My Grave Ritual [Dramatized Adaptation]

Warlock Holmes, Book 3

By: G. S. Denning

Narrated by: full cast, Scott McCormick, Eric Messner, Yasmin Tuazon, Michael Glenn, Colleen Delany, Christopher Scheeren, Patrick Bussink, Terence Aselford, Peter Holdway, Bill Gillett, Todd Scofield

Length: 9 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

"If you ever wondered how much better Sherlock would be if people could hurl hellfire at each other, well this one is for you." (Starburst Magazine on A Study in Brimstone)

As they blunder towards doom, Warlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson find themselves inconvenienced by a variety of eldritch beings. Christmas brings a goose that doesn't let being cooked slow it down; they meet an electricity demon, discover why being a redhead is even trickier than one might imagine, and Holmes attempts an Irish accent. And, naturally, Moriarty is hanging around...in some form or other.

Performed by Scott McCormick, Eric Messner, Yasmin Tuazon, Michael Glenn, Colleen Delany, Christopher Scheeren, Patrick Bussink, Terence Aselford, Peter Holdway, Bill Gillett, Todd Scofield, Steve Wannall, Marni Penning, Bradley Smith, Ken Jackson, Jillian Levine-Sisson, Nick DePinto, Lolita Horne, Jonathon Church, Matthew Ward, Evan Casey, Duyen Washington, Mort Shelby, Rose Elizabeth Supan, Stephon Walker, Jonathan Feuer, Tia Shearer, Zeke Alton, Michael John Casey, Nanette Savard, Richard Rohan, Alejandro Ruiz.

©2018 Gabriel Stephen Denning (P)2018 Graphic Audio, LLC

Absolutely Fabulous!

I've "seen" so-called dramatizations fairly ruin good audiobooks. So when I saw these on offer, I thought, "Oh hell no..."

Then ASiB popped up on YouTube, and I thought, "Why not?" (I swear I'd try anything if it was free...)

As a British friend of mine used to say: "FanTAStic!" I've listened to the original readings of this series several times now. Holmes pastiches are trendy and often tiresome, but the Warlock Holmes stories are sufficiently bent to be fresh. Nevertheless, so many repetitions have made them too familiar. I figured I'd have to go cold turkey (Goose!) for at least a year, before enjoying them again.

Then along come these gems to hilariously revitalize the WH chronicles. As the saying goes, "Less is more", and these wonderful bits of audio theatre perfectly demonstrate that principle. They are the perfect balance of narration, acting, music and sound effects.

I listened to the first 20 minutes or so of a "dramatization" a few years ago, The background music was grating and continuous, the sound effects were loud, unrealistic and obnoxious, and the performances were monotone.

These GraphicAudio "movies for your mind" do it proper. The background music is better than that found on most TV shows, the sound effects are used judiciously, and blend so well with the plot action and performances that they are barely noticeable, and the voice characterizations are spot-on. (In fact, the sound fx are often comical in themselves, in the context of a given scene, being obviously quite tongue in cheek.)

Unfortunately, I can't share any of the myriad of great moments, because I really don't want to spoil the experience for anyone else. As a dedicated fan of this series, I can't recommend these dramatizations highly enough. You won't be disappointed. Without dropping any spoilers, I can tell you that if you are a little jaded with the original readings, you'll find yourself laughing all over again at these productions.

Novelty is wearing off, the humor is less frequent and drama becoming less interesting.

I think the series is just getting worse or maybe the humor is not hitting as much as it used to. There were a few chuckles I got from this but overall I'm found it more difficult to get through my read through with this as the drama just wasn't as interesting and the humor that would usually keep me getting through was infrequent.

Nothing about this book was as memorable, it wasn't bad, just junk food that maybe is losing it's novelty that the first book delivered so well.

I'll keep going though with this series and maybe the next book will reel me back in.