Book Review: December

There are times in your life where the chance opportunities flourish and grant more to you than you could have imagined. This is a book review and I will review my chosen book after I tell you how I found it. If I was not working in a bookstore, if I did not have a late shift, if I was not the person on the floor, if, if, if...then I would not have met G.S. Denning and perhaps I would have never known the sheer comedic joy of reading Warlock Holmes.

Warlock Holmes: A Study in Brimstone.
Unsigned (For now).

I was returning to the customer service desk when I noticed a man standing there and - WRITING in a book. We had authors come in randomly to sign their books before and I wasn't that worried, but I was curious. The first thing he said to me was, "Don't worry. I'm just signing them. I'm the author." So perhaps I did have a worried expression on my face. I said it was alright, we'd had authors come in before and I asked him about his book.

Thus began an entertaining conversation that traversed the realm of Sherlock Holmes to Cons. peppered with anecdotes and tidbits about the cover and events he'd attended. His book was the perfect two-word pitch. "Warlock Holmes." Now what do you imagine that's about?

I am a fan of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's great consulting detective. I've read the original stories many times and I love to learn trivia about it. When I studied abroad in England, the one place I had to visit was the recreation of 221B Baker Street. I've devoted great stores of brain power and space to Sherlock Holmes, but I do not regret a single impulse to devour what I can about him and his writer.

Warlock Holmes can be best described if the world was turned on its head and then hit a few times with a baseball bat. The character of Holmes is not the least bit skilled in investigation. He is like a kicked puppy. I can imagine him pouting with innocent blinking for effect. Despite his inability to logically reason through many things, he is a fountain of mysterious power and a consulter of demons.

Watson, on the other hand, is purely human, but he has the logic and observation skills that Holmes lacks. They make for an interesting pair as Denning rumbles through the plots of the original stories with some rebellious twists and transmutations of demonic proportion.

Each story contains wit and humor and a thread of story that links them together. A Brimstone Thread perhaps? All the familiar characters are there, including appearances by Mrs. Hudson that will make you rethink her oh so minor role in the originals. There is much fun to be had in reading and I will add these books to my shelf to peruse again and again.

As for the signed copies, we only had the second and third in stock. So I put in an order for the first and bought the other two books. One day I shall seek G. S. Denning out and get him to sign the first book, but until now I'm happily reading and laughing maniacally at my good fortune.

You truly cannot know who will come to the bookstore.