The Affair of the Mysterious Letter

By: Alexis Hall

Narrated by: Nicholas Boulton

Length: 10 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

In this charming, witty, and weird fantasy novel, Alexis Hall pays homage to Sherlock Holmes with a new twist on those renowned characters.

Upon returning to the city of Khelathra-Ven after five years fighting a war in another universe, Captain John Wyndham finds himself looking for somewhere to live, and expediency forces him to take lodgings at 221b Martyrs Walk. His new housemate is Miss Shaharazad Haas, a consulting sorceress of mercurial temperament and dark reputation.

When Miss Haas is enlisted to solve a case of blackmail against one of her former lovers, Miss Eirene Viola, Captain Wyndham finds himself drawn into a mystery that leads him from the salons of the literary set to the drowned back-alleys of Ven and even to a prison cell in lost Carcosa. Along the way he is beset by criminals, menaced by pirates, molested by vampires, almost devoured by mad gods, and called upon to punch a shark.

But the further the companions go in pursuit of the elusive blackmailer, the more impossible the case appears. Then again, in Khelathra-Ven reality is flexible, and the impossible is Miss Haas' stock-in-trade.

©2019 Alexis Hall (P)2019 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“I really enjoyed this book. It was absolutely delightful, like a chocolate box, full of unexpected and brilliant references, sparklingly witty.” (Genevieve Cogman, author of The Invisible Library)

“The Mysterious Affair of the Letter is a witty, enjoyable, extravagantly imagined slant on the Sherlock Holmes canon. Hall nails the Holmesian aesthetic in marvelously amusing ways while taking us on an extended romp through a wild range of alternate universes with a bizarre cast of characters. Don't miss this fun, queer, clever intrigue!” (Malka Older, author of Infomocracy)

"I haven’t been so enchanted and delighted by a book in years. It’s like the literary equivalent of being wrapped in a blanket and being driven in a horse drawn carriage through a magical park filled with the most amazing things happening all around and feeling safe and loved all the way through. A sheer delight from start to finish and the most perfect blend of gentle humour, wild creativity and love for the feel of Sherlock Holmes." (Emma Newman, author of Atlas Alone)

A truly original retelling of Sherlock Holmes

The Affair or the Mysterious Letter by Alexis Hall is a strange and original reimagining of Sherlock Holmes. Told from the perspective of John Watson or in this case John Wyndham as he recounts his first adventure with Sherlock Holmes, aka the sorcerous Ms. Shaharazad Haas; the story is written as a memoir. Part sci-fi, part fantasy, part paranormal, part steampunk, and part mystery it’s hard to categorize the genre. It’s certainly and original creation.

The mystery here is a letter blackmailing a frenemy of Ms. Haas and so Mrs. Wyndham who has just recently become the roommate to Ms. Hass is roped into the investigation. The two travel to distant places back in time, forward in time and a bunch of other wacky, crazy escapades that puts their lives in danger more than once.

Once you get use to the weirdness of quirkiness of the story and the world-building it’s very enjoyable. Clever and smartly written it weaves its tale and mystery beautifully. Though, I would say the mystery was huge, its resolution was inventive and unexpected. You start to warm up to the characters the more you get to know them.

One of the things I did found annoying was how the author chose to do omissions and how they were explained away. There was a lot of, “I won’t waste the readers time by going into such trifling matters” (paraphrasing). And it happens a fair amount throughout the book. A few times here and there is okay, but it happened far too often for my taste. And by the way the book is told in first-person, so FYI.

The narration is done by Nicholas Boulton, who is one of my favorite narrators. He does a phenomenal job and really brings the characters and the world to life with his performances.

Overall, I enjoyed it a great deal and I can’t wait for their next adventure together.

Charming

This is a charming reworking of the Sherlock Holmes story, but it needed a good copy editor to weed out the unnecessary repetition. Several of the little jokes that were funny the first time, but soon became predictable and tedious. Even so, it was a fun little book and an enjoyable listen.

Delightful reimagining

A delightful reimagining of Sherlock holmes. The contrast between the reserved but literary My Wyndham and the most unreserved Miss Haas made for much fun and circumlocution. The story was imaginatively other worldly and the journeys across fantasy realms reminded me of Pratchett, as did the humanity behind even the sardonic quips.

Dirk Gently, hang up your hat.

Surreal cosmic horror pastiche comedy of manners

If Holmes’ secret antics were more criminal and slatternly, and projected onto a screaming dome of dead stars to be narrated by a buttoned down Victorian gentleman, that would be this book. The imagery is evocative, the characters entertaining and the plot secondary

An interdimensional romp with great narration

This was a fun and imaginative story; however, it felt like an early draft. It had too many threads that didn’t fully tie together at the end. Yet, almost all the threads were independently interesting.

I found myself wishing more than once that the Sherlock Holmes references were a bit more subtle, because they felt like being hit over the head with a copy of A Study in Scarlet. In addition, the Holmes-equivalent character seemed constrained by the need to be comparable to Holmes, and it made her oddly predictable. The Watson equivalent, though, was rather more charming than the original, and I would read about him in an entirely non-Holmes-adjacent story. (With more of the necromancer! And the political prisoner had so much potential too.)

Nicholas Boulton did a magnificent job with the narration. He dealt with some quite challenging voice acting decisions with creativity and clarity.

I hope at some point I can listen to Boulton’s performance of a sequel that’s entirely about something like John and the necromancer solving the mystery of where Shaharazad has gone. Much like with the original Holmes, the less-strong bits in this book didn’t stop me from liking the overall concept and wanting to read more.

Fun and funny beyond expectations

Ms. Hall's story and style are priceless. This is a terrific Sherlock Holmes pastiche married to a tongue-in-cheek Mythos send-up (tying together some of the lesser known works into a marvelous macrame). Subtle and broad by turns, combining the unexpected with wonderful takes on the familiar. And Mr. Bolton's reading is on-target and flawless. A perfect entertainment.

Too clever by half

While true to the style of Dr. Watson's stories, it was just too, too much. Great idea, but too detailed, too long, and way too much reliance on the "Sherlock Holmes but make it alien" concept. I ended up listening at 1.25 speed in order to finish. It was fine but I wouldn't pick up a sequel.

Loved this book!

Reminded me a bit of the Nightside series by Simon R Green. It's got all those word soup names and places that worldbuild by sparking your imagination. Also had a ton of references without coming across as a fantasy rollcall.

I hope there's a sequel!

Delightful narrator, winding story

First of all, the narrator is an absolute delight. He is fantastic. The story itself is very winding and disconnected but fun. If you treat it as a collection of episodes with a barely there overarching plot, it works. Enjoyable and charming.

Sherlock Holmes by way of Rick and Morty

Funny, imaginative, and delightfully queer! This spin on Sherlock Holmes features a charming transgender Watson figure in the form of Captain Wyndham, and a wonderfully dysfunctional and nihilistic take on the Great Detective in Shaharazad Haas, with colorful world building and heavy Lovecraftian elements setting the backdrop for their adventures. As a lifelong fan of the Holmes stories I unreservedly loved this, despite the subject matter being so different I feel like this book came much closer to the original tone and style of Arthur Conan Doyle’s work than any of the numerous other homages that have popped up in recent years. I sincerely hope the author will bring us more Shaharazad Haas stories in future!