Review by Kelly Jarvis: The Adventures of the Faerie Coffin: Being the First Morstan and Holmes Occult Detection by Rebecca Buchanan

Fans of detective stories and faerie fiction can rejoice because Rebecca Buchanan has effectively joined these two classic modes in her historical/gaslamp fantasy novelette, The Adventures of the Faerie Coffin. This entertaining tale opens as Mary Morstan, a young governess and recent fiancé of Sherlock Holmes’ friend and partner Dr. Watson, travels to her former school in Edinburgh to investigate a series of strange occurrences. Although Mary effectively hides the tools of her trade beneath her needlework, she is a talented witch suited to uncovering the mystery behind the faerie who is terrorizing the students and teachers at Frazier Academy.

Mary soon finds herself being followed by none other than the famous detective Sherlock Holmes who wants to find out exactly what makes his closest friend’s fiancé so extraordinary. The intellectual chemistry between Morstan and Holmes sparkles on the page, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching their relationship develop over the course of their adventure. Buchanan stays true to Holmes’ traditional quirks while adding complex layers to his personality, and fans of Arthur Conan Doyle’s original series will enjoy this new installment.

In addition to entertaining protagonists, Buchanan paints an enticing Gothic setting in her novelette, allowing readers to lurk through Frazier Academy’s hidden passageways as they meet its colorful teaching staff. Books, gargoyles, and faerie lore permeate the text which is riveting enough to consume in one sitting and layered enough to enjoy in small bites. I hope there will be more Morstan and Holmes stories to come! I loved it!

You can find the novelette here. You can listen to it at Podcastle.

Kelly Jarvis works as the Assistant Editor for The Fairy Tale Magazine where she writes stories, poems, essays, book reviews, and interviews. Her poetry has also been featured or is forthcoming in Blue Heron Review, Mermaids Monthly, Eternal Haunted Summer, Forget Me Not Press, The Magic of Us, A Moon of One’s Own, Baseball Bard, and Corvid Queen. Her short fiction has appeared in The Chamber Magazine and the World Weaver Press Anthology Mothers of Enchantment: New Tales of Fairy Godmothers. You can find her at https://kellyjarviswriter.com/