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A review by saareman
The Gospel of Sheba by Lyndsay Faye
3.0
The Game's Afoot! - Bibliomysteries #18
Review of the Mysterious Press/Open Road eBook (November 11, 2014) of the original hardcover (earlier in 2014).
This started off as being quite intriguing. A mysterious book said to be The Gospel of Sheba falls into the hands of a gentleman's club. The book is supposed to have cursed powers due to containing the spells and incantations of the Queen of Sheba who was associated with Solomon the King of Ancient Israel who himself has had magical powers assigned to him. A librarian is consulted about the book which is apparently causing those who read it to sicken.
But what happens is that it all turns into a Sherlock Holmes pastiche when the consulting detective is brought in to investigate. Of course Holmes explains it all with hardly a problem. A side-plot about the librarian's singer wife being off on a concert tour is also resolved but had nothing to do with the main story at all. It all ended up feeling like a bit of a letdown. The whole atmosphere and setting was well done though.
Trivia and Links
Lyndsay Faye (1980?-) is an American author of over 10+ published novels & short story collections, mostly in the crime, mystery and historical fiction genres, several of which use the character of Sherlock Holmes. Her best known novels are in the Timothy Wilde (2012-2015) historical police procedural trilogy. Her most popular book (based on the number of GR ratings and reviews) is the first of that series [b:The Gods of Gotham|11890816|The Gods of Gotham (Timothy Wilde, #1)|Lyndsay Faye|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1518152198l/11890816._SY75_.jpg|16849818] (2012).
The Bibliomysteries series are short stories commissioned by Otto Penzler's The Mysterious Press to be written around the theme of deadly books. They are individually published in limited edition signed hardcovers followed by paperbacks and ebooks, and periodically collected in anthology editions such as [b:Bibliomysteries|32191848|Bibliomysteries|Otto Penzler|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1478278696l/32191848._SY75_.jpg|56893092] (2013, containing stories 1-15) and [b:Bibliomysteries: Volume Two|36327114|Bibliomysteries Volume Two|Otto Penzler|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1507842055l/36327114._SY75_.jpg|58003435] (2018, containing stories 16-30). There does not appear to be a Goodreads Listopia for them, but on Library Thing the current listing (as of early-October 2024) includes 41 short stories Note that there is a double count of #33 and that book #41 isn't numbered yet in that list.
Review of the Mysterious Press/Open Road eBook (November 11, 2014) of the original hardcover (earlier in 2014).
This started off as being quite intriguing. A mysterious book said to be The Gospel of Sheba falls into the hands of a gentleman's club. The book is supposed to have cursed powers due to containing the spells and incantations of the Queen of Sheba who was associated with Solomon the King of Ancient Israel who himself has had magical powers assigned to him. A librarian is consulted about the book which is apparently causing those who read it to sicken.
But what happens is that it all turns into a Sherlock Holmes pastiche when the consulting detective is brought in to investigate. Of course Holmes explains it all with hardly a problem. A side-plot about the librarian's singer wife being off on a concert tour is also resolved but had nothing to do with the main story at all. It all ended up feeling like a bit of a letdown. The whole atmosphere and setting was well done though.
Trivia and Links
Lyndsay Faye (1980?-) is an American author of over 10+ published novels & short story collections, mostly in the crime, mystery and historical fiction genres, several of which use the character of Sherlock Holmes. Her best known novels are in the Timothy Wilde (2012-2015) historical police procedural trilogy. Her most popular book (based on the number of GR ratings and reviews) is the first of that series [b:The Gods of Gotham|11890816|The Gods of Gotham (Timothy Wilde, #1)|Lyndsay Faye|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1518152198l/11890816._SY75_.jpg|16849818] (2012).
The Bibliomysteries series are short stories commissioned by Otto Penzler's The Mysterious Press to be written around the theme of deadly books. They are individually published in limited edition signed hardcovers followed by paperbacks and ebooks, and periodically collected in anthology editions such as [b:Bibliomysteries|32191848|Bibliomysteries|Otto Penzler|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1478278696l/32191848._SY75_.jpg|56893092] (2013, containing stories 1-15) and [b:Bibliomysteries: Volume Two|36327114|Bibliomysteries Volume Two|Otto Penzler|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1507842055l/36327114._SY75_.jpg|58003435] (2018, containing stories 16-30). There does not appear to be a Goodreads Listopia for them, but on Library Thing the current listing (as of early-October 2024) includes 41 short stories Note that there is a double count of #33 and that book #41 isn't numbered yet in that list.