Warlock Holmes: A Study in Brimstone by GS Denning
You might have read Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes a Study in Scarlet, so you will know what you're getting yourself into with this classy spoof where Dr Watson has been shot in action in Afghanistan only to return to London a broken man, hopeless, injured and destitute. His only hope is in boarding with another man if he doesn't want to starve to death. However, a good solution appears to Dr Watson, he doesn't take into account that this Holmes is a warlock, not a man, with Torg Groggson, a house-proud ogre who can be seen on the front cover sporting a tie and wearing his underpants!
And while Sherlock Holmes as the genius who put Lestrade in his place on many occasions as far as solving crimes was concerned, and scuppered the evil Professor Moriarty's cruel plans and prevented Colonel Sebastian Moran from causing any more havoc than he could, Warlock Holmes has yet to prove himself useful. Whereas Holmes is the genius and Watson the buffoon, here, Watson is the one who can deduct even the most unusual clues and bring them to a conclusion. This is where it is obvious that Dr Watson can prove useful to this Holmes who doesn't have much going for him other than having the power of a thousand demons and Moriarty's spirit trapped in his mind, as Watson ends up being his stabilising factor.
Dr Watson might think he now lives in a luxurious place, but the strange company he keeps and the madness he possesses all point out he is not a normal man: prone to outbreaks of happiness and sadness, he sounds like he has a crazed type of manic depression, making Watson doubt whether it was a good idea moving in with him. Leaping around in a mania, Holmes plays the accordion (badly) at all hours and Watson copes with his habits all the time, no matter it it's day or night
221 B Baker Street might be the perfect place for Watson to live if it weren't for the weird note writing ogre, toast rack loving Holmes, vampire Romanian Lestrade and Mrs Hudson, who Watson thinks is more dangerous than Holmes.
Warlock Holmes: A Study in Brimstone is part fantasy, part occult and all humorous from the pen of GS Denning who if readers like this one will be having another published in the same series next year: The Battle of Baskerville Hall.
