The Fate Of The Jedi saga continues with this novel as Luke and Ben actually work alongside the Sith to hunt down Abeloth. This one also starts to move the overall plot of this particular saga along more so than the previous entries. The Jedi Council starts to break up their stalemate (thankfully), and more light is shed on the mentally disturbed Jedi that have haunted Han and Leia and the Council since book one. Hopefully the next one will further provide answers to the issues being faced by the main characters.

I truly love this series.  It is so brilliant.  

And, I  most admit, I don't think I can ever read the physical copies of the book because Robert Garson performance is so wonderful.

This installment includes the appearance of Irene Adler. I judge Sherlock Holmes incarnations by how Adler is done.  Sherlock lost me with what they did.  Elementary was far better.  Denning's Adler is a damn fine Adler that the chances of Doyle liking are rather high.

Unlike the other two, this third installment ends on more of a cliffhanger (more because part of the conceit is the potential end of the world).  But that's fine.  

It's still a great ride.  Wonderful fun with Holmes at the expense of the other Victorians.  Those wonderful asides, Watson's common sense, and the fun word play are all here.  There is more development on the idea of the Nine, as well as the introduction of Violet, who is quite awesome.

And let me say, that I really, really want Denning to write a Violet series.

Holmes comes to the fore a bit more in this installment, which was quite enjoyable.  There is even a section while Holmes tells the story, and it was really great.

Honesty, if you like Holmes and like fantasy, you need to read this series.

This installment of Warlock Holmes finds Warlock and Watson coming to terms with the events of the last volume.  They do this in a rather strange way.  Pinkertons are involved but they are somewhat like a certain famous group of wearers of black.

                The two Holmes stories that are used include, of course, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Silver Blaze, and the Solitary Cyclist. The Cyclist sequence is particularly funny while the Baskervilles give us more detail about Warlock.  It isn’t quite as funny but there are some shining moments. 

                As always, the humor comes from the asides that Watson does.  In this case, Watson deals with issues as complex as fake beards, tricycles, and Canadians.  The charm of the series is Watson’s down to earth musings that deal with issues raised in the original stories – for instance walking sticks.  So, it is like you have an urban historical fantasy novel with a high shot of realism.

                If you like fantasy and Sherlock Holmes, you should read this series.

                Garston’s narration is particularly wonderful.  He doesn’t do silly woman’s voices.  His Watson sounds close enough to Edward Hardwicke to make a connection to Holmes seamless.  His Holmes is not quite what you would think, but is brilliant nonetheless.

Cole Mallory is on the brink of losing everything.

For the past seven years, Cole has dedicated himself to managing Mallory Vineyard, the winery his family owns. It’s not that he hasn’t had time for a relationship so much as he’s never found anyone he wanted to devote time to beyond the initial getting to know you stage. But that all needs to change--and fast--because if Cole wants to inherit the vineyard, he needs to be married.

Rhett Kingston is about to have a new life dropped into his lap.

What started out as a night of lonely drinking in a local bar ends with Rhett agreeing to "fake marry" his twin brother’s best friend. Rhett will act as the perfect future fake husband for Cole and, in turn, Cole will help Rhett launch the event planning business he’s always dreamed of owning.

Before they know it, their totally fake relationship is tangled up with completely mutual desire. After a destination wedding forces Cole and Rhett into the same bed, sparks fly and fictional feelings escalate and threaten to turn into something very, very real and more than either of them bargained for.

Review

In the vein of some of the re-writings of Sherlock Holmes this is Sherlock as a bit of an idiot, saved by the cleverness of Dr Watson.  This is a set of stories, rather than just one, detailing Watson's introduction to the world that Holmes inhabits (and honestly it's done better in the Lord Darcy series).  There's a vampire, Inspector Vladislav Lestrange and an Ogre and a variety of other characters that I neither cared about or really remember.

It's not terrible but I have absolutely no inclination to read further in this series, it wasn't enough of any of my catnip to really interest and too much of a parody to make me happy with it.  It occasionally came across as trying too hard.

The reader, Robert Garson, did quite a good job of reading it.