3.5 stars. This take on the Sherlock Holmes mythos (this time featuring Shaharazad Haas, sorceress, consorter with eldritch horrors, and general all-around bad ass/pain in the ass in the lead role) is a great deal of fun for fans of mystery and fantasy. The fantasy twists elevate this above the usual Holmesian tributes, and the writing was funny enough to make me laugh out loud on several occasions.

My favorite part of this book is John Wyndham, our narrator. I love the tone and style of this narration and character, bringing the book to a charming and stylized level. Add in some magic and a mystery and this book has a lot going for it that is both nostalgic for crime detective enthusiasts and fantasy readers alike.

The rich and lively world that this book inhabits is creative. I like the individual adventures the two go on as they investigate each of the suspects in the case. There's a lot of creative sub cultures and world building done, but I wish there was more. Some of the descriptions are too light and easy for my taste, Wyndham our narrator glosses over some of this new world's history stating that he doesn't want to bore us. While there is some history involved, I think for this level of intricate world, I needed more history and background on the setting.

Hall does a wonderful job creating sub tensions through the book, whether they are personal or political.

That said, while the mystery itself is interesting and then characters leap from the page, the book felt long. The book started off at a strong pace as we investigate each of the seven suspects in their own sub world, and Haas is a great Holmes's type, reinforced by the solid and true Wyndham (our Watson). These two together and their scenes together were the best parts of the book. I love their interactions and Wyndham seeing Haas for who she is, and accepting her idiosyncrasies. Both of their character's voices were very clear and pitch perfect, I could see each of them in their clothing, walking about their fantastical streets.

But for me, the mystery dragged and halfway through I started skimming. I wanted to know what happens but the plot stalled for me. The ending was clever and thought provoking though so I'm glad I satisfied my curiosity.

This was definitely interesting. I enjoyed how the author kept it segmented like the Sherlock stories were originally written in The Strand. Adding the fantasy twist was cool.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book, which I voluntarily chose to review.

The Affair of the Mysterious Letter was such a page turner! I loved the characters overall and how funny this book was, there are many laugh out loud moments, poking fun, and just general humor elements. This was very cleverly written. There are many wonderful LGBTQIA characters including Captain John, a trans-gendered and Ms. Haas a pansexual. I can't wait to read more of Alexis Hall's books!

This delightful frolic from Alexis Hall takes several new turns and twists on the Sherlock Holmes canon, not the least of which is a fabulously dysfunctional new Holmes character!

I have read almost everything Alexis Hall has published/shared in his newsletter. I was really excited for his latest release even though it's not romance. I rarely step out of my comfort genre but I'm always ready to do it with my favourite authors.

This queer SFF take on Sherlock Holmes was just brilliant. It was such a glorious adventure story with some dark elements, wildly imaginative and the beautiful, moving writing I have come to expect from the author.

I won’t go into details of the plot, suffice it to say it’s a Sherlock Holmes type of investigation led by the sorceress Shaharazad Hass and her reluctant assistant John Wyndham. They go on solving the mystery in an exquisitely built fantasy world.

It’s a queer story with a pansexual heroine and a gay trans hero featuring a side f/f romance. There is some flirting and romance vibes the focus of the story is the friendship between Shaharazad and John, built of mutual respect and caring for the other. Shaharazad is real and honest, with a bunch of character flaws, unapologetic, confident and self-indulgent. She doesn’t grow or change, she is what she is and is comfortable in her skin, owning her good and bad sides.

We get the story from John’s POV and I loved how consistently puritanical it was, I loved the formality of his POV, his rigidity and strong sense of right and wrong coming through all the text. john and Shaharazad were opposites in almost all aspects and it was pure joy seeing them work together, starting from being reluctant roommates, becoming partners-in-crime and building a tentative friendship that becomes something really important for both of them.

I liked the adventure and fantasy elements a lot – they were engaging and in some ways too real in their reflection of the cruelties of the present days. The chapters in Carcosa were really hard to read for me as they were a poignant presentation of what a totalitarian regime looks like.

Overall, I enjoyed this book a lot. It's a delightful, whimsical SFF multi-layered story. The meta commentary on writing and storytelling brought me pure joy. The book made me think and feel and laugh and cringe in horror and left a lasting impression in my mind.

This is a hard decision for me.

Even though I loved this author's writing before, actually adored it, I just can't get into this book.

I've been struggling for months now. I even thought that maybe the audiobook would help, but even the audiobook doesn't make a difference. The writing, the characters, the plot, the descriptions and the world - it all left me confused, and I had trouble engaging with any of the characters. Especially the writing feels nothing like the author's previous work.

I can see how the author wanted to add his own flair to the classic version of Sherlock Holmes, the style of writing, wording and overall feel, was different but also confusing. I applaud him for trying something different, but unfortunately it wasn't the right book for me.

I feel horrible, but after so many tries I'm officially giving up.

This retelling of Sherlock Holmes is witty, quirky and set in a fantastical world. It was a challenging read for me with intense vocabulary. I also struggled with the pacing. I enjoyed the characters immensely, though.

This story follows Captain John, a trans-gendered who was hurt in a space war, and Ms. Haas is cleaver, pansexual. So, when Ms. Haas, former lover finds herself in trouble she comes asking for help, leading them to back-alleys, prison, pirates, vampires, gods, sharks, blackmailing and more while solving this mystery. This is a weird, crazy ride, however with so much going on Alexis Hall balances where nothing feels rushed or pushed. This book is witty while being quite dark at times too. I had fun with the homage to Sherlock Holmes, it did have that vibe. I had fun with the bending reality. I did like the writing style, I found it different and neat!
This book is hard to review without giving anything away. I had fun while reading this, and that's what matters.

Captain John Wyndham is a stranger in a strange land. After leaving home because he didn't fit in, he has landed in a new dimension and is in need of housing. Sorceress Shaharazad Hass is in need of a roommate.
Totally amoral, Hass thinks nothing of breaking the law of any land, of summoning gods too powerful to name, and of sleeping with... well it seems like everyone. She also has a quick wit and zero sense of her own mortality.
I requested this ARC when I heard that it was a fantasy retelling of Sherlock Holmes and it was fairly good. It's more touches of Holmes than an absolute homage and they were masterfully done. Not so masterful? The repetitions. Most blatant were the number of times Wyndham mentioned that he was amending the colorful language of his characters. We get it. They're cursing, you don't like it. Wyndham, Hass and the world-building were all excellent. The mystery... I'm still not sure what a third of the book had to do with solving the mystery so it was sort of a drag but overall entertaining read.

Four stars
This book came out June 18
ARC kindly provided by Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

The Things I Loved About The Affair of the Mysterious Letter (not in any particular order):

1. Wyndham. Throughout this entire book, I wanted to hug John Wyndham while also worrying that the colorful language that often comes out of my mouth might shock him and make him slightly uncomfortable.

<i>Indeed, her speech was so colourful that I have found it difficult to reproduce without including at least allusion to the various oaths and curses she scattered so liberally throughout her discourse. I have done my best to conceal the substance of the offending terms from my audience while preserving clarity and character of the lady's speech.</i> *dies*

He's so darn lovable with his genuine righteousness and I LOVED how the other characters became utterly baffled and generally exasperated by his purity and adherence to his moral code. He received so much shit from other characters, particularly Shaharazad, but always handled it with grace. John and Shaharazad's relationship was so fun to read.

Plus, Wyndham's pretty much a badass, but doesn't like to draw attention to himself, so he's basically going around being quietly awesome. Which, again, made me want to hug him the entire book.

2. I appreciate Alexis Hall's sense of humor and it is all over this book. I had many laugh out loud moments. For example, a well-placed "your mom" joke, poking fun at pretentious academics, and allowing that suburbs suck... even in fantasy worlds.

3. This book is queer AF. Hall did something in this book I've never seen before: the use of of non-binary pronouns.

<i>...a Vennish Lord could reach out his, her, their, or zir hand...</i>

I was delighted see this non-binary representation along with a handful of other LGBTQIA identities in this book. I love that fantasy settings allow characters to live in spaces where queer identities are accepted without misgendering or microaggressions. I appreciated that this book delivered that.

4. The world-building. Underwater cities. Travel to alternate universes. Flying on storms.

Alexis Hall is an incredibly smart, witty, talented writer and I have yet to come across one of his books that I haven't loved. The Affair is no exception. I've read a coupe of ACD's Sherlock books, but now I want to go back and re-read them because I'm sure it will only heighten my appreciation for the cleverly written Affair.

<b>*ARC courtesy of publisher, via Netgalley, for a review.*</b>

While I can’t say I’m terribly familiar with the original source material, I’m a pretty big fan of Sherlock Holmes adaptations. While my favorite so far has been the excellent The Tea Master and the Detective, this Lovecraftian take might just knock it out of that spot. It’s utterly weird and completely queer and I really can’t recommend it enough.

In all the time I knew her, Ms. Shaharazad Haas never showed the slightest regard for the rules of society, the laws of the land, or the inviolable principles of the cosmos.


After being injured while fighting an interdimensional war, Captain John Wyndham is forced to retire from battling forces set on the complete annihilation of the universe and accept a position as an alchemist. The reduced pay means he can’t be particularly picky about lodgings, so when he answers the announcement of one Shaharazad Hass, sorceress, he’s willing to be a bit more accepting of her indulgences, blasphemies, etc. It’s not, however, until one of Hass’s former lovers comes to her with a blackmail letter and a plea for help that Wyndham gets drawn into her world of vampires, alternate dimensions, time travel, ancient gods, and unspeakable horrors.

“I have no doubt you think me very foolish. But I shall always offer aid to those who may need it and, on this principle, I shall not compromise.”
Ms. Haas put one hand to her face and the other upon my shoulder. “You are going to get so utterly killed.”


The overarching frame is that Wyndham’s serializing this account in a magazine, and while it feels a bit overdone at times, I think this would be a much less satisfying book without it. Wyndham was born in a Puritanical cult and, despite attending university in (and now living in) the more cosmopolitan city of Khelathra-Ven, he still retains a lot of the morals and a sort of wide-eyed innocence. Wyndham is just utterly charming – there’s a lot of hilariously fastidious deadpan commentary and redactions (heaven forbid a character utter a swear word!). While he views himself as a simple man and completely unremarkable compared to Hass, in truth it’s his principles and bravery that drive most of the plot and make him the perfect foil for her. Hass, for her part, is brilliantly profane and utterly without morals (at least when they don’t suit her), and seeing what bit of insanity she’d come up with next was a ridiculous amount of fun. While she’s the one who’s usually pushing the plot forward through arcane and usually nefarious means, it’s Wyndham who really stole the show for me.

“Oh ——. You’re Shaharazad ——ing Haas, aren’t you?”
“Currently only Shaharazad Haas, but I could be ——ing if you play your cards right.”
“For someone with your reputation, you’ve got some really —— ing cheesy lines.”
“I have two modes. Flirting and turning your blood to boiling lye within your veins. Which do you prefer?”


The world building is excellent, full of magic and incredible detail, though due to its depth can be alternately either confusing due to lack of explanation or overwhelmingly info-dumpy. I find it hard to complain about, though, because I found it all utterly fascinating and desperately wanted to know more about, well, everything. This book is also delightfully queer. Hass is, for lack of a term that explicitly includes relations with dead gods and other eldritch creatures, pansexual and Wyndham is trans. There’s a f/f couple at the center of the blackmail plot, Wyndham flirts with an extremely unsuitable man (and almost has, uh, relations with even more unsuitable men), and besides some barely mentioned transphobia (Wyndham’s family doesn’t approve of him), it’s all very much accepted as not even worth a mention.

Overall, this book is an absolute treat. There are, in true Victorian serial fashion, several references to other adventures that I’m desperately hoping will become future books. If you’re looking for a queer fantasy with a big dollop of mystery and eldritch horror, this is exactly what you need!

I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The Affair of the Mysterious Letter is a really fun novel. Some of my favorite Sherlock Holmes retellings are those with a bit of a fantasy elements. I think it makes them different enough from the original that they can stand apart, and this book definitely does that. I think my favorite part of this novel is actually the writing. It drew me in quickly, and was so much fun to read. Hall creates a great atmosphere that lends itself brilliantly to the story. It was worth reading for that alone.

I also loved that the character based on Sherlock was female. I’m always here for an intelligent female character. The fact she’s a sorceress was just a bonus. I also really enjoyed the LGBTQ+ rep. I thought it was done well in the context of the story. I’m a huge fan of when a cast of characters accurately reflects human diversity, especially within a fantasy novel. That said, I just didn’t love the characters as much as I wanted to. There wasn’t anything in particular I didn’t like, they just didn’t speak to me that much.

While the plot was incredibly creative and fun, I also struggled to get into it at some times. Honestly, I don’t really understand why, because the writing was great. It was a little heavy-handed with the references (it was a little distracting), but it wasn’t something I disliked, per se. There’s just something I can’t put my finger on that kept me from being completely absorbed in this book. But I can definitely see how a lot of people will fall in love with this novel.

Recently returned from the battle against oblivion, John Wyndham is in dire need of affordable housing. He finds it with Shaharazad Haas, a sorceress who is as addicted to mortal peril as opioids. Since the city of Khelathra-Ven exists at a spacetime nexus, there are plenty of Lovecraftian horrors to scratch that itch. Even a mundane task like tracking down her ex-girlfriend's blackmailer exposes Shaharazad, and by extension Wyndham, to sharks, vampires, and actors. A zany Holmes pastiche in an intricately weird universe, dutifully narrated by the prim Wyndham. His promises of further adventures had better come to fruition.

Being an enthusiast of neither Sherlock Holmes nor Lovecraftian fictions, I was unsure whether I would truly appreciate this pastiche of the two. However, resolving to make the attempt, I essayed to read and was entranced by the facility and wit of the author, Mr. Alexis Hall. This tome is most heartily recommended to all discerning readers!

OK, enough of my poor mimicry of Victorian/Edwardian prose, but I wanted to make a point. If the style of writing in the previous paragraph doesn’t work for you, you may want to give this book a miss.

On to the review!

The Affair of the Mysterious Letter is a queer mashup of Sherlock Holmes and weird fantasy. The role of Holmes is taken by the sorceress Shaharazad Haas, and our Watson is Captain John Wyndham, a veteran of the dreadful war against the Empress of Nothing. They live in the city of Khelathra-Ven, famed for its dimensional portals that allow passage between places, times, and realities.

The plot revolves around an attempt to blackmail a woman to keep her from marrying her fiancée. Haas is fairly similar to Holmes—well, if Holmes possessed eldritch powers, that is. But she’s got his talent for rational deduction and his seemingly amoral nature. Wyndham, the narrator, may be even more of a stick than Watson. (His people seem to be similar to the Puritans of Cromwell’s England, except they rebelled against an immortal witch king rather than poor old Charles I.) Wyndham’s priggishness might be annoying, except it makes him an excellent straight man for much of the humor of the story.

And it is so, so funny! I truly don’t like Sherlock Holmes or Lovecraft, but I loved this book. I didn’t care so much about their case, except as a vehicle for the author’s clever storytelling and sense of humor. I’m tempted to include some of my favorite lines, but which to choose? I’d wind up reproducing half the book if I tried. Perhaps I should just note the running joke of Wyndham’s refusal to include profanity, and of course his omissions just serve to highlight it, every single time. It’s a game of fill in the blank at some points!

Given the fantastical nature of Khelathra-Ven, gender and sexuality aren’t really worthy of note to the denizens of the city. After all, when your landlady is a sentient hive of wasps inhabiting a male corpse, gender seems a bit irrelevant, doesn’t it? Beings may be he, she, they, or it (or other pronouns as desired), and it’s best to be polite to avoid trouble. From his description of his background, John himself is trans, part of the reason he left his repressive homeland behind. While there’s no romance to speak of in the novel outside of the affianced women, the reader does get a glimpse of a rather charming young man who I suspect might be a love interest in future adventures.

I don’t doubt that there will be more adventures. This book is a treat, and it’s going on my list of best books of 2019. In fact, right now, it’s at the top!

A copy of this book was provided through NetGalley for review; all opinions expressed are my own.

This is what amounts to the old days of Sherlock Holmes adventures, but with a mean sorceress as the Holmes character and her Dr. Watson is a bit of a too earnest Captain who got injured in a war. There's a bunch of colorful characters that do help round out the cast, including a smart ass young lady and her fiancee for which the mystery revolves around, and a twist that only our grouchy sorceress was able to deduce. Some readers would have been able to put the clues together, but seeing the characters' reactions to the big reveal was pretty funny.

I thought this book walked the fine line of knowing its a bit of a spoof on the Sherlockian Adventure, and being just serious enough to let us care about the characters enough. It feels like the Brandon Fraiser The Mummy movie in that sense. In some cases it pulls it off, but in others it doesn't. There is a ton of exposition told here, as Alexis Hall puts a lot of effort in getting the base line of the world building, but that does drag the story a little bit, and does throw off some of the more snappy dialog.

If anything, this is just a really good popcorn read, and if you're a fan of copious amounts of dry wit and mystery adventure with a bit of fantasy thrown in, then this will be for you. Just be prepared for some draggy parts that slow down the pace a little bit for my liking.

“I am the sorceress Shaharazad Haas. Being uninvited is sort of my thing.”

“That seems like it could get one into rather a lot of trouble.”

“Getting into rather a lot of trouble is also my thing.”

Alexis Hall is one of those rare authors whose stories I’ve found so delightful at times that beginning this newest title was like ripping open a gift from a familiar traveler: contents unknown, but sure to be magical. And The Affair of the Mysterious Letter was certainly that.

As has been the case with several other titles by this author, it was helpful to keep a variety of reference materials nearby (which I love) while reading this narrative. There’s simply so much here that I kept getting happily sidetracked. Multiple universes, sky-pirates, time travel, unknown gods, sunken kingdoms, alien creatures, opera and hypocrisy, sorcery and blasphemy, etc., are each accounted for and then some. Yet, all of this is the background for a delightful whodunit that any Sherlock Holmes fan might enjoy.

The Affair of the Mysterious Letter starts with a pertinent and retrospectively sweet forward by our narrator, Captain John Wyndham, a man of “unremarkable public reputation” who is actually entirely wonderful. After escaping his severe, religious upbringing by attending university, then being wounded in battle, he finds himself in the company of Shaharazad Haas, a sorceress of somewhat questionable character. From here, the real journey begins, thoroughly upending Captain Wyndham’s life forever—a fact he never regrets.

Shaharazad Haas, unlike the mild-tempered Wyndham, is so astonishing in every respect that she really should be experienced straight from the page. Even early in the story, I realized I didn’t need to try to empathize with her or understand her directly, but was content instead to rely on John’s footpath-following awareness. Delightfully irreverent and outwardly omniscient, Shaharazad is as singular a character as I’ve seen, and, aside from truly caring about her, John gets to be more just by being in her orbit.

With The Affair of the Mysterious Letter being a mystery, it would be both unfair and self-defeating to go into too many details in a review. Shaharazad and Wyndham each play recognizable roles in that the latter is a willing and devoted participant against whom the former can refine her hypotheses, excessive drug use and mortal danger notwithstanding. Mainly, I thought the entire exercise was just an awful lot of fun.

Something else I thought worth mentioning is that a significant part of The Affair of the Mysterious Letter is fairly dark and revolves around the fictional kingdom of Carcosa. As the entire narrative is riddled with names, creatures, and other connections to it, I feel obligated to at least mention that some readers might find Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow (which is free via the Gutenberg project) of interest as secondary material.

In the end, I enjoyed The Affair of the Mysterious Letter tremendously. Nothing much in the imagination off limits, even when it flirts with madness, and the cultivated loneliness of Shaharazad was a little painful from time to time. But, there’s also plenty of humor and excitement, and romance, although I think the best of that part is so understated that it often slipped through my fingers far too quickly. The author handily gathers the threads of adventure and flings them, wide and sparkling, for us to follow, making The Affair of the Mysterious Letter one to keep.

Setting a Sherlock Holmes retelling in a different world with a sorceress-as-detective and a highly-reserved, trans, former army captain doctor as her companion and biographer was certainly an interesting idea. Hall writes incredibly well, nailing a 19th century voice and sentiment in a very scifi/fantasy setting. It was such an elaborately dense world that the descriptions were both impressive and made my eyes glaze over at times-- hard to have no sense of what the various political, magical, and cultural rules are when you're trying hard enough to keep up with the plot. Worth picking up if interested in a remix on the familiar tone of a Watson-esque narrator in fun and futuristic scenarios.

Sherlock Holmes as played by Shaharazad Haas and Dr. Watson as played by John Wyndham. Two very different people who end up as roomies.

A list of Miss Viola’s past, er, complications (i.e. the suspects) provides the map to tracking down a mysterious blackmailer. As each suspect is ticked off by way of an altogether too adventurous adventure (life and limbs are always at stake), Dr. Watson learns more and more about his new roommate. That is, she is absolutely insane. And brilliant. The adventures serve to develop the characters, describe the ridiculous multiverse they live in, and showcase the authors creative mind.

In the end, the only clue they needed was offered quite early in the book. I snatched it there and was not disappointed to learn I knew the blackmailer all along, though motive was not revealed to me until the end.

Ultimately, most of the adventures with the suspects proved fruitless in identifying the culprit and were a waist of my reading time — except for the aforementioned outputs.

Still a fun read, though and I can give the book 4 stars for being extremely inventive and wonderfully weird.
Through Netgalley, the publisher provided a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

With all of the many Sherlock Holmes adaptions, re-imaginings., and twists out there, why should you pick up this one? Because The Affair of the Mysterious Letter, a Lovecraftian, queer, and all out weird take on the Holmes mythos, is so very fun and different even those who loathe Holmes (Moriarty, perhaps?) would enjoy a brief visit to its world. Scheherazade Haas, infamous sorceress and occasional detective, meets John Wyndam, former soldier and avatar of respectability, and their reality may never be the same. Dark gods, vampires, police, and Carcosan revolutionaries populate the hallucinatory setting, with time portals and dinner parties in good measure. A bewildering and fascinating escape.