Those that know me know that I am quite fond of Sherlock Holmes with a side order of weird.
“Sherlock Holmes: The Long Sleep”, by William Meikle serves up an excellent portion of both.
John Watson meets up with an old army comrade at a funeral. The man, Jock Travers, a shadow of himself, tells Watson a tale of terror on the high seas. When Watson relates the story to Holmes, Holmes is keen to investigate and the scene is set for a horror-tinged tale of tomb robbing and its dire results.
William Meikle’s Holmes and Watson are well drawn and the friendship is strong and balanced. Lestrade makes a couple of appearances and is a good, solid character. The original characters, even the minor ones, are well-rounded and feel very real.
An excellent novella that I highly recommend to all lovers of both Sherlock Holmes and weird fiction.
margysmusings 