Sherlock Holmes and the Highgate Horrors

Is there any joy more profound than a series you thought finished getting an unexpected sequel? 

OK, yes, it's something of a double-edged sword. What if it's bad? What if it rewrites the ending? What if it completely destroys your affection for the series overall? 

Sherlock Holmes's fans are more familiar with this feeling than any, with Conan Doyle famously and reluctantly bring the character back from the dead at public demand. While not quite on the same level of international acclaim, the unexpected announcement of a new book in James Lovegrove's Cthulhu Casebooks had much the same effect on me as Sherlock's return from the dead did on his adoring fans. I was all a flutter, and rushed to mark the Halloween release date in my calendar while retweeting the announcement with a thrilled 'TAKE MY MONEY!'

The Cthulhu Casebooks were an unexpected delight - I had one of the best times I'd had with a Sherlock pastiche in years. The horror was dark but the author's knowledge of Sherlock Holmes was so perfect that he could blend it in seamlessly. The 'scientific' nature of Lovecraft's universe was also a good fit, meaning that Holmes never had to lose his logical nature, only theorise on the cutting edge of a new science.

I enjoyed the books so much that I wanted to know more of Lovecraft's world (not of Lovecraft himself, obviously, who was vile) and so a forced my way through the sometimes interesting, often dull, always racist Necronomicon and then on to many more interesting Lovecraftian stories by modern writers. 

Thus I came to the fourth book with not only a passion for Holmes's universe, but with an understanding of Lovecraft's too. 

In it, Holmes and Watson are called to Highgate Cemetery, where several corpses appear to have clawed their way up out of their graves. A series of interconnected cases follow, covering fifteen years of their life. Irene Adler's spectre is always just out of reach, and there are plentiful cultists and mad scientists throughout. Eventually everything comes together, in a plot that I suspect was strongly inspired by Doctor Who's The Unquiet Dead. 

Unfortunately, I struggled to get into the book because it came out in the midst of my reading slump. Writing that piece helped lift the fog, and about a quarter of the way in, my passion for the series returned. I was frustrated with the interconnected stories format for a while - it not being a favourite of mine - but as everything came together I found the disappointment I'd been feeling melting away into excitement.

And then Lovegrove genuinely shocked me: he wrote the best 'goodbye' to Sherlock Holmes that I've ever read. 

As the case wraps up, Sherlock sits Mrs. Hudson down with tea and gives notice. He is gone within days leaving a shocked Watson to rush over to 221b and find all traces of their life removed, excepting the 'V.R' on the wall. Their last adventure in Sussex sees the threads of the story wrapped up, as they face down their foe as two physically distant but affectionate old friends, with Holmes frail and yet mellowed. 

It was unexpectedly powerful, and characteristic of a series that has never shied away from dark places. It's incredible that a finale that sees Irene Adler transform into a giant hulking beast somehow manages to deliver the most touching, gentle of farewells. 

It's Irene Adler who provides the only controversial note of the book. While just about every adaptation misrepresents her, it's ironic that this is a story that is faithful to her character and relationship with Holmes, whilst also allowing her to be a shapeshifting ally of an alien race. Her ending, however, felt a little forced and perhaps was the only hint of the author wanting to tack something of a Happy Ever After onto an ending that is far heavier on the bitter than the sweet. 

Whether Lovegrove is 'done' with the series (as his semi-fictional author notes suggest) remains to be seen, but it would be strange to write so final an ending and then backtrack. If we are lucky perhaps we will get some bonus short stories, but if not, I am ready to fondly close the page on my introduction to Lovecraft. 

 

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