Sherlock Holmes and the Miskatonic Monstrosities

The Cthulhu Casebooks, Book 2

By: James Lovegrove

Narrated by: Dennis Kleinman

Length: 10 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's Summary

It is the spring of 1895, and more than a decade of combating eldritch entities has cost Dr. John Watson his beloved wife Mary, and has nearly broken the health of Sherlock Holmes. Yet the companions do not hesitate when they are called to the infamous Bedlam lunatic asylum, where they find an inmate speaking in R’lyehian, the language of the Old Ones. Moreover, the man is horribly scarred and has no memory of who he is. 

The detectives discover that the inmate was once a scientist, a student of Miskatonic University, and one of two survivors of a doomed voyage down the Miskatonic River to capture the semi-mythical shoggoth. Yet how has he ended up in London, without his wits? And when the man is taken from Bedlam by forces beyond normal mortal comprehension, it becomes clear that there is far more to the case than one disturbed Bostonian. It is only by learning what truly happened on that fateful New England voyage that Holmes and Watson will uncover the truth, and learn who is behind the Miskatonic monstrosity....

©2019 James Lovegrove (P)2019 Blackstone Publishing

Lovecraftian Lore ...Be afraid , very afraid....

The idea of Sherlock Holmes and his Medically competent sidekick Dr. Watson fighting the influx of Elder gods is amazingly entertaining. The vocal acting is amazing and the flow of the story is so well directed I listened in one night. Top hats off governor... loved it.

Terrible mash up of genres

This book starred strong but came to a screeching halt. About a third of the book is Sherlock reading a journal. So dull.

Awful

If you’re a true Sherlock fan then stay away from this garbage. It’s an insult to Sherlockians everywhere.

Fantastic!

once again Holmes & Watson battle the Lovecraft Elder Gods and monsters.
as a fan of both.
I can't put these books down.
well written well read.
thank you.

Holmes and the Miskatonic Monstrosities

If you ate a fan of pulp adventures, of Victorian tales and of horror / mysteries, then both the adventures of Sherlock Holmes, and the tales of the Cthulhu horrors will not be new to you - in fact, you might wonder, what if Holmes encountered these as well? Will he be up for the challenge? This tome and its companions answer that query. As a fan of both, it was extremely satisfying to listen (or read) this tale uniting both the Worlds of Conan Doyle and Lovecraft, and what a seamless union it proved to be.

I will search for this book’s companion, as I’m sure to enjoy them as well. Lovegrove’s style gives us a similar feel of Doyle’s ‘narrative’ through Dr. Watson, plus Lovecraft’s penchant for using scientists’ journals to explain the mysteries these scientific minds traverse. I sincerely hope to read (or listen to more adventures), and btw, liked how Lovegrove explains that past tales of Holmes, as penned by Watson, were actually watered down versions of these - otherwise horrific Lovecraftian tales. Dis I already say Brilliant?! We it is! Like I said earlier, a perfect union of literary worlds.

As good as the first.

The second go of this series met me with a resounding "Watch me do it again."

I am entirely pleased with the series thus far. I am saddened to think that there is only one left. This is the type of entertainment I wish continued tripple fold or more. I will have a little hole left behind when I finish the series, that much is certain.

I hated the second half of this book SO MUCH.

First, I love the narrator and will be looking for other books he has read, just not by this author. He occasionally mispronounces a word, but his voice is wonderful to listen to, and he has a seemingly inexhaustable array of character voices, all excellent, to call on. He's great.
The first half of the book was great too. I loved the way the author managed to recast so many classic Holmes tales into mythos tales, it was delightful and well done. In general it was all well done. I was bummed by the death of Watson's wife, because I felt that if we're changing everything up anyway, why couldn't she live and be part of the team? The way the author built it, though, it did explain a lot of things, and fitted perfectly into the story.
Then the second half of the book started. It was endless animal abuse. Endless. Endless. Endless. There was no point to it either, it added nothing to the story, and it went on, and on, and on, and on. I ended up skipping the whole thing second half. And THEN the last straw was the fate of Neiman. He was the best character in the whole story!! I HATED ALL OF IT. So, I won't be buying the last book in the series, or anything else from this author for that matter. If we're going to change everything in the Holmes cannon, and change up pretty much everything in the Lovecraft cannon as well, we can stinking well leave the animal abuse that Lovecraft indulged in OUT. It added nothing and ruined everything. I am so disappointed.

Amazing!

Weaving the stories of Sherlock Holmes together with the supernatural, is something I had not even thought I wanted. But its amazingly well done! If you get a chance definitely read this not only for the story, but for the fantastic auditory performance.

not doyle but quite good

not doyle but quite good...some interruptions in story line, but you can get by those

so bad I can't even give it a rating.

don't waste your time or your money if you are a true Sherlock Holmes fam. it dismisses everything you loved about Holmes and Watson. an outrage to a devoted reader.

A Good Mix of Both Worlds

If, after finishing the first book, you were hoping to get a series of cases where we see Sherlock becoming more knowledgeable and skilled, well this isn't that. What it is, is a neat and well crafted mystery with a rewarding payoff. It actually reminds me a bit of A Study In Scarlet where the perspective shifts to lay out the events that lead up to this point, and it is here where we get a far more Lovecraftian story. That said, there is plenty eldritch lore and creature sprinkled throughout.
It's hard to give a full review without potentially spoiling things so in short; If you liked the first book then it's well worth getting.

Doyle Lovecraft mashup at its best

Fine reworking if a Study in Scarlet and The Valley of Fear with a eldritch overtones.
Wonderfully narrated again.
Can’t wait for the denouement.

Enjoyed the whole series

Atmospherical and reading in keeping with the best of 'adventures for boys' for all who enjoy the genre.

Wow

This has to be the most hideously disgusting book I’ve ever heard. But it’s so good so we’ll written and narrated I loved it.

So good I want it to be real

Great narration, just as you would picture Watson himself.
Having also recently read Lovecraft, and last year also revisiting all of Sherlock Holmes, I bumbled across this series and was astonished at how good a combination the two make.
Highly recommend this, and if like me you are a fan of both horror and detective stories, you will love it.

The Fanfic Deepens

Lovegrove has potential, if he would just write original works instead of... well, this.

It is Derlethian to a fault, where outer gods are relegated to brute mindless beasts stomping things. The plot twist is written in a newspaper article the protagonists read and fail to acknowledge. And the villain...so predictable it hurts.

The story within the story is remarkably good, and if this was neither tied to any names from Doyle's or Lovecraft's works, it would be a good story. Unfortunately, it ends up largely just being mediocre fan fiction in the end.

The well written characters are all Lovegrove's own, and I would read a wholly original novel. I think I'll skip the finale of this one however.