Using characters from some of literatures' greatest books, the author fashions an intriguing mystery. Replete with period details, this books is an enjoyable read for anyone interested in historical fiction, as well as enamored of the works of Mary Shelley, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Jules Verne.

"We are no longer in the age of Charles Dickens or George Eliot, after all. We are modern. And, of course, monstrous..."

It turns out that Dr. Jekyll had a daughter.

The story follows the accounts of Dr. Jekyll's daughter, Mary Jekyll, who is mourning the loss of her late mother. Losing both of her parents has placed her in a precarious position; all of her father's wealth was lost, and a once high-borne lady realizes that before long, she will be destitute.

Stumbling across some old documents and letters, Mary becomes enthralled by the odd history of her father, a scientist named Dr. Jekyll, whom had committed suicide years earlier. His previous entanglement with the unpleasant and even more mysterious Mr. Hyde, leads Mary on a path to try and find him, as evidence appears that he may still be around.

Her searching ends up being fruitful, but in ways neither she, nor the reader could foresee.

Written in a fun and interactive style with both characters and reader, Goss captures the audiance and immerses them into a new mystery told from old tales.

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This retelling is inspired from the classic horror stories of: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Sherlock Holmes, Van Helsing, Dracula (Mr. Renfield,) Frankenstein, Rappaccini's daughter, and Dr. Moreau.

What are these characters (not all) without daughters? Exactly. Nothing!

I'm joking. However, it made for a creative and enjoyable concept. If you are a fan of ultimate shows of "girl power," this might be for you. These women (and girl) create a uniquely proportioned "team" in order to stand up against the mad scientists of old, who brought some of the Gothic horrors into being. Each of them has someone they are looking for---or answers they are seeking to reveal, causing their paths to weave together in ways that fate couldn't have done better at.

The main point of view is written from Mary's standpoint. However, each character quite literally has their own voice in writing parts of the story. I loved the style in which this book was written. I found the characters' interjections refreshing and quite funny---there were a few times I laughed out loud.

While I do not consider this to be a hard core mystery, it definitely draws from the genre as Mary and the "monster" gang (as Diana often refers to them being) assemble and uncover secrets on the hidden organization they are hunting. The combination of femininity, comic relief, mystery, and horror brought a new perspective and light to these well-known stories.

The climax of this story happens at around 80%, so the last portion of the book went on and on. It sets itself up for a sequel, so I believe this will be a series. With well developed characters, and a mission to fulfill, I will be anticipating for more from the women of the Athena Club.

Vulgarity: I believe there is some here and there. Oh wait, yes of course. Diana is in this book.
Violence: Quite a bit, but without much detail.
Sexual content: There are references as prostitutes and prostitution are common, but there is nothing explicit or overly-inappropriate.

3.5 stars.

A big thanks to the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book!

The recent death of her mother, after the death of her father fourteen year earlier, leaves Mary Jekyll in dire straits. With little money remaining and nothing new coming in, Mary must find a way to support herself. But as a series of unsolved, gruesome murders plagues the streets of London, Mary begins to believe her father’s former friend Edward Hyde might be back. Looking to cash in on a reward for the apprehension of Hyde, piecing the clues together, with the help of one famous detective and his Doctor friend, all roads lead to the discovery of Diana Hyde.

Diana’s discovery unveils a mysterious secret society of scientists whose former experiments are all coming out of the woodwork. Together with Catherine Moreau, Beatrice Rappaccini, and Justine Frankenstein, Mary will uncover the mystery surrounding their pasts and the society and hopefully stop a murderer before his next kill.

I feel like it’s a trend right now to kind of go back to the classics. I like Theodora Goss’s take on this trend, however, in how she expands upon the classics. It was a very interesting choice to take the “next generation” of monsters as the case may be and make them the heroines of our story.

I also liked the way in which the story is told. That is, once I got used to it. Strange Case is set up as being told to readers by the girls themselves after the fact, complete with interjections from said girls at various intervals throughout the narrative—which prove to be quite hilarious at times. They’re basically writing down their story for publication. I really felt the distinct voices of each of our main characters.

The characterization of Sherlock Holmes proved to be rather interesting as well. His appearance here just felt off, but then I have to think it’s because of how he’s viewed by our “narrators/writers.” Especially considering that Holmes’ own adventures are conveyed to the masses by Dr. Watson, therefore his characterization is subjected there by Watson himself. I like the idea of perspective that this represents.

Despite Strange Case being primarily Mary’s story, I really enjoyed Beatrice Rappaccini the most. Probably because she’s the character whose classical story I’m completely unfamiliar. I’d say with names like, Jekyll, Hyde, Moreau, and Frankenstein it’s pretty easy to deduce things about the other characters. For those like me: Rappaccini’s Daughter is a short story by Nathaniel Hawthorn about a young woman who, working with her father’s poisonous plants, has become poisonous herself and, sadly, has the ability to kill with a single touch. I think out of the five, she definitely has some of the more difficult experiences, at least right now.

The mystery dealing with the unsolved murders is more of a secondary role to that of the mystery surround the girls’ lives and the society that bred them, and we only crack the surface of that mystery by the end. There are various references to other adventures our group of “monsters” get into throughout the narrative. I hope that they’ll get a chance to share them with us some time.

The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter is a brilliantly clever novel inspired by science fiction and mystery stories from the Romantic and Victorian eras of writing. Theodora Goss brings together Jekyll and Hyde, Frankenstein, Dr. Moreau and Sherlock Holmes in this fantastic world of murder mystery and secret societies and scientific advances left unchecked.

“That was the first meeting of the Athena Club. … Readers who remember their classical mythology will immediately realize its significance: Athena, born from the head of her father, Zeus. We claim the wisdom of Athena, but we identify with her dubious parentage.”

The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter may be the latest in a long line of mashups based off of some of literature’s most famous horror and sci-fi classics, but it possesses a charm you don’t find in a lot of retellings today. The awesome quote above is one of my favorites from the book—which I just had to use to begin my review, because it manages to capture the essence of this book so perfectly, as well as the strength and spirit of the women in it.

As the story begins, we are introduced to Mary Jekyll who is in mourning for her mother, dead after years of suffering from a debilitating madness. Left with nothing to her name, Mary has no choice but to sort through some of her family’s old accounts, only to find that for years her mother had been sending money to a halfway house for “fallen women”. Following this trail, our protagonist is led to Diana Hyde, daughter of Edward Hyde, the man Mary only knows as her father’s former employee—and murderer. Mr. Hyde has been wanted for his crimes for years, and with this new development, Mary has hopes that helping the authorities capture him would mean the end of her financial troubles once she collects the reward.

It is while following up on the case that Mary ends up meeting with the famous detective Sherlock Holmes and his assistant Dr. Watson. As it so happens, the two men are also currently helping Scotland Yard investigate a string of gruesome murders in Whitechapel. Some of the victims, all street women, were brutally dismembered and one even had her brain removed. Could these murders be related to the Edward Hyde? Further digging leads Mary and Diana to find and befriend more women, all of whom have been created through experimentation by a shadowy group known as the Société des Alchimistes: Beatrice Rappaccini, raised by her father to tend to a garden of poisonous plants until she herself became poisonous to others; Catherine Moreau, a beast woman brought to life by her creator’s human-animal hybridization experiments; and last but not least, Justine Frankenstein, reanimated from the corpse of a dead girl by Dr. Frankenstein to be a female companion to his monster.

One part creative re-imagining and one part loving homage, my favorite aspect of this book is most definitely its premise, or the idea of getting the “daughters” of some of gothic literature’s most famous characters together to solve a mystery. Goss gives all the women personalities that let them stand out as unique individuals, like sensible Mary Jekyll who is the de facto leader of the group, Justine whose great physical strength and stature belies her gentle soul, or Catherine whose irreverence and independence reflects the fact she used to be a puma. My absolute favorite, however, was probably Diana—the lovable hellion who just does and says whatever she pleases, much to the chagrin of Mrs. Poole the housekeeper. Then there are of course the nods to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes and even some to Dracula by Bram Stoker. Indeed, if you are a fan of any of the referenced classics, you should have a lot of fun with this novel. It was also very clever how the story even incorporated Jack the Ripper; even though it was done in a very oblique and subtle way, the location and details behind the murders are clearly meant to make you think in that direction.

The structure and format of this tale is also interesting. The book, as we find out early on, is an account of events as told by Catherine Moreau, who among other things is an aspiring writer. For better or worse, she has also allowed her companions to chime in in reaction to everything going on in her manuscript, meaning we frequently get interruptions in the narrative ranging from humorous remarks made by the characters objecting to the way they are being portrayed, to snarky comments about the quality of Catherine’s writing. While this is all done in good fun, I admit that sometimes these asides can get a little excessive and distracting, and it took me a while to get used to them. Granted though, I can still say these are vastly preferable to pesky footnotes.

In terms of pacing, my only complaint was the drawn out conclusion. Goss had it so that each of the women were able to tell their individual stories, and for the most part, these were spread out nicely throughout the book and came in at appropriate times. The only exception was Justine. Her backstory was left until the end after the plot’s climax, piggybacked onto the denouement which I thought was a little awkward. The wrap-up section explaining the formation of the Athena Club could have been shortened too, along with the setup for their next adventure—but I’m not going to grumble too hard on this point. After all, it is foreshadowing that bodes well for the possibility of a sequel, and it’s safe to say I wouldn’t mind seeing more from this world and its characters.

A delightfully vibrant fusion of mystery and adventure, The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter will make you think about your favorite literary classics in a whole new light. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and will be looking forward to more by Theodora Goss.

One of the best I've read this year, a quick and entertaining read but still dealing with several serious issues. Don't miss it!

This is a fantastic romp through an alternate imaginary English history in which Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are based on true events and Sherlock Holmes is a real investigator. What sets this apart is that the women are heroes. And monsters. And monstrous heroes. And, unlike too many women heroes, women work together with other women to save themselves and others. Also Mr. Holmes makes a great sidekick.

Another favorite book for the year, and one so different from any of the others!

The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter is a mash-up that involves characters from The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Sherlock Holmes, Rappacini's Daughter, The Island of Dr. Moreau, Frankenstein, and Dracula.

From this pantheon of some of my favorite classic science fiction/horror novels, Goss plucks characters like Mr. Hyde and Beatrice Rappacini and creates characters like Mary Jekyll and Diana Hyde. She takes incidents from the original stories and recasts them or concocts "new" information and events.

And it works! If you've loved these classics as I have, you will find Gross's novel delightful, but even if you are not familiar with the originals, the story is still fun as these women unite to fight a secret society of power-mad scientists.

My only complaint is that in the first couple of chapters there are too many unnecessary editorial interruptions as the characters give their opinions about what is being recorded. Catherine is the main author, but the characters are all present as the story is being written and want to give their thoughts and assessments. For me, this was too frequent at the beginning and distracted from the plot.

As the story moves on, however, these asides(?) became less frequent and more enjoyable.

What an adventure, what a pleasure this book was! I can't wait for more from Theodora Gross about these women.

Digression: The words "monstrous regiment of women" kept echoing in my head as I read, but I couldn't remember the context. Oh, yeah, that interfering misogynist who railed against female sovereigns because women had no business taking precedence over men, the repellent John Knox. In his tract The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women gave his opinion about female sovereigns ("monstrous" meant unnatural and "regiment" meant rule, not a military division). According to Knox, it was unnatural for women to be heads of state and Mary of Guise, Mary Queen of Scots, and Queen Mary of England had to endure his despicable influence. Elizabeth I detested him. Miserable man.

Anyway, the phrase "monstrous regiment of women" works perfectly well with a different slant in this refreshing and amusing book, as Mary Jekyll, Diana Hyde, Beatrice Rappacini, Catherine Montgomery, and Justine Moritz (bride of Frankenstein), a very different Mrs. Poole than the one in Jane Eyre--work with Holmes and Watson to solve the murders of young women in London. A cadre of unique women who solve crimes.

The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter is a winner in my book.

NetGalley/Saga Press

SciFi/Fantasy. June 20, 2017. Print version: 416 pages.