Friday, January 01, 2021

2021/001: The Affair of the Mysterious Letter -- Alexis Hall

Co-tenant required. Rent reasonable to the point of arousing suspicion. Tolerance for blasphemies against nature an advantage. No laundry service. Enquire S. Haas, 221b Martyrs Walk. [loc. 160]

A Sherlock Holmes/Lovecraft pastiche, with a trans narrator and only the slightest hints of romance. Captain John Wyndham, returning to the cosmopolitan city of Khelathra-Ven after five years spent fighting a war in another universe, is prone to a recurring injury inflicted by an extratemporal jezail, and is struggling to find somewhere acceptable to live. When he sees an advertisement for a co-tenant, he is quick to visit the property, where he makes the acquaintance of consulting sorceress Ms Shaharazad Haas, and encounters landlady Mrs Hive, who infests the attic.

Ms Haas is bored, unpredictable and usually several steps ahead of the more pedestrian Wyndham: but she appreciates his sanguine nature and steadfast loyalty. When her ex-lover, Eirene Viola, enlists Ms Haas' help in a case of blackmail, Wyndham is drawn into a mystery that involves sharks, dead gods, lawyers, vampires, witches, ghosts, a multi-dimensional theatre, and an elegant fishmonger. Also some truly appalling puns (tort law...) and a great deal of witty dialogue.

Ms Haas is a violent, decadent, melodramatic delight, though I don't think she is quite as likeable or compassionate as Doyle's original Holmes. Captain Wyndham, the Watson-analogue, is perhaps slightly too strait-laced, with frequent asides concerning his authorial choices. ("I have taken some licence in representing her use of language in order to protect the sensibilities of my readers.") Yet as the histories of both characters are revealed, it's evident that their past experiences have shaped them -- and that their continued association will change them both.

Very enjoyable, comfortably weird, and utterly different to Boyfriend Material, which was my first encounter with Alexis Hall's work. I liked the playful worldbuilding and the vivid characterisation, and I'd love to read more in this setting.

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