BOOK REVIEW: The Revenant of Thraxton Hall (The Paranormal Casebooks of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle), by Vaughn Entwistle

The Revenant of Thraxton Hall:

The Paranormal Casebooks 

of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 

by Vaughn Entwistle

Publisher: Minotaur Books

Pub. Date: March 25, 2014

Source: NetGalley

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Eeee! I loved this book so much! It was the most fun book I've read all month (I read a lot of books, so that's definitely a compliment).

I love detective fiction set in Victorian England ('VicLit,' I like to call it) but lately I seem to have found all the worst examples of the genre. I was starting to despair. I'm so glad I found this book. It was like a palate cleanser after a bad meal, or in this case, after bad writing.

Not only is The Revenant of Thraxton Hall well written, it's SO MUCH FUN. It's like a Scooby Doo episode for nerdy adults. Vaughn Entwistle has Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Oscar Wilde investigating a murder in a haunted castle. There are secret passageways, spooky portraits, levitating psychics, blind butlers, ghosts, guests wearing masks, and--oh my god!--a family crypt with coffins! Not to mention a mirror maze, a monkey running amok, a woman allergic to sunlight... Oh it's just so much fun I can't stand it!

It may seem strange that I loved this book so much when I criticized other books in the genre for having too many plot points (The Black Country), for being historically inaccurate (Mrs. Poe), for having an ill-conceived ghost story (The Little Stranger), or unrealistic characters (The Mangle Street Murders). So what makes The Revenant of Thraxton Hall different? Simple. IT'S WELL WRITTEN.

If a story is well written it could take place in a unicorn colony on the moon and I'd find it believable. If a story is poorly written it could be an autobiography and I'd question its veracity.

My only complaint is that J.M. Barrie didn't factor into the story as much as I'd have liked. He was with Conan Doyle and Wilde in the beginning, and I think it would have been fun if he'd been with them at the haunted castle. They could be a supernatural crime fighting trio, with Sherlock Holmes showing up as the secret advisor only Arthur Conan Doyle can see.

I'm already fantasy casting the voice actors for a cartoon version of this book (can anyone say Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie?).

This review originally appeared on my other blog, Cozy Little Book Journal.