I finished Katherine Addison's The Angel of the Crows. I enjoyed reading the story but I think I would have liked it more with some changes made to it. I liked the setting - a Victorian London that is somewhat familiar but with the addition of both supernatural and steampunk elements. I also thought the characterisation was good, particularly the main characters Crow and Dr Doyle. In theory, I also like the idea of a Sherlock Holmes-inspired detective duo investigating supernatural crimes in this setting but I think I would have preferred it if the inspiration had been a bit more subtle. The author says in an afterword that it started out as Sherlock Holmes fan-fiction with added angels and most of the cases are very heavily based on some of Sherlock's cases. Some of the twists are interesting, in a world where supernatural hounds are, if not common, not unknown this does add some extra complications to The Hound of the Baskervilles. However, I think the book might have been more interesting with more original cases, for most of them a passing familiarity with Holmes stories or their many adaptations will allow the reader to predict most of what happens. For a bit of variety there is also an investigation into one of history's most infamous unsolved crimes in the form of the Jack the Ripper murders, but I think some original cases might also have been interesting.
