Warlock Holmes – A Study in Brimstone

This is not the Holmes and Watson you know. Instead of a staunch defender of logic and reason, we have a mad, unobservant warlock with his greatest nemesis locked away in his head. Instead of the capable detectives of Scotland Yard, we have a secretive vampire and a brutish troll. And while Watson remains much the same, the burden of friendship between him and Holmes proves much greater when it turns out Holmes has the power to condemn the world.

Injecting magic into the Holmes canon is an interesting idea, and Denning does an impressive job of carving his own unique path. But he should count himself lucky that A Study in Brimstone is only the lead work in a collection of stories, because it is by far the weakest. The five shorter stories that follow it are punchier, smoother, and altogether more enjoyable, and although that’s partly due to the lead story doing some of the expository heavy lifting, it does make for an uneven reading experience.

That being said, Denning does some remarkably twisted things with the established characters, making each new story an intriguing experience. A Study in Brimstone takes a lot of risks, and many (not all) of them pay off.