I can half heartedly reccomend this with serious caveats.Problem one. It is really a one-trick pony. OK. You get it. Holmes vs. various mythos creatures. This looks great on paper but does not sustain a book. If you are really interested, however, and since many of the stories are entertaining and a couple actually thought provoking, then buy it and read no more than one story a month, maybe every 6 weeks. This isnt only because of the limitations of the idea, but also because all but two authors chose (generally successfully) to mimic Doyles/"Watsons" writing style.
Problem two. A disproportionate number of stories are based on The Shadow over Innsmouth. One that isnt, "The Curious Case of Miss Violet Stone," is, as has been pointed out by a previous review, based on The Shadow out of Time. This is one of the two best stories in the book. A few stories seem headed off down that sidetrack created by August Derleth where there was a chance in fighting back and winning with Help from Outside. In HPL doom was eventually inevitable and there was no Help available.
"Death Did Not Become Him" is very tenuously mythos being more related to the story of the Golem and Cabbalistic mysticism with a pretty lane excuse given for the connection.
Most of The Uspeakable Old Ones are named in various chants and so forth, but few put in an appearance. In the original HPL the power of suggestion hightened the suspense. Here it is merely disappointing. Shub-Niggurath has a cameo and I think (based on precious little evidence) that Nyarlathotep has some off-stage schtick. Most disappointing, Chthlhu Himself is totally AWOL, replaced by innumerable aquatic hybrids.
"The Case of the Antiquaritans Niece," is vaguely related to "The Dunwich Horror."
The best story is by Neil Gaiman. More or less connected to At the Mountains of Madness, it also reminded me of the wonderful Kim Newmans Anno Dracula books.
Its a nice idea, and should sell well - after all Cthulhu addicts and Holmes addicts will buy almost anything. Certainly something I had to own.
However these kinds of strories are notoriously easy to write badly, and this anthology has its fair share of stories which take the easy way out. For example. Holmes is already a Mythos scholar, Holmes is convinced of the supernatural with astonishing ease, Holmes discovers some terrible secret and thats it. Bees get mentioned a lot.
There are some good stories here as well. Some even try to do something a little different. Many people even do a few reasonable lines in deduction, although we see more of Holmes the actiton hero, than Holmes the thinker.
On the whole if you like the idea of this book, you will probably not be that disappointed. I doubt you will feel either the sense of unearthly terror and unease expected of Lovecraft, or the delight in reason and observation expected of Doyle, but you will have fun.
lt;BR>Really if I gave Doyle and Lovecraft 5 stars (and if so what do you give the greats?), then I should give this 3, but in amazonian 3 usually seems to mean that you think the item is hopeless, so it gets 4 stars - as its by no means that bad.
Three stars does not mean unreadable. Thats what 1 is for.
Sometimes you cannot eliminate the impossible