The Unpleasantness at Baskerville Hall
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- ¥430
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- ¥430
Publisher Description
Wodehouse steampunk version of The Hound of the Baskervilles!
“Jeeves and Wooster meet (or run face-first into) Holmes and Watson with a touch of steampunk in the hilarious first full-length Reeves and Worcester tale ... This laugh-out-loud parody works on several levels ... With razor-sharp wit and fast pacing that plays fair with the reader, this is an excellent genre mash-up that fires on all cylinders.” – Publishers Weekly
An escaped cannibal, a family curse ... and Reginald Worcester turning up on the doorstep. Could things get any worse for the Baskerville-Smythe family?
As the bodies pile up, only a detective with a rare brain – and Reggie’s is so rare it’s positively endangered – can even hope to solve the case.
But... there is the small matter that most of the guests aren’t who they say they are, the main suspect has cloven feet, and a strange mist hangs over great Grimdark Mire.
Luckily the young master has Reeves, his automaton valet, and Emmeline, his suffragette fiancée, on hand to assist.
This novel is the fifth Reeves & Worcester Steampunk mystery and is set a few months after The Aunt Paradox.
“A fun blend of P.G. Wodehouse, steampunk and a touch of Sherlock Holmes. Dolley is a master at capturing and blending all these elements. More than fascinating, this work is also “Rip-roaring fun!” – SF Revu
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Jeeves and Wooster meet (or run face-first into) Holmes and Watson with a touch of steampunk in the hilarious first full-length Reeves and Worcester tale (previous ones were collected in What Ho, Automata). This laugh-out-loud parody works on several levels. Reginald Worcester might not be very bright, but he's smart enough to know that when his fianc e, Emmeline, runs off to visit the movie-making Baskerville-Smythe family, trouble is likely to follow. When the Baskerville scion turns up dead, a disguised Reginald and his automaton butler, Reeves, are the only ones who can prevent more deaths. The jokes, wordplay, and satire come fast and furious in the opening pages and continue through to the ending, even when the sleuths are reviewing clues for the reader. Reginald's heart is in the right place, but he's not what one would call competent, leading to amazing set pieces such as a sequence involving fingerprints and flour. Dolley limits the speculative elements to talking robots and Mary Shelley style reanimations, which feel organic to the setting. With razor-sharp wit and fast pacing that plays fair with the reader, this is an excellent genre mash-up that fires on all cylinders.
