Sherlock Holmes & the Christmas demon - James Lovegrove

The new Sherlock Holmes novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Age of Odin.

It is 1890, and in the days before Christmas Sherlock Holmes and Dr John Watson are visited at Baker Street by a new client. Eve Allerthorpe - eldest daughter of a grand but somewhat eccentric Yorkshire-based dynasty - is greatly distressed, as she believes she is being haunted by a demonic Christmas spirit.

Her late mother told her terrifying tales of the sinister Black Thurrick, and Eve is sure that she has seen the creature from her bedroom window. What is more, she has begun to receive mysterious parcels of birch twigs, the Black Thurrick's calling card...

Eve stands to inherit a fortune if she is sound in mind, but it seems that something - or someone - is threatening her sanity. Holmes and Watson travel to the Allerthorpe family seat at Fellscar Keep to investigate, but soon discover that there is more to the case than at first appeared. There is another spirit haunting the family, and when a member of the household is found dead, the companions realise that no one is beyond suspicion.

James Lovegrove is the New York Times bestselling author of The Age of Odin. He was short-listed for the Arthur C. Clarke Award in 1998 and for the John W. Campbell Memorial Award in 2004, and also reviews fiction for the Financial Times. He is the author of Firefly: Big Damn Hero with Nancy Holder and Firefly: The Magnificent Nine, and several Sherlock Holmes novels for Titan Books. He lives in south-east England.

"I can't imagine a cozier new book for fans of classic mysteries to curl up with as winter looms, and sincerely hope this book finds its way into many a mystery-lover's stocking as Yuletide approaches" - The Frumious Consortium

"If you're a fan of the brusque detective novel and a lover of slow burns, this book is for you...I highly recommend it!" - Her Campus

"a perfect blend of mystery and speculative fiction" - Risingshadow

"compelling and inherently fascinating"-Midwest Book Review

"an outstanding, exciting mystery story, worthy of a place next to the greats, Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, etc" 4.5* - Pop Mythology

"an ample serving of curiosity and cleverness, and a side of the supernatural" - Borg.com

"writing so familiar that you could imagine Conan Doyle penning it himself" - The Crime Review

"one of James Lovegrove's talents seems to be creating the atmosphere of Holmes from Doyle's writing" - pop.edit.lit

"Lovegrove has a great grasp of Holmesian language as well as how 1890's London and its environs worked...it feels like a natural extension after reading Doyle's work" - Girl Who Reads

"always more than a Sherlockian romp, though what an exciting, well-paced, often humorous, arguably Gothic romp it is" - Reviewing the Evidence