The Lazarus Machine

Another borrowing from the Holmesian universe Conan Doyle created. I'm sure by now most of you will have picked up on my bias towards works influenced by the Great Detective himself, but when it's done well, it's definitely worth taking a peek.

The Lazarus Machine, Paul Crilley

(Pyr, an imprint of Prometheus Books, New York, USA; 2012)

Now if you're looking for something spooky, this is worth a look. The first in the Tweed & Nightingale Adventures introduces us to Sebastian Tweed and Octavia Nightingale- one looking for answers behind the disappearance of his father, the other a nobleman's daughter who has spent the year her mother has been missing making connections in her search for answers, with the resurrected Professor James Moriarty and Sherlock Holmes at the centre of it all, along with a plot to topple the British Empire and start a world war. 

Admittedly the book does contain a lot of gadget talk and technobabble, but if this isn't your cup of tea, there is always the low-born lovebirds who are friends of Sebastian and his father who aid the pair, and the thrilling break-in at the Ministry that ends not quite as the protagonists suspect, or the Frankenstein-like machines and automatons, powered by the souls of the dead that are being employed in this plot to incite a war in Europe (which we know today as World War I). There's something for everyone, with enough left in the end for the sequel to work with.

Professional Reviews:

School Library Journal (March 1, 2013; vol. 59, issue 3)

Kirkus Reviews (October 1, 2012)

Author's Goodreads page

The hour grows late, my dears. I apologise for the lack of films this time to entertain you (I literally could not find anything on YouTube), but I hope you will not miss me too terribly, no?

Regards,

E.