More than a hundred years since the last Arthur Conan-Doyle story was published Sherlock Holmes remains as popular as ever.
Cleverly retaining the voice of Sherlock's creator, Christian Klaver, enhances the great detective's adventures with many iconic characters from other great authors of the era: Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker, Robert Louis Stevenson and H.G. Wells.
A 'Boy's Own' plot enables the author to up the tempo for a contemporary readership. There are plenty of liberties taken with the characters 'borrowed' from other authors but I can't help thinking they would all appreciate their characters being kept in the forefront of quality fiction.

Simply described, this is yet another Sherlock Holmes pastiche and not one of the better ones, although not the worst either. As a historical fiction book written today, it is much as many of it's kind, with modern values, views and mores that were by no means those of the time of the book's ostensible setting, which would appear to be late 19th Century. In fact, in calling this book historical fiction is a misnomer, as it fits more within either the supernatural fiction genre with it's vampires, or the fantasy genre with it's monsters. The historical aspect is rather 'by-the-way'.

The author has had a good attempt at characterisation but his Holmes and Watson are very far off the originals. The characterisation just doesn’t quite hit the mark This Holmes seems to conduct most of this investigations by sending out telegrams and then simply assessing the results. He doesn’t seem to actually go out to do anything. The Dorian Grace backstory is sketchy in the extreme and extremely fanciful Even though this is a work of fiction - and fantasy fiction at that - it requires way too much suspension of disbelief disbelief. Indeed, the entire situation and plot of this book is so outlandish that it is difficult to take it seriously.



Finally, the author's explanation of terraced houses in London was rather quaint, and clearly written by someone who has seen one, let alone been inside one!

Boring. And badly mistitled, as this has more to do with The Island of Dr. Moreau than Dorian Gray.

As others have pointed out, this is volume 3, so starting here, while possible, will spoil some of the major revelations of the previous books. Although I found all of them a chore to get through. It astounds me that with so many other people's characters used, they're all such a struggle, due to slow pacing. When something exciting does happen, it's overwritten and stretched out so as to kill all my interest.

An intriguingly unique read, though it took me a while to get back to because it's slow to start and a little confusing.

This one was... different. I went into this one not realizing it was a series and for the first couple of chapters I was really confused. When I settled in and understood most of the nuances, I enjoyed this odd take on Sherlock Holmes.

I found this piece to be exceptionally well-crafted, and I'm eagerly anticipating the opportunity to delve into more works by this author. Given its potential popularity among our library patrons, we're certainly looking forward to adding it to our collection

This was a fun and different take on the classic Sherlock holmes we all know and love. I was really excited to read this and it did not disappoint! The characters were fantastic, the plot surprised me and I had a great time reading!

Wow this was really different! I have enjoyed so many retellings of Sherlock Holmes, but none have included the horrific side as this one.

New to this author, he leads us in the Victorian Era with Holmes and Watson going to the newly arrived Circus of Amun-Ra with tickets given to them by Mycroft. Of course he never does anything just out of kindness.

Murder and a cast of unexpected characters bring this book full circle to a startling end.

'To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all'

I requested this book as I will read anything associated with Dorian Gray although I would not classify this as a Dorian Gray retelling as there is only a brief nod to the original story.

This was a very unique concept; a mash up of Sherlock, Dorian Gray and Dracula. I didn't realise this was part of a series when I requested and started it; however, this did not take anything away from the experience. The author gives enough background from previous books so that it does not affect the plot of this particular storyline. I must say, I am now interested in reading the previous books.

The story is told mostly from Watson’s POV in the form of journal entries and it is really easy to read. The pacing starts off a bit slow but as the mystery is unravelled it moves at a quicker pace. There is a lot of sleuthing although Sherlock himself takes a more secondary role. It is heavily plot driven and I enjoyed the inclusion of supernatural elements as I believe this raised the stakes significantly.

It ended up being a very full cast of characters, who I won’t mention for avoidance of spoilers, who were very entertaining and made for a weird and wonderful story. However, as the story was heavily plot driven, I do not believe that the characters were fleshed out enough of me to become invested in them.

The crux of the story is thought provoking and makes you question what it means to be human.
This will be great for mystery, classics and Sherlock fans.
I give it a rating of 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Thanks to Netgalley and Titan Books for providing me with an e-arc.

I can read anything which promises space/storytelling about Holmes, and Klavier, the author of this one (part three of a series) knows that world inside out. During first prions, I have to admit the narrator's voice, and my startling discovery that Watson was now a vampire in this world fucus me on thinking about him . The wonderful circus performers who are notvwhat they seem, is at the core of the story ..and the famous Dorian Gray dilemma of appearing what you are not, played out here in entertaining ways. Other victoriana figures appear .. really, well done plotting and descriptions, for terrific light entertainment.

It’s time to indulge a little but as an English graduate I’ve always had a soft spot for Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Grey (and despite mixed reviews the movie with Ben Barnes didn’t hurt either). I’ve also always enjoyed Sherlock Holmes and Doyle’s stories. So when I learnt there was a book that planned to combine those two literary characters (and Watson of course) I was close to doing a signature Snoopy Happy Dance…If you can’t tell I was extremely excited to read it and I am even more excited to say that this would get ten out of five stars if I could.

Firstly I loved the writing. It is the perfect mixture of horror, action and crime. I was also pleasantly surprised how well the characters are written in the sense that Klavier makes them true to the original but also expands on them. On top of this it isn’t just a retelling or an alternative universe as such. There are numerous twists and turns and references to other works of the time which made my little geek heart happy. Honestly there is so much going on in this novel but not enough to confusion you, or rather Klavier keeps hold of everything together so you always know what is happening.

I never like spoilers but it is safe to say that if you like horror, mystery and literary fiction of the fin de siècle period you are going to love this. I was hooked from the start til the last.

***Thank you to Titan Books for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley. My review contains my honest thoughts about my reading experience.***

Sherlock Holmes & Dorian Gray was not really at all what I expected. I requested a review copy because I like the two title characters and was curious about how the two of them would work in a mashup together. It ended up being a mashup of all sorts of classic characters, though, which was cool but not really what I wanted. I also didn't realize that this was the third book in a series. While the story worked fine on its own, there were a lot of callback mentions to the first two books, and I think the character dynamics would have been more impactful if I'd read the other books first.

While not exactly what I was wanting or expecting, the plot and writing of Sherlock Holmes & Dorian Gray were actually pretty great. The story was very action-oriented, and things moved along at a pretty quick pace. The writing felt like it belonged to the time period of the characters, which was important since the story was written like a memoir, but it also came across as modern enough to appeal to contemporary audiences and was easy to read. My one qualm with the writing was the detailed and somewhat repetitive descriptions of some of the characters. I eventually just started to skim over them.

The focus on plot in Sherlock Holmes & Dorian Gray left very little room for character development. All of the characters were entertaining, but none of them had a ton of depth. I liked that the author attempted to use Dorian's storyline to explore identity and the struggle between man's animal instincts and morality. I just wish more time had been devoted to exploring those themes and making me feel something for the characters.

My main issue with Sherlock Holmes & Dorian Gray, though, was that it largely sidelined Sherlock Holmes and Dorian Gray. The horror elements took center stage over the mystery, and there wasn't nearly enough of Holmes just doing his thing and solving mysteries. Dorian Gray felt like an afterthought. This book twisted his story into something almost unrecognizable by the end. I enjoyed the first few chapters with him, and then things went off the rails. lol. The way his story intersected with the villain's was quite interesting and imaginative, though. He just no longer felt like Gray to me.

Overall, Sherlock Holmes & Dorian Gray was an entertaining mix of various classic characters and elements of mystery and horror. I had fun while reading it. It just feels like a bit of a crime to name the book after Holmes and Gray because it caused my expectations for this book to be way off. I also highly recommend reading the other books first and wish I had read them in order. Maybe one day I'll go back and catch up with the other two. All things considered, I give Sherlock Holmes & Dorian Gray a rating of 3.25 out of 5 stars.

The Classified Dossier series has quickly become one of my favourite Sherlock Holmes series to date. Christian Klaver does a fantastic job at not just introducing the world of the supernatural to the Sherlock Holmes universe, but draws upon inspiration and characters from other classic novels to do so; creating a fantastic and ever increasingly large shared universe.

This volume begins with Sherlock Holmes receiving a mysterious letter containing tickets to the circus. However, it doesn't take Holmes long to figure out that his brother, Mycroft, had someone send the tickets to him and wishes for him to investigate the circus. Unfortunately, with Mycroft mysteriously out of the country, he has no way of finding out what it is his brother wants him to see. As such, Holmes and Watson head off to the new Egyptian Circus in Hyde Park and watch a truly spectacular show. But some things don't quite add up, especially as Watson is able to smell animals around the circus, yet none were used in the show itself.

Further investigation leads to a startling discovery about the true nature of performers, one that shows the two of them that they're dealing with things outside of the realm of the natural. Their investigation leads them across London, to the home of the unusual socialite Dorian Gray, who has been acting as the ringleader for the unusual circus. The further the two of them dig the more unusual evidence they begin to collect, and they soon realise that they may have discovered something truly dangerous.

As the title of this particular volume of the series gives away, the character of Dorian Gray is introduced into Klaver's world. However, if you read the title and think that you know what kind of story you're going to be reading you're going to be very much mistaken. Just as with the previous volume, Sherlock Holmes and MR Hyde, this is not simply a re-telling of the original story with Holmes and Watson injected into events. There are times that this book bares almost no resemblance to The Picture of Dorian Gray, especially as Klaver sneakily includes another novel from around this era too that derails the Dorian Gray expectations in the most wonderful way.

Klaver draws from multiple other works for his plot here, and it adds some superb twists and turns into things. There's a reveal early on in the book that may give it away to some readers, but it wasn't until a particularly distinct line of dialogue was spoken that the connection was made in my head and I realised what other works were being folded in. It was an incredibly fun moment, and one that increased my excitement and enjoyment of the book. And the fact that that too was twisted and changed in new ways, brought into the extended narrative that Klaver had been working on for two other volumes, led to some wonderful pay offs further down the line.

As with previous volumes the writing here is great, things are very faced pace, with Klaver packing a lot of story and action into the books pages that ends up feeling like you've had a lot of bang for your buck. Luckily, the focus on action and story doesn't mean that the characters don't get focus as a trade-off. Holmes, Watson, some new friends, and some returning ones, all get a chance to shine and to do something important that helps to drive the narrative forward and highlights why the ever expanding cast of characters being added to Holmes' little group of paranormal investigators and fighters just adds further richness to things.

Whenever I come to the end of one of the books in this series I find myself hoping for more, and trying to guess what other stories and characters might be drawn into the next entry. And this time is no different. I was disappointed that it was over, and was thinking eagerly to the next. Hopefully this volume won't be the last, as I really want to see what Klaver does next.

The Classified Dossier - Sherlock Holmes and Dorian Gray is not from the oeuvre of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. No, in this world Dr. Watson is a vampire and the Island of Doctor Moreau is a real location. Despite these, and more, changes, it still feels somehow like it belongs in the canon.

Dumping Sherlock in another paradigm is a frequent trick of authors. This book merges classic Victorian villains within a very Sherlockian plot. A new circus is in town and the actors seem unusually athletic. Mycroft has asked Sherlock to investigate so he and Dr. Watson attend. When a circus performer is found dead, Sherlock investigates the murder and the characters of the other performers as well. From there, things just get curiouser and curiouser.

I truly loved The Classified Dossier - Sherlock Holmes and Dorian Gray. It is very inventive and just pure fun. I highly recommend it to Sherlock fans that don’t take themselves too seriously. 5 stars!

This is the third book in this series and there are some serious spoilers for the others. So, while this is a standalone read, you might want to read them in order instead.

Thanks to Titan Books and NetGalley for a digital review copy of the book.

This is the 3rd in The Classified Dossier series featuring Sherlock Holmes and his trusty biographer Dr Watson. I'm new to this series and I must say I wish I'd read the previous 2 in the set as there are spoilers aplenty in the 3rd book. This mix of mystery/classic horror/fantasy works well, it's probably better is you are interested is Victorian horror/mystery novels so that you get the most our of reading this. An entertaining read which made me want to read more.

If you're here for Dorian Gray... I'd consider turning around.

Let me preface this by saying that I spent a portion of my degree study on Oscar Wilde. When this novel started out, Dorian's tale was linked in nicely, the web was woven and I was hooked. Then, a rather random Wilde quote was injected into the text. Not long after, another appeared, and I believe there was a third - perhaps a forth.

It reminded me of the time Wilde said that in another lifetime, he would have been Dorian Gray - this novel certainly goes some small way to achieving that.

But, it didn't make contextual sense. By chapter six I was playing Wilde quote bingo, and winning.

What's more, all things Dorian were lost along the way - if Dr [spoiler] had been revealed as Henry Wooten, you would have my five stars in a heartbeat. If Montgomery were to Basil as Dorian was to Frankenstein, I'd have loved it. But, instead Basil fell by the wayside. The portrait fell by the wayside, and sadly, the character of Dorian Gray fell by the wayside too.

I was unfamiliar with this series when I started out, but I accepted all weird and wonderful things thrown my way - Hyde's presence intrigued me, Vlad's did too, and I am interested inn retracing this novel's origins and reading its predecessors. It is written well, So, very beautifully. I thoroughly enjoyed this writer's style, and the blend of classic characters. It is exactly the kind of writing style that I love - Klaver has a tremendous grasp of language, and words...

But I was here for Dorian, and I didn't truly get him.

The Literature nerd on me saw the title on this and freaked out - but when I realised it was Volume 3 in a series, I was a little surprised. Nevertheless, this was a fun read and I would definitely read other books in this series.

This introduction to detecting, profiling and crime solving by the duo of Holmes and Watson had me hooked from the start.
Doyle has a way of storytelling that makes you feel as part of the story. As if all of your senses are living through the story.
It was an enjoyable experience to listen to this book for the first time while the narrator used character voices throughout.

https://lynns-books.com/2024/03/05/the-classified-dossier-sherlock-holmes-and-dorian-gray-by-christian-klaver/
3.5 of 5 stars
My Five Word TL:DR Review : Holmes and Watson and Others

Okay, I have a confession. when I requested this title I was a bit giddy about the idea of a book with Sherlock Holmes and Dorian Gray, and, well, being a bit giddy, I may have failed to check if this was part of a series, and, yeah, it’s volume 3. So, I decided to read it anyway, it seemed the decent thing to do after all and with that I picked it up and crashed straight into an already fairly well established series – what could possibly go wrong. As it happens this was an entertaining read indeed, I enjoyed the writing and I really liked the inclusion of so many well known characters of classic fiction. My one regret – that I messed up and didn’t start the series in the order that the author intended because I feel like I would have enjoyed this so much more if I’d only read the series from the start.

As the story begins we join Holmes and Watson as they pay a visit to the newly arrived Egyptian Circus. The performance is outstanding but something seems slightly wrong about the whole set up and when one of the performers turns up dead and Holmes and Watson are called in they quickly discover that their suspicions were correct.

I can’t really tell you too much about the plot because it would involve spoilers so, as I seem to do more and more with these reviews, I shall stick to my feelings.

Well, firstly, I always enjoy a story with Holmes and Watson, well providing it’s well done of course, and I think the author does a good job of capturing their dynamic – although with some rather obvious changes that you’ll soon discover if you pick up this series. I like the writing and we have Watson providing the narration through his journal entries and I enjoy this style of storytelling.

The pacing here is fast, it starts off contemplative as you would expect from a Holmes investigation but it pretty quickly gathers momentum and as the plot unfolds the pace is ramped up – to a very dramatic finale I might add.

In terms of characters, if you like your classics you’ll be blown off your feet with this. Dracula, Mina, Dorian Gray and Jekyll and Hyde – to name just a few. The author has totally gone for the horror vibe and in fact that dramatic conclusion I mentioned is absolutely crazily OTT.

Criticisms. Well, I’ve mentioned the pacing and the crazy finale which are very entertaining, but, in being so all out action I felt like Holmes really took a back seat to all the fantastical goings on surrounding him. In fact, on reflection, Holmes involvement is pretty subdued throughout. Again, though, returning to my earlier confession about crashing into the series quite possibly I’m missing out on earlier references.

Overall, I found this very easy to read. It certainly took me in directions I didn’t foresee. I’m not sure it fully satisfied my Holmes and Watson itch but it was very entertaining.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.

My rating 3.5 of 5 stars

This title was a disappointment for me simply because it wasn't the genre I was expecting. I'd been hoping for an old-school style Sherlockian mystery. This title offered mystery and not-too-bloody horror tropes, which I don't have much patience for.

Definitely not the writer's fault. It's me.

I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the Publisher via NetGalley; the opinions are my own.