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Sherlock Holmes & the Christmas Demon
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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 believ ...more
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 believ ...more
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Hardcover, 375 pages
Published
October 22nd 2019
by Titan Books
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It is part of the Titan Books Sherlock Holmes series.
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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 ...more
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 ...more

There are two types of Sherlock Holmes readers: those who really enjoy big butts and those who lie about how much they enjoy big butts.
But, you can further subclassify Holmes readers based on their tolerance, or lack thereof, for the presence of supernatural chicanery. There are those, and perhaps it’s the majority, who disdain the spiritual and that when it comes to the great detective and ghosts, never the twain shall meet. There are those, however—myself included—who count Hound of the Baske ...more
But, you can further subclassify Holmes readers based on their tolerance, or lack thereof, for the presence of supernatural chicanery. There are those, and perhaps it’s the majority, who disdain the spiritual and that when it comes to the great detective and ghosts, never the twain shall meet. There are those, however—myself included—who count Hound of the Baske ...more

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 memb ...more
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 memb ...more

Now I haven't read any Sherlock books since I was younger and they were Conan Doyle ones which I loved. I was a bit dubious about reading this as I didn't think anything could come close to his, but I was very pleasantly surprised by this book. I throughly enjoyed it and loved how I was transported to back in time. The characters were so descriptive and the story was so well written. I have gone on to reserve a few of his others and cant wait to get my hands on them.
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Eve Allerthorpe, daughter of a wealthy dysfunctional Yorkshire family, enlists the help of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson. She believes her family home, a large ugly and remote Gothic castle called Felscar Keep is haunted by a demonic Christmas spirit called Black Thurrick – a sort of anti-Santa.
Although, of course, Holmes dismisses such supernatural mumbo-jumbo, he does suspect that something criminal is afoot. His suspicion is endorsed when, soon after he and Watson arrive at Felscar Keep, ...more
Although, of course, Holmes dismisses such supernatural mumbo-jumbo, he does suspect that something criminal is afoot. His suspicion is endorsed when, soon after he and Watson arrive at Felscar Keep, ...more

This was just a huge amount of fun and got the characters spot on - great mysteries too!
Full review - https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/bl... ...more
Full review - https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/bl... ...more

A delightfully easy read, and happily for a Christmas hater like myself, there's not too much about the holiday, except at the beginning and the end. I didn't read it around the holiday season, so I would recommend it as a great book for any cold time of the year.
Lovegrove gets the banter between Holmes and Watson just right. It's not a particularly edgy take on the relationship, but warm and compassionate, and the mystery is suitably atmospheric while still being true to the spirit of the canon ...more
Lovegrove gets the banter between Holmes and Watson just right. It's not a particularly edgy take on the relationship, but warm and compassionate, and the mystery is suitably atmospheric while still being true to the spirit of the canon ...more

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 concession ...more
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 concession ...more

OK, not the great Arthur Conan Doyle but, a modern author writing in his style. Based in a creepy haunted castle, this story provides an atmospheric Christmas read. Holmes and Watson have several mysteries to solve. There is the obligatory murder, a haunting, and the presence of an eerie folklore creature that is the opposite of Santa Claus.
A mix of Halloween and Christmas maybe? With two of the best detective characters to hit the print, well worth a read.
A mix of Halloween and Christmas maybe? With two of the best detective characters to hit the print, well worth a read.

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 – t ...more
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 – t ...more

A gripping new case for Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson for the Yuletide season.
There have been many follow-ups and interpretations of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, as well as spin-offs featuring other characters from the canon, both in print and in film and television. Some are widely successful - Anthony Horowitz's two authorised novels and Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss' modern-setting BBC TV series amongst the most notable. James Lovegrove has written several Sherlock Holmes stories si ...more
There have been many follow-ups and interpretations of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, as well as spin-offs featuring other characters from the canon, both in print and in film and television. Some are widely successful - Anthony Horowitz's two authorised novels and Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss' modern-setting BBC TV series amongst the most notable. James Lovegrove has written several Sherlock Holmes stories si ...more

*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 m ...more
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 m ...more

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 Eno
...more

This was one of the better Holmes pastiches that I've read recently, with Holmes firmly rooted in the scientific realm while he and Watson go about solving this case.
Holmes and Watson have just wrapped up a shoplifting case and are taking lunch when they are approached by a well-to-do young lady. Eve Allerthorpe stands to inherit a large sum of money from her maternal aunt Jocasta on her birthday - Christmas Eve - provided that she is of sound mind at that time. Eve's mother had had mental heal ...more
Holmes and Watson have just wrapped up a shoplifting case and are taking lunch when they are approached by a well-to-do young lady. Eve Allerthorpe stands to inherit a large sum of money from her maternal aunt Jocasta on her birthday - Christmas Eve - provided that she is of sound mind at that time. Eve's mother had had mental heal ...more

A Christmas mystery set in Victorian Yorkshire, possibly supernatural goings on, and Sherlock Holmes. What could go wrong? Well…
I can’t put my finger on what exactly what went awry with this book, although I think it suffered from an acute case of trying too hard to emulate Canon, and missing it’s mark entirely because of it. The writing was good, the character voices rang true. The plot and setting captured the atmospherics in Hound of the Baskervilles. Holmes’s methods were about right, but t ...more
I can’t put my finger on what exactly what went awry with this book, although I think it suffered from an acute case of trying too hard to emulate Canon, and missing it’s mark entirely because of it. The writing was good, the character voices rang true. The plot and setting captured the atmospherics in Hound of the Baskervilles. Holmes’s methods were about right, but t ...more

This was the first novel by James Lovegrove that I have read, and it was enjoyable. He kept the flavor of the original Sherlock Holmes stories, he didn't add any un-needed details to Holmes or Watson and did not try to make them anything besides the detectives we have come to love them for being. The supporting characters were multi-dimensional (as far as they could be when they only appear to drive the mystery forward), and the mystery was one that Doyle could have thought of himself. I appreci
...more

Lovegrove has made himself into one of the better and more regular Holmes pastichers in the game today -- not as celebrated as the "estate-approved" Anthony Horowitz novels, but honestly the better for it. I enjoyed the hell out of Lovegrove's first Holmes/Cthulhu book (and just ordered the other two) and this, while lacking in the supernatural, was a delightful Christmas mystery that delivered all of the pleasures one could want from a modern Holmes novel. It manages to feel fresh and keep the
...more

I selected Sherlock Holmes & the Christmas Demon as a seasonal read. Reading over the holidays is one of my most-favorite traditions, and each year I try to read a Sherlock Holmes pastiche, or I revisit the canon.
Although not fully entrenched in the trappings of the Yuletide season, Mr. Lovegrove's Sherlock Holmes & the Christmas Demon mystery involves a folklorian character that deposits birch-twig bundles to miscreant children undeserving of Christmas gifts.
True to canon form, Mr. Holmes and ...more
Although not fully entrenched in the trappings of the Yuletide season, Mr. Lovegrove's Sherlock Holmes & the Christmas Demon mystery involves a folklorian character that deposits birch-twig bundles to miscreant children undeserving of Christmas gifts.
True to canon form, Mr. Holmes and ...more

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 -
...more
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 -
...more

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 wit ...more
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 wit ...more

Well it didn't keep me hanging on the edge of my seat, but it did make me curious enough to pop it up on the "currently reading stack" until I finished it :). I liked the winter vibe of the story and Sherlock's assessments of the characters' personalities.
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To say I’ve been looking forward to this for most of the summer - is something of an understatement.
I adore Christmas, love horror, get an incredible kick out of Victoriana fiction, so to combine all three by none other than James Lovegrove; well, it’s a Christmas dream come true.
The action literally starts with a chase, as Holmes is looking for a jewel thief, stealing pearls from a period-accurate department store.
It doesn’t take long to figure out the villain is a store employee working with a ...more
I adore Christmas, love horror, get an incredible kick out of Victoriana fiction, so to combine all three by none other than James Lovegrove; well, it’s a Christmas dream come true.
The action literally starts with a chase, as Holmes is looking for a jewel thief, stealing pearls from a period-accurate department store.
It doesn’t take long to figure out the villain is a store employee working with a ...more

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 ...more
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 ...more
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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
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
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