the imagination of the reader to fill in the blanks, over and over and over again. “The Tragic Case of the Child Prodigy,” by William Patrick Maynard, has an Aleister Crowley surrogate, disguised as one “Christopher Frawley,” preying on an ambitious ‘stage mother’ to control the income generated by a young violinist. “The Last Windigo,” by Hayden Trenholm, has Holmes an Watson sent to Canada by Mycroft on The Queen’s Business. While waiting for the situation to develop, they stumble on a land theft scheme that is being contested by the local natives. Resolving that dispute requires more than logic and diplomacy.

In “Celeste,” by Neil Jackson, Holmes and Watson work, at the request of The Prince of Wales, to put a final end to the recurring nightmare of a ghost ship. “The Best Laid Plans,” by Robert Lauderdale, presents an alternative view of events in “The Final Problem,” as seen through the eyes of Inspector Lestrade. The view is neither pretty nor simple. “Exalted Are the Forces of Darkness,” by Leigh Blackmore introduces Aleister Crowley, this time as an ally of Holmes in dealing with a conjured Demon attacking members of The Golden Dawn. “The Affair of the Heart,” by Mark Morris, introduces Holmes to a sort of time travel, which engulfs him and Watson in a trap of double jeopardy. “The Hand-Delivered Letter,” by Simon Kurt Unsworth, brings back Moriarty, in a truly stunning and terrifying revenge. “On the Origin of the Hound of the Baskervilles,” by Barbera Roden, fills in the untold bits of HOUN deftly and seamlessly and horribly. J. R. Campbell’s “Mr. Other’s Children” finishes the book on a note of true terror. It’s villain escapes and leaves the world at risk.

Sherlockians are not as likely to recognise many of the authors, other than Barbera Roden and J. R. Campbell, since most have worked in the horror genre rather than in detective tales up to this time. That takes nothing away from their abilities and the errors for purists are mostly confined to the villains and ‘ghosties’ introduced, rather than to Canonical problems. In addition, most are not Americans, so the ‘slanguage’ problems are not nearly so much in evidence as in most recent anthologies.

Reviewed by: Philip K. Jones, November, 2009.

Published in “The Illustrious Clients News,” [V33, #01, 01/2010].
Published in “The Formulary,” [#20, 12/2010].

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 5 out of 5]

his is a superb anthology and is very-very highly recommended to not only lovers of Sherlockiana, but also to all lovers of horror & macabre. Already several reviewers have given the summary of the stories, so I would simply state the reasons as to why you should try to get this book immediately, and thereupon immerse yourself in the depth of its grotesque as well as tight narratives:

1. "Foreword" by Leslie S. Klinger and "Introduction" by Charles Prepolec gives a good & neat idea about "The Things That Might Come Upon.." as you prepare for the stories.
2. "Hounded" by Stephen Volk is a chillingly ambiguous work as you try to understand, till the end, whether Watson is actually losing his mind, or whether his worst fears are becoming grim reality. "A++"
3. "The Death lantern" by Lawrence C. Connolly is not a murder mystery involving anything fantastic, but it is a nostalgia-inducing story that involves grotesque images on screen as well as in mind of the reader. "B"
4. "The Quality of Mercy" by William Meikle is an oppressive tale of the suffering inflicted upon oneself and to the extent a person (dead or alive) can go to meet his beloved. It involves a failure on part of Holmes, but explains why Conan Doyle (an ardent believer of spiritualism) detested his own creation. "A"
5. "Emily's Kiss" by James A. Moore is a solid tale of Lovecraftian horror that also succeeds in making the relation between Holmes & Watson more sympathetic. "A+"
6. "The Tragic Case of the Child Prodigy" by William Patrick Maynard is a mediocre science-fictional as well as occult story. Nevertheless, it is readable. "B"
7. "The Last Wendigo" by Hayden Trenholm is a terrific story with Holmes & Watson in Canada, facing an old evil that has been resurrected because of a newer one. "A+"
8. "Celeste" by Niel Jackson is a Holmes-meets-X-Files story that aims at explaining a Century-old mystery. It is very good, and ambiguous in its ending in a truly X-Files manner. "A+"
9. "The Best Laid Plans" by Robert Lauderdale is a brief recounting of events by Lestrade, as Moriarty escaped the nets put in place by Holmes, forcing Lestrade into an eternally torment-full existence. "B+"
10. "Exalted Are The Forces of Darkness" by Leigh Blackmore is a mediocre story involving occult, inheritance, and Holmes uttering chants & invocations(!?) while resisting a demon. "C"
11. "The Affair of the Heart" by Mark Morris is a tricky tale involving time-travel that violates all scientific principles of the day, and yet turns out to be intriguing in the questions it raises. "A"
12. "The Hand Delivered Letter" by Simon Kurt Unsworth is a chilling tale involving zombies and the terrible revenge of Professor Moriarty. "A+"
13. "Of the origin of the Hound of the Baskervilles" by Barbara Roden is a brilliant retelling of the classic adventure, with a few deft touches in the main text giving the story an even darker meaning. "A++"
14. "Mr.Other's Children" by J.R.Campbell is very-very enjoyable, but perhaps over-influenced by Geoffrey Landis' classic "The Singular Habits of Wasps". "A"

Overall, a very top-level collection, and lovers of Sherlockian pastiches should grab it by both hands.

[Winry Weiss · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have put off reading "Gaslight series" forever, and I really don't know why had I done that. Those are fantastic, amongst the best holmesian anthologies I've ever read. Sure, as in any anthology, there are both superb and somewhat-weak stories, but overall, they suit very well together and it is a pleasure to read.

This one in particular deals with encounters with monsters, in their many forms. The overall feeling was, I must admit, not as satisfying as with the first book in the series.

Hounded by Stephen Volk - Beautiful. Eerie. It set the tone for the rest of the book for me. 5/5
The Death Lantern by Lawrence C. Connolly - A horrible accident captured on a film. Or was it a murder? This one leaves you thinking about the desensitisation when you deal with brutality long enough, about the unstoppable march of progress. 4/5
The Quality of Mercy by William Meikle - Watson's former brother-in-arms calls for help in a story that reads almost like the Canon, if not for the supernatural elements that Holmes stubbornly refuses to acknowledge. 4/5
Emily’s Kiss by James A. Moore - Lovely little lovecraftian story. The ending is vague, and I found that more horrifying than had it been stated exactly. 4/5
The Tragic Case of the Child Prodigy by William Patrick Maynard - Metropolis, anyone? Not a bad idea, but it was somewhat... not exactly a Holmes story. 3/5
The Last Windigo by Hayden Trenholm - Holmes and Watson travel to Canada and happen to run into a brutal murder. 4/5
Celeste by Neil Jackson - Heavily inspired by William Hope Hodgson's naval ghost stories, which on itself would be a great premise. Yet the execution is a little... lacklustre, I'd say. If not for the very last sentence, that left a huge, sadistic grin on my face, I'd rate it even less. 3/5
The Best Laid Plans by Robert Lauderdale - Yardies need more love, and here we have Lestrade quite literary haunted by Moriarty's unnatural escape, blaming himself for the Reichenbach tragedy. 4/5
Exalted are the Forces of Darkness by Leigh Blackmore - Baffling murder, magic gone wrong and Aleister Crowley as the main suspect? Colour me interested. And yet, the execution was a little off. 3/5
The Affair of the Heart by Mark Morris - Human heart had been delivered to Baker Street. Holmes and Watson investigate and end up trapped in a time loop. 5/5
The Hand-Delivered Letter by Simon Kurt Unsworth - I do not like the premise, but, my God, the execution. It's spiteful and chilling. 4/5
Of the Origin of the Hound of the Baskervilles by Barbara Roden - Tied in-between the lines of the most famous holmesian novel, quite interesting take of the werewolf of the Baskerville family. 4/5
Mr. Other’s Children by J. R. Campbell - What could possibly drove inspector Bradstreet to attempting suicide? It's creepy, it's crawling, and it wants to procreate. 4/5

[Lianne Burwell · Rating 2 out of 5]

After getting hooked into the recent Sherlock movies (Sherlock Holmes translated to modern times; highly recommended), I picked this collection up from the library. It's a set of short stories about Sherlock Holmes (the classic Victorian version) with a horror bent.

It was a slightly strange collection, since Holmes is so ultra-rational that throwing in horror touches is bizarre. Stories included the truth that was hidden about the Hound of the Baskervilles, the secret of Moriarty's fate at Reichenbach, and a family straight from Lovecraft's world.

I enjoyed a lot of the stories, but as a whole, the collection was a little on the blah side.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read a lot of Holmes short stories and this one is good but isn't my favorite. I kept putting it down and forcing myself to pick it back up and finish. It wasn't that I disliked the stories but I was indifferent about finishing.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of fine tales featuring the world's greatest detective. You don't have to be a fan of Sherlock Holmes to truly enjoy this book.

[John R. Dailey Jr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A DARK GAME IS AFOOT, IT IS....

Hello, this collection of tales is very good. Not a real bad one in the bunch. I was quite entertained. Thanks.

[Michael Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another collection of a few very good tales ( the corrected Hound of the Baskervilles werewolf ) and some very dumb ones.

[Lesley Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good fun! One story had some inconsistencies, so it pulled me out of the plot a bit. Other than that, I highly recommend!

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this one because I was looking for stories with Wendigos in them and this collection had a short story with them, set in Canada too!

Sadly while that story was....alright. The rest of them were on the not so great side. Very disappointing.

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

I do love me some Sherlock Holmes, and these stories are, on the whole, quite entertaining. There is only one serious flaw in the basic format of the book. Part of what I most enjoy about any Sherlock story is the mystery of each case. They generally start out baffling, seemingly impossible, but of course are ultimately explained through Sherlock's incredible deductive reasoning. In Gaslight Grotesque, however, the basic premise immediately gives away the solution. At the start of each tale in this collection, you can almost always predict "It was a demon!" or "It was magic!" That takes away a fair bit of the mystery, to be sure. The stories included that do not involve demons or magic, such as "The Affair of the Heart," are the better for it. Still, overall an enjoyable diversion.

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very mixed bag. A few of the stories are excellent, a couple of others are genuinely lousy (both of the stories by the editors are in this category), and most of the rest are all right but don't quite come off -- they get the Holmesian tone wrong, or they're a little flat, or Holmes acts completely out of character, or the resolution is dull.

The best of the bunch: a Lovecraftian family curse that turns out to be horribly transmissable, and Professor Moriarty's revenge. There's a wendigo story that's not bad, and a time-shifting tale that is pedestrian in plot but told with genuinely Conan-Doyle prose and characterization.

[DavidO · Rating 4 out of 5]

The authors are very good at what they do, which is recreating the setting of a Sherlock Holmes story. I would have given it 5 stars but while the stories all started well, the last half was often, if not always, rushed. Each of these stories would have made a great novella. But as short stories I feel they just didn't offer enough. I would only recommend it to people who love horror and Holmes and short stories.

[Vikas Datta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Grotesque is the correct title... promising material but fails to live up to expectations. There is Holmes, there is horror and creepy things but somehow the 'twain fail to meet. Some of it seems designed to make you squirm but without any logic, any coherence or valid linkages - present in at least four stories in the collection. Could have been much much better, or at least maintained the standards of "Gaslight Grimoire"

[Devyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

horrible. this book was absolutely horrid. as a huge fan of sir connan Doyle's masterful Sherlock adventures, I found that these short stories did not stay true to the characters that he originally created. I tried to keep an open mind, but could not shake the feeling that in an attempt to modernize or create a scarier scenario, the authors changed the characters to suit their needs. it was insulting. but this is one girl's opinion.

[Heidi Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you love Sherlock, you'll find things to like here, but like many anthologies, it's kind of hit and miss. Favorites included James A. Moore's Lovecraftian "Emily's Kiss," and Simon Kurt Unworth's exceedingly creepy "The Hand-Delivered Letter," in which Moriarty exacts a quite unexpected type of revenge.

[Kat · Rating 1 out of 5]

I thought I might enjoy a more supernatural take on Sherlock Holmes, but these stories are real downers. I suppose the phrase "Nightmare Tales" should have warned me that this was more in the horror genre than just the fantastical. If you don't like depressing stories, then I don't recommend this book.

[LuAnn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a horror story fan when monsters or demons are involved, which is the case for several of these. Some do not echo well ACD’s style while a few, “The Affair of the Heart” and “The Origin of the Hound” do, which are about the best. The simplicity of “Death Lantern” successfully captures the possibly horrified perspective of pre-film society upon a certain use for recorded moving images.

[David Read · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay collection of Sherlock Holmes stories written from a horror perspective. I dislike most short-story collections because you have to dig through a lot of insipid stories to find one or two good ones. Definitely true here. Only recommended if you're a die-hard Sherlock Holmes fan.

[Billie Milholland · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with most anthologies... I loved some and thought some were so-so.

[Annie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Couldn't finish it. Perhaps a bit too gruesome for this time of year. I get depressed enough at Xmas without help like this.