By Nimue Brown and Professor Elemental with Illustrations by Tom Brown
I’ll start simply saying I am a huge fan of Professor Elemental’s music, if it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t have continued with my love of Steampunk (alongside Tab Kimpton of Kaos Komics of course) and I probably wouldn’t have even given Hamilton a second look. So because of that I went in with a double bias:
- I started out desperately wanting to love the book and
- Knowing I was going to be way more critical of it because it’s a genre I love so much (steampunk not mystery).
I should also make the case, this is a crime/mystery novel after all, that if asked to number my favourite genres the Mystery and Crime genre would probably be at the lowest end of the spectrum near horror and autobiographies and it’s very simple why;
I read for pleasure, the joy of an imaginative experience that few other mediums can grant and above all Escapism from the real world. The act of escaping from reality into a book (preferably with a nice rum cocktail and a small punnet of grapes) is nothing short of paradise and genres that remind me of reality tend to be low on my pile of “to read” it’s a reason I’m not really a Sherlock Holmes fan and never got on with the CSI series.
So when I say that Letters Between Gentleman did not initially grip me with Algernon Spoon’s case notes and diary entrees should surprise no one. I did stick it out for the hilarious badger experiments, mouse trouser-nappers/ransomers and Ipswich bashing by the previously mentioned Professor Elemental but I will say that I am glad I stuck to the story!
The clever twists mixed with interesting subplots that (mostly) get answered by the end all in the fantastic story telling method I have not previously seen done and is so brilliantly executed. Also the letters and notes penned from the infamous and notorious Professor are nothing short of gold!
My major criticism with the novel is that it is a slow burn taking quite some time to get invested in the story and, this is a rare statement, it could have done with a few more illustrations by the very talented Tom Brown of locations and less of characters. It would have done better to leave more to the readers imagination but also filling the world out as a lot of the more typically British subjects may confuse or alienate (mostly American) readers who may not know the difference between Ipswich and Norwich.
Overall a fantastic read for a genre not typically to my taste, well done and I look forward to rereading Letters Between Gentlemen many times over with fresh eyes.
Reading time: 7 hours
Reread chance: very high
Score: 9/10
Amazon Kindle £1.99 or Paperback £7.99
Barons Bookshelf 