This book was received as an ARC from Berkley Publishing Group in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

I was super excited to read this book because Historical mysteries are very popular in our library and I knew our patrons will be ecstatic to know that one is about to be released. The Affair of the Mysterious Letter tells the story of Captain John Wyndham post-war looking for a place to live. While searching for a home he comes across this letter that was addressing an affair of one of the former lovers of his housemate. This letter leads to witchcraft, pirates, and even encounters with sharks that now Capt. Wyndham is involved with. Each page was a new twist that was a huge shocker to the plot. Each chapter kept you invested and wanting to know who this mystery blackmailer is and will Captain Wyndham catch him once and for all.

We will consider adding this title to our mystery collection at the library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.

For fans of Doyle and Lovecraft, finally here is a story that brings them together in the perfect mix (with a small dash of Hercule Poirot thrown in for taste). Sherlock Holmes becomes sorceress Shaharazad Haas, and London is replaced by Khelathra-Ven, a city where dimensions, time and consciousness may not be one and the same. The mystery is a classic, two lovers beset by a blackmailer, but the possible culprits include a playwright, a gang leader and possibly a vampire. I also loved the fact that the characters did not exist in the binary world H.P. Lovecraft would have preferred, but rather in a world where there is a lot of diversity and the book is inclusive of different sexualities and gender identities. I think the added religious background of Wyndham (the Watson in this story) brought an interesting conversation to the work which added to the character and his relationship with Shaharazad.

Overall, this was an exciting and original twist on the classics of detective and other-worldly horror fiction, one which fans of either would really enjoy. The first in what is certain to be a series, and a one not to be missed. The writing style, humor and world-making is sure to entertain and intrigue readers.

Alexis Hall has created a delightfully quirky sci-fi/fantasy, gender-swapped, bisexual version of the beloved Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. In this novel, infamous sorceress Scheherazade Haas solves mysteries and gets into exciting adventures with her ex-space army captain, John Wyndham. Both characters are true to the original, yet unique enough to seem like an entirely new duo set amid a space-faring cosmos. A lovely addition to any scifi or queer bookshelf!

Absolutely delightful (and often laugh-out-loud funny) adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes series. Highly LGBTQ friendly and delightfully Lovecraftian, this novel explores the first case of Captain John Wyndham (Watson) and the consulting sorceress Ms. Shaharazad Haas (Holmes). I dearly hope this book is the start of the series!

I enjoyed "The Affair of the Mysterious Letter" for a lot of reasons, the main one being it was just fun. Told through the recollections of Dr. John Wyndham, this Sherlockian novel follows the exploits of Shaharazad Haas, sorceress supreme, as she and her co-tenant Wyndham search for the blackmailer of Eirene Viola, a former partner/lover in crime of Haas. Alexis Hall does a splendid job of capturing the verbose style of Dr. John Watson in Doyle's stories, though I recommend having a thesaurus handy while reading as there are quite a few words used that are uncommon outside of standardized tests (which is still in keeping with Doyle's original style).

In addition to capturing the style of Doyle, Hall brings their own ideas and mythologies to the classic duo, including Cthulu-esque monsters, Dungeons and Dragons (shout out to Strahd), and a slew of other references and characters that nevertheless feel quite in keeping with the story Hall tells.

Finally, I fully appreciated the representation in this novel. Hall has written other queer fiction, but while there are queer characters (including trans, pan, and bi) their sexuality simply is, rather than being a contentious part of the story, and for that especially I enjoyed this book.

Possible spoiler below:

My only complaint is that you never find out who the husband is. I have theories, but they are never confirmed. I hope that Hall writes more adventures of Haas and Wyndham because I really want to know!

Imaginative take on a Sherlock Holmes adaptation. Made me want to hear more from this weird world...

When I read the blurb of the book, I thought this was a great melding of mystery and fantasy genres. The descriptions and some of the word choice was distracting and made it difficult to get into story.

Holmes and Watson, but where Sherlock is the sorceress Shaharazad Haas. The book is (of course) narrated by Ms. Haas’s housemate, the fumbling Captain John Wyndham, whose gentle sensibilities frequently require him to to censor his account. This is a queer fantasy world, with sky-pirates, vampires, underwater cities, necromancers, fishmongers, and luxury express trains. It is weird and ridiculous and I loved it.