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Sherlock Holmes & the Christmas Demon

James Lovegrove

4.19 · Rating details · 101 ratings · 24 reviews

The new Sherlock Holmes novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Age of Odin and Firefly - Big Damn Hero.

It is 1890, and in the days before Christmas Sherlock Holmes and Dr John Watson are visited at Baker Street by a new client. Eve Allerthorpe - eldest daughter of a grand but somewhat eccentric Yorkshire-based dynasty - is greatly distressed, as she ...more

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Hardcover, 375 pages

Published October 22nd 2019 by Titan Books

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Dec 03, 2019 Julie rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2019, e-book, mystery-shelf, christmas-theme

Sherlock Holmes and the Christmas Demon by James Lovegrove is a 2019 Titan publication.

A fun, clever, holiday mystery- Holmes & Watson style!

I have not read any of the previous Holmes & Watson mysteries written by James Lovegrove. I was a little wary about a new Sherlock Holmes mystery, written by someone other than Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, to be honest.

However, after indulging in my usual heartwarming and saccharine sweet holiday romances, I was looking for a good holiday murder Sherlock Holmes and the Christmas Demon by James Lovegrove is a 2019 Titan publication.

A fun, clever, holiday mystery- Holmes & Watson style!

I have not read any of the previous Holmes & Watson mysteries written by James Lovegrove. I was a little wary about a new Sherlock Holmes mystery, written by someone other than Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, to be honest.

However, after indulging in my usual heartwarming and saccharine sweet holiday romances, I was looking for a good holiday murder mystery, when this book popped up on my radar. For the most part the book has received positive feedback- so I decided to give it a try.

The story examines the darker side of Christmas folklore. We all know about Santa Claus or Father Christmas, but apparently these jolly souls have evil counterpoints- or opposites- for example:

Black Thurrick, who is also said to make an appearance during the Christmas holidays, punishing children by replacing their gifts with batches of Birch Twigs.

Holmes and Watson are hired by Eve Allerthorpe to investigate the ghostly happenings at her estate, after she believes she witnessed the demon Thurrick. Not only that, Thurrick’s hallmark calling card of Birch twigs were found outside of doors or windows on occasion.

The hitch is that dear Eve is about to come into a healthy sum of money, just so long as she is deemed of sound mind. Witnessing demonic apparitions might cause one to question her sanity, which is why Holmes & Watson need to get to the bottom of things before Eve loses her inheritance- or worse- is institutionalized.

Although Eve’s family is less than welcoming, Sherlock Holmes brushes off his chilly reception and gets right down to work. What ensues is a puzzling mystery, with several nice red herrings, and some truly wonderful dialogue between Holmes and Watson.

Although Lovegrove does occasionally satirize Holmes’ uncanny powers of observation and embellishes and exaggerates his and Watson’s relationship, a bit here and there, I think the author is very sincere and takes his task very seriously. He obviously respects these classic characters and does them justice.

I thought the author did a good job with this mystery, which kept me guessing and thoroughly entertained. I suspect Lovegrove enjoyed breathing new life into the Sherlock Holmes mystery series and I for one truly enjoyed reading it!

4 stars
...more

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Oct 13, 2019 The Tattooed Book Geek (Drew). rated it it was amazing

As always this review can also be found on my blog The Tattooed Book Geek: https://thetattooedbookgeek.wordpress...

It is late December 1890, Eve’s Allerthorpe’s birthday is fast approaching and on Christmas eve she will turn twenty-one-years-old. On her birthday she will inherit a sizeable fortune left to her by her aunt…but only if she is found to be of sound mind. If, however, Eve is found to not be of sound mind then the inheritance will be divided and spread equally between other family As always this review can also be found on my blog The Tattooed Book Geek: https://thetattooedbookgeek.wordpress...

It is late December 1890, Eve’s Allerthorpe’s birthday is fast approaching and on Christmas eve she will turn twenty-one-years-old. On her birthday she will inherit a sizeable fortune left to her by her aunt…but only if she is found to be of sound mind. If, however, Eve is found to not be of sound mind then the inheritance will be divided and spread equally between other family members.

Every year for Christmas the Allerthorpe’s host a gathering with their extended family coming from far and wide to celebrate the festive season at their family home of Fellscar Keep, an isolated castle located in East Riding, Yorkshire.

Fellscar Keep has a history and the local area is steeped in folklore, myth and local legend. One such local legend is that of the ‘Black Thurrick’ an evil entity, the dark to the light and an anti-father Christmas. The Black Thurrick replaces the benevolence and goodwill of Father Christmas with malevolence and ill will. The Black Thurrick removes the toys of those children who have been bad and exchanges them with bundles of birch twigs. And, if an offering isn’t left out for the Black Thurrick then, the Black Thurrick will steal the children of the household, take them back to its underground lair and eat them.

When she was a child, alongside her younger brother, Eve’s mother used to regale the two children with tales of the Black Thurrick, a tale told to scare the children into being good and one that has been etched in Eve’s memory. Now, nearing Christmas and Eve’s birthday bundles of birch twigs are being left around Fellscar Keep. In the dark of the night, mysterious noises are being heard emanating from the east wing of the castle. And Eve, herself, by the glow of moonlight has glimpsed a figure resembling the countenance of the sinister Black Thurrick walking across the frozen lake late at night.

With no-one else to turn to, Eve travels to London where she asks Holmes and Watson for aid, for their help in the hope that they will be able to uncover the truth behind the strange occurrences that are plaguing both her and Fellscar keep. To add to matters, while Holmes and Watson are at Fellscar Keep investigating the tale of the Black Thurrick things take on a more serious tone when one of the household is found dead under suspicious circumstances.

The folklore is well incorporated and adds an ominous air to the story. Deep in winter Fellscar Keep is gripped by the coldness of the season with snow blanketing the area and the setting is very atmospheric. The gloomy, expansive and secluded Fellscar Keep, a castle on an island in the middle of a lake, joined to the land by a causeway, surrounded by a forest and miles away from the nearest village.

There’s a vigour to the storytelling, a zeal to the writing and you can tell that Lovegrove has a genuine love for the iconic duo in his work. The mystery doesn’t disappoint, neither does the setting, the characters, the deductions, the twists or the denouement of the investigation. It is all cleverly plotted, honours and serves to pay homage to the characters of Holmes and Watson by once more bringing them to life in a gripping and highly entertaining mystery that captures the era perfectly and feels deeply reminiscent of a classic Holmes tale.

I really liked the actual ending with Lovegrove ending things with some festive cheer done in a very Holmesesque way. It felt like a fitting end and leaves you with a smile upon your face.

Simply, Sherlock Holmes and the Christmas Demon was an absolute joy to read. ...more

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Oct 25, 2019 Runalong rated it really liked it

This was just a huge amount of fun and got the characters spot on - great mysteries too!

Full review - https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/bl...

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Dec 07, 2019 Deepu Singh rated it it was amazing

Yes, its five star when it comes to the writing style and vocabulary, explaining the characters, building a character over the time, without giving a loose thread in the main storyline, keeping up suspense for even a little bit of details in story.

It was my first book i read of James Lovegrove and not only it stuck to the point that its a Sherlock Holmes story but also it made me fall in love with these characters again.

Writer did a excellent job to make the characters alive again, no ...more

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Oct 28, 2019 Oliver Clarke rated it really liked it

Review coming soon on Sci Fi and Scary

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Oct 22, 2019 Doreen rated it really liked it

Shelves: titan

I'm conceding defeat and I'm not even sure whom to. See, despite being an ardent mystery fan since a wee girl, I've been lukewarm at most to the Sherlock Holmes canon, and have had very little interest in reading the Sherlockiana that has spawned since. Not even Neil Gaiman's brilliant A Study In Emerald could draw me in, and I waved off my delight in G. S. Denning's Warlock Holmes series as being of a similar exception, given the overtly supernatural element common to both. Nancy Springer's I'm conceding defeat and I'm not even sure whom to. See, despite being an ardent mystery fan since a wee girl, I've been lukewarm at most to the Sherlock Holmes canon, and have had very little interest in reading the Sherlockiana that has spawned since. Not even Neil Gaiman's brilliant A Study In Emerald could draw me in, and I waved off my delight in G. S. Denning's Warlock Holmes series as being of a similar exception, given the overtly supernatural element common to both. Nancy Springer's Enola Holmes series and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar & Anna Waterhouse's Mycroft & Sherlock books were also, I rationalized, exceptions since they focused on the deeds of Sherlock's siblings, and not on the tiresome detective and his sentimental companion themselves. Not even my appreciation for the most recent adaptations of Sherlock on the screen -- whether they be Guy Richie's movies, the Beeb's episodes or the excellent Elementary -- could sway me.

So I'm not sure why I said yes when the magnificent Polly Grice over at Titan Books offered me a copy of James Lovegrove's Sherlock Holmes And The Christmas Demon. Perhaps it was because of all the other Titan-published Sherlock-adjacent books that I've thoroughly enjoyed. Perhaps it was because I absolutely adored what James Lovegrove did with his recent Firefly novels. Regardless, reader, I trusted the sources enough to finally say yes.

There was always the chance, of course, that I'd find this novel tiresome in the same ways I find Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's works tedious. All the hallmarks of the original Sherlock stories are still present here in this gorgeously bound volume but Mr Lovegrove's deftness of touch makes it so that I don't find the relationship between the main characters irritating, and that I'm not wildly annoyed by the "exotic" touches to the story (just thinking of The Speckled Band still makes me incredibly grouchy.) While this wasn't a difficult mystery to solve -- tho some of the clues were quite ingenious -- it held together better for me than a lot of the original canon, and was so entertaining as to completely batter down my resistance to new material. Plus, I do love a Victorian Christmas! Perhaps I would have been grumpier if this book had come out after Halloween, as I'm always aggrieved at retailers ignoring Thanksgiving due to profit margins being better on the bracketing holidays, but with the weather turning and the supernatural bent to this Christmas tale, it felt like perfect timing. I can't imagine a cozier new book for fans of classic mysteries to curl up with as winter looms, and sincerely hope this book finds its way into many a mystery-lover's stocking as Yuletide approaches. It has certainly given me the gift of appreciation for new Sherlockiana, and for that I am thankful. ...more

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Nov 22, 2019 booksofallkinds rated it it was amazing

*I voluntarily reviewed this book from the Publisher.

As always, James Lovegrove has blown me away with this masterpiece of historical fiction featuring my favourite Victorian sleuths, Holmes and Watson.

It is the week of Christmas and Holmes and Watson find themselves travelling to Fellscar Keep, a wealthy castle by all accounts, to solve a mystery for their young client, Eve Allerthorpe. In a few days, Eve is due to come into her inheritance from an aunt as long as she is found to be of sound ...more

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Dec 03, 2019 Niki rated it liked it

3.5/5 - an excellent sherlock holmes pastiche - and two good plots -
however i discovered the culprit of the attent on eve allerthorpe to make her mentally ill, and i also discovered the second culprit, the one of the murder of the scullery maid, but there i didn't know the why's -

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Oct 25, 2019 Connie rated it it was amazing

1890 - Eve Allerthorpe, the eldest daughter from a wealthy family stands to inherit a fortune when she turns 21 on Christmas eve. However there is a clause in the will that stipulates that Eve must be of sound mind to inherit.
Eve arrives at 221B Baker street upset and on edge and explains to Sherlock Holmes that she is being haunted by Black Thurrick - a Crampus style demon from childhood stories. She claims to have seen him from her window, a dark face with glowing eyes, crossing the estate ...more

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Nov 01, 2019 Mark rated it really liked it

After the last of the Cthulhu Casebooks, Sherlock Holmes and the Sussex Sea-Devils, was published last year, I thought I’d got to the end of James’s entertaining cross-genre series.

So, it was a lovely surprise to get this one arrive through the post – even though it’s a Christmas tale which has arrived before Halloween!

It is 1890 and Sherlock and his friend John Watson are approached by Eve Allerthorpe, whose family seat at Fellscar Keep in Yorkshire appears to be haunted by a demonic spirit – ...more

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Dec 02, 2019 Paperbacks rated it it was amazing

Firstly, James Lovegrove is my go to for a Sherlock Holmes pastiche, no one brings the character to life quite as wonderfully as he does in my view. It's a beautiful book too, under the dust cover the publishers have gone into great detail with an embossed cover and a wonderfully embossed spine to really give it a look of a book published much longer ago, thank you so much Titan Books for sending me a copy for review.

Set, as you would expect, at Christmastime, Holmes and Watson find themselves Firstly, James Lovegrove is my go to for a Sherlock Holmes pastiche, no one brings the character to life quite as wonderfully as he does in my view. It's a beautiful book too, under the dust cover the publishers have gone into great detail with an embossed cover and a wonderfully embossed spine to really give it a look of a book published much longer ago, thank you so much Titan Books for sending me a copy for review.

Set, as you would expect, at Christmastime, Holmes and Watson find themselves in Yorkshire trying to find proof that a Miss Eve Allerthorpe is being tricked into believing she is not of sound enough mind to receive an inheritance. Whilst of course the "demon" of the piece could be interpreted in many ways, the centrepiece around Eve's disquiet is the sinister Black Thurrick, a Krampus style character, straight from her childhood. Her nightmares being rekindled by curious sightings and insidious gifts. One of my favourite passages of the book comes when Holmes recounts all the different traditions like The Black Thurrick from around the world, I found this totally fascinating and somewhat macabre, but this completely ensured that the Thurricks activities seemed perfectly at home with their sinister counterparts throughout history.

Fellscar Keep is our home for this story, it immediately felt eerie and too big for its few inhabitants, but also a fantastic backdrop conjuring up a feast of references for creepy castles in my mind. There was, however, also a warmth with crackling fires and a huge library to scour for clues. For me this is why the authors writing really captures my imagination, playing so well that there are two sides to everything, a light and dark which makes misdirection all the harder to spot, especially when you throw in family drama on top. The history of the Keep itself is also a hugely fascinating chapter, dark beginnings which really are pretty intense and feed into they hysteria that is being created, this was a direction that I didn't see coming at all and it was just fantastic to read. Stories within stories, it's just perfection. There are extra points on offer to those who know their heraldry...

Lovegrove injects great humour into proceedings though too and keeps on top of a large cast of characters well, proving that latterly in the story, large family gatherings being awkward and tiresome were just as much so in those times as they can be now. He is also masterful at setting a scene and creating atmosphere. The Yorkshire countryside in deepest winter, invoking the sparkle of a fresh snowfall at Christmas that we all long for, whilst also using it as a perfect backdrop to a heart stopping set piece of horror story style blinding mists and dark forests. The family members' stories intertwine wonderfully, each of them adding a little extra piece to the puzzle, and the history feeding in nicely too. His deductions are as clever as you would expect, when they are not being reduced to parlour tricks, and offer a timely reminder to sweep your attic floor.

I honestly found this to be a delightful read, and any book that mentions my hometown randomly gets an extra tick in the box for its scarcity! Holmes and Watson's banter is brilliant though and I loved turning every page waiting to discover which cutting comment, sneaky sarcasm, great wit or indeed faux pas, usually by Watson, would come next. This is a fabulous addition to any bookshelf and a great alternative story for the festive season. ...more

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Oct 22, 2019 Swords & Spectres rated it it was amazing

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Growing up … well, when I was about 16, I remember pretending to be sick so I could stay off school and plow my way through the Complete Sherlock Holmes collection that I’d come across. That book (a few shorts aside) was the best book I’d ever picked up and it was one of my saddest days as a reader when I finished it. So, when I got an e-mail advertising Sherlock Holmes and The Christmas Demon from Titan Books it I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Growing up … well, when I was about 16, I remember pretending to be sick so I could stay off school and plow my way through the Complete Sherlock Holmes collection that I’d come across. That book (a few shorts aside) was the best book I’d ever picked up and it was one of my saddest days as a reader when I finished it. So, when I got an e-mail advertising Sherlock Holmes and The Christmas Demon from Titan Books it was impossible to refuse.

I’ll also say that I had a bit of a mixed set of feelings about reading a Christmas novel in October, but it actually felt really good and now I’m well into the Christmas spirit. Sadly it will be a much different Christmas due to living in the modern age rather than Holmes’ time, but beggars can’t be choosers.

My main concern (never having read a book by this author, much less one set in the world of my favourite consulting detective) was that it wouldn’t be any good. I imagined someone trying too hard to fill the shoes left by the death of Sir Arthur. At the very least, I assumed it would be nowhere near as good as the work by Anthony Horowitz. Thankfully, it over-performed and knocked me for six. The long and the short of the previous paragraph ‘thought it might not hit a homerun, but it went and hit two.’

The writing itself is just different enough from Conan-Doyle’s writing to not make it feel like Lovegrove is trying too hard to be the great man, but brilliant enough that it fits the characters perfectly and tells a wonderful story from start to finish (even if a couple of the deductions were a bit too shoe-horned in, but then Conan-Doyle had a habit of that as well, so I suppose it fits perfectly.)

The general plot is that a young woman from a wealthy Yorkshire family comes to London at her wit’s end, claiming to be haunted by a demonic Christmas being known as ‘The Black Thurrick’. She implores Holmes and Watson to come and prove her to be of sound mind for, if she is not of sound mind, she goes without her inheritance. Holmes, spying an easy case because any sane man knows that supernatural creatures are a thing of fairy tales to scare small children, readily agrees.

The overall plot is one that the reader needs to keep a vigilant eye on (much like with any Holmes plot by any good Holmes author). The plot fractures into several different paths and the shrewdest investigator might find themselves at a loss as to how to keep all the threads tied. The book provided me with hours of evening enjoyment and sucked me right into the cold, inhospitable Yorkshire countryside come 19th century Christmas and I loved every second of it.

The characters, for the most part were well-fleshed out and believable. Some of them felt a bit over-exaggerated at times but it didn’t make the book feel bad in any way, shape or form. In fact, they felt over the top in the same way some of Conan-Doyle’s were. I would highly recommend this as not only Christmas read, but a read for any time of the year if you want a good Holmes and Watson tale.

And that cover. Beautiful? Elegant? Both describe it well. All I can say is that it’s the kind of cover that makes me happy I own the physical copy rather than a kindle version.

I hear the same author also has a Homes and Watson series set around the Cthulhu mythos and am very intrigued by that. I will have to get my hands on those books as I seriously need more Holmes and Watson in my life after the tale of The Christmas Demon. ...more

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Oct 16, 2019 Bethxdd rated it really liked it

So it’s mid-October, the spooky season and here I am reading a Christmas story! I am fond of Halloween but I am definitely more of a Christmas lover and this was the perfect story to get me into the festive mood. I loved everything about this enthralling tale – from the much loved crime-solving duo, to the setting, the cast of characters, the sinister Black Thurrick and the haunting of Mrs. Allerthorpe – it’s one that I’ll surely be reaching for again and again.

I was fascinated by the Black So it’s mid-October, the spooky season and here I am reading a Christmas story! I am fond of Halloween but I am definitely more of a Christmas lover and this was the perfect story to get me into the festive mood. I loved everything about this enthralling tale – from the much loved crime-solving duo, to the setting, the cast of characters, the sinister Black Thurrick and the haunting of Mrs. Allerthorpe – it’s one that I’ll surely be reaching for again and again.

I was fascinated by the Black Thurrick and was eagerly eating up Eve’s stories about him. The Black Thurrick is a terrifying tale told to Eve and her brother, Erasmus, at bedtime in a bid to get them to behave. To me, the Black Thurrick was pretty similar to the Grinch; described as evil, a hunched figure carrying a sack slung over its shoulder that punishes children who have behaved badly during the course of the year. The Black Thurrick is said to steal infants from their home, hence the sack. He replaces presents with clusters of birch twigs so when Eve starts discovering them placed around her family’s home, she calls upon Sherlock Holmes and John Watson to find out who is behind this sinister act.

I really enjoyed the vast cast of characters and how the whole extended Allerthorpe family came to visit. It made the story very entertaining at times and added in some great festive scenes. My favourite relationship was the one Eve had with her brother. I loved how close they were – it reminded me of my relationship with my own brother and even though we see each often less often now, we are still really close and have fortunately always got on with one another, even growing up. It was very touching too see how much they cared for each other.

James Lovegrove did a fantastic job with Sherlock and John – as he usually does. In some stories, I feel like John doesn’t contribute much to the story and often ends up being in the way but with The Christmas Demon he was right in the thick of it. He was always there when Sherlock needed him and he was there for characters he barely knew, namely Eve, by comforting her when she was panicking about the Black Thurrick and caring for other members of the household if they were taken ill. I loved this side of John and found a lot of his scenes to be very touching. Sherlock, of course, was his usual self and completely focused on solving the case.

I loved all the interactions between Sherlock and John. A particular favourite of mine was when they are investigating the east wing which is where the ghost of Mrs. Allerthorpe supposedly resides. John voices the possibility that the residents genuinely did experience something uncanny and ends up being scolded by Sherlock for believing in the supernatural. I thought that scene was hilarious and there’s a few like it when John wonders if the Black Thurrick is not simply a scary story told to children at bedtime, but actually a real living creature. I loved how John was much more open to the possibility of supernatural entities but is constantly shot down by Sherlock who is ultimately fearless and entirely certain that the residents are being terrorised by one of their own.

I was expecting The Christmas Demon to be good but I didn’t expect it to capture my attention so quickly. It was an intriguing and gripping story, filled with so many twists and turns that it rapidly evolved from simply being about one creature terrorising an innocent family, to becoming so much more. I loved seeing Sherlock gradually piece things together and explaining how he reached these conclusions. I thought the ending was very heart-warming and I can’t wait to see what James comes up with next! This is a fantastic story and one fans of the originals are sure to love.

*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.* ...more

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Nov 04, 2019 A. Luna rated it really liked it

I often find myself wanting to curl up with a good book. Now that fall is slowly unfurling its child, though quite slowly in Puerto Rico, I couldn’t have asked for a more appropriate book to read in the damp weather than James Lovegrove’s Sherlock Holmes and the Christmas Demon. This story is masterful in the way it manages to conserve the authenticity of the original Sherlock Holmes novels while still giving it somewhat of a modern flair.
Lovegrove’s version of Sherlock Holmes is reminiscent of I often find myself wanting to curl up with a good book. Now that fall is slowly unfurling its child, though quite slowly in Puerto Rico, I couldn’t have asked for a more appropriate book to read in the damp weather than James Lovegrove’s Sherlock Holmes and the Christmas Demon. This story is masterful in the way it manages to conserve the authenticity of the original Sherlock Holmes novels while still giving it somewhat of a modern flair.
Lovegrove’s version of Sherlock Holmes is reminiscent of today’s charming and cocky counterpart. Like the one featured on Sherlock, he lacks social cues, creates social faux pas more than once, but all in all, is truly a sweetheart around those he cares about. Dr. Watson is the same hard but compassionate man with a genuine interest in helping others.
In this instance of Sherlock Holmes, we’re placed right in the middle of a jolly London getting ready for Christmas. After apprehending a red-handed—and red-suited—thieving Father Nicholas, Sherlock and Watson meet a twenty-year-old woman named Eve Allethorpe. She feels that she’s on the verge of lunacy, which is not all too rare for her eccentric family. As a child, her mother would tell her tales of the Black Thurrick, a hunchbacked creature that would come after rotten children after leaving bundles of birch sticks at their homes. Now that bunches of birch twigs have started to appear around the Allerthorpe castle, she fears that her childhood monster has come back to haunt her.
She decides to task Sherlock and Dr. Watson to help her solve the mystery before it’s too late. Is there really a monster hunting her? Is she bordering delusion? Either she loses her mind, or someone loses their life. The case manages to capture enough of Sherlock’s interest. Soon enough, the dynamic duo is on the hunt!
Honestly, I’ve always absolutely loved the original Sherlock Holmes Series. I haven’t read all of the novels but the ones that I’ve finished, they’re absolutely fantastic. Sherlock Holmes and the Christmas Demon does a good job of emulating Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s style, and Lovegrove makes sure to use a “Sunday” vocabulary which adds to the late 19th-century ambiance. It doesn’t feel time-displaced and adds to the authenticity of the story.
As for the plot, it’s just convoluted enough to be entertaining while still making sense. I couldn’t pick up on any plot holes, which is always good. I genuinely couldn’t put it down. The slow burn is clearly evident: the mystery’s end is finished at an agonizingly slow pace. It makes you even more jittery, like wanting to scratch at an itch but you don’t even know where it is. The plot doesn’t give up on itself quickly which in turn makes you want to gobble up the book. I think I ended up reading 200 pages in one day!
The characters are really dynamic so you get a pretty picture of them, even though there are more than five. Small details about each character are cleverly weaved within the plot itself, which makes for a pleasant, continual build-up of each character. This isn’t an easy task, but Lovegrove manages it well. The way in which the author writes also paints vivid pictures of the castle, the landscape, the fear, and the winter chill. Plus, you don’t even suspect the resolution to the mystery until the very end!
If you’re a fan of the brusque detective novel and a lover of slow burns, this book is for you. You’d do good to sit down with a cup of coffee, hot chocolate or tea and start to read it. ...more

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Oct 20, 2019 Museofnyxmares rated it really liked it · review of another edition

*I was provided with a copy of this book by the publisher, in exchange for my honest opinion.

As I'd hoped, this was a humorous, lively and enjoyable read. I haven't really delved too much into Sherlock Holmes books and films, but I've seen enough to know that he's a very interesting and entertaining character, who I can't help but find fascinating. I was so pleased with the characterisation of Holmes in this, and would probably say that it's the strongest aspect of the novel, it was honestly ...more

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Dec 05, 2019 C.J. Bunce rated it it was amazing

Review originally published at BORG.com on December 4, 2019.

Christmas Sherlock?–Holmes and Watson pursue a yuletide murder in new Lovegrove novel

Review by C.J. Bunce

In the Victorian holiday tradition of spending Christmas sharing tales of ghosts and other haunts, comes James Lovegrove′s latest novel, Sherlock Holmes and the Christmas Demon. Another excellent addition in Lovegrove’s long list of new tales of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s hero and his earnest confidante and co-conspirator in sleuthing, ...more

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Dec 07, 2019 John Geary rated it it was amazing

I thoroughly enjoyed this Sherlock Holmes Christmas mystery, very well done with some twists and turns not expected.
Although it is set before The Hound of the Baskervilles takes place, there are many elements of this story that reminded me of Hound - the lonely moors of the Yorkshire Dales, strange goings-on that can’t be explained both inside and outside of the ancient castle known as Fellscar Keep, including an apparently supernatural being that seems to be haunting the inhabitants of the ...more

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Nov 17, 2019 Betcei rated it it was amazing

What a great follow up to Arthur conan doyle's books! I only hope I have time to read the others in this series. Holmes and Watson are approached by a young woman who fears that some one is trying to make her appear crazy, there by resulting in a loss of her inheritance. Set at Christmas, Lovegrove also writes information about traditions that aren't always positive during the season.

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Nov 19, 2019 Harry Bookerson rated it it was amazing

Shelves: sherlock-holmes, standalone, recommend-to-adults, read-in-2019, no-romance

I loved this so much! Pure Sherlockian holiday comfort food with not just one but TWO mysteries.

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Dec 03, 2019 Amanda Shepard (Between-the-Shelves) rated it really liked it

Shelves: adult, book-club

A fun Sherlock Holmes mystery that definitely fits the tone of the original from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. A quick read, but a fun one for Christmas!

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Dec 03, 2019 Luke rated it it was amazing

Shelves: books-read-2019

A satisfying, seasonal and engrossing Sherlock Holmes mystery, an excellent pastiche.

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Oct 25, 2019 B Meadows rated it liked it

Review Coming Soon.

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Nov 27, 2019 Annemirl rated it really liked it

4,5 *
Really lovely book. Enjoyed it very much.

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Nov 19, 2019 Sneha Fariha rated it it was amazing

Amazing book.

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It's So YA: Sherlock Holmes and the Christmas Deamon	1	1	Dec 02, 2019 10:17AM

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About James Lovegrove

James Lovegrove

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James Lovegrove is the author of several acclaimed novels and books for children.

James was born on Christmas Eve 1965 and, having dabbled in writing at school, first took to it seriously while at university. A short story of his won a college competition. The prize was 15, and it had cost 18 to get the story professionally typed. This taught him a hard but necessary lesson in the harsh economic ...more