#BlogTour The Watson Letters: Volume 5 – Murder on Mystery Island by Colin Garrow #MurderonMysteryIsland #TheWatsonLetters @colingarrow @damppebbles @DamppebblesBTs #BookReview

Hello! Welcome to JuliaPalooza today for my stop on the damppebbles Blog Tour for The Watson Letters: Volume 5 – Murder on Mystery Island by Colin Garrow, which is available now (links below).

About the book

Intrepid investigators Holmes and Watson continue their fight against crime in a not quite Post-Victorian, steampunk parallel universe.

When consumptive Doctor Edward Armstrong turns up at Baker Street with an invitation to visit a mysterious island, Sherlock Holmes smells a rat. Sounding deviously similar to the plot of a recent novel by celebrated lady author Mrs Christie, Holmes decides to send his inveterate side-kick Watson to the island, along with the Doctor’s lovely, but wonky-eyed wife, Mary, and a well-known Scotland Yard detective. Taking Armstrong’s place, the team determine to find out exactly what’s going on, but before they’ve even left the mainland, one of the guests is murdered. Adult humour throughout.

‘The Watson Letters – Volume 5: Murder on Mystery Island’ is book #5 in this Victorian comedy adventure series.

If you love historical mysteries, buy something else instead, but if you’re into murder, fart-gags and innuendo, this’ll be right up your Victorian street.

Goodreads | Amazon UK | Amazon US | Smashwords

And Then There Were None and its countless imitations is one of my favourite sub-genres of murder mystery crime fiction. I also love a bit of Sherlock Holmes – original and modern interpretations – so Colin Garrow’s spoof mash-up of both seemed right up my street.

I must admit, I was surprised at quite how meta and self-referential this pastiche of Ms Christie’s famous book was, so strap yourself in for a surprising ride. This particular take on the classic tale is a quick and dirty jaunt around all the staples of both book series, with a nod to some impressive steam punk engineering. Murder on Mystery Island races along at breakneck speed and has an interesting twist on the original’s whodunnit solution.

The foundations of the central characters’ relationships are clearly laid in the earlier books in the series so you may wish to read them first. You’ll certainly want to have read And Then There Were None first, otherwise its twists will be spoiled for you.

But, if you love pure silliness, a gross-out movie style, self-aware and modern (ish) pop culture references, and you’re able to suspend any shred of disbelief, you will enjoy Murder on Mystery Island and Holmes and Watson – and Mary and Lestrade – as you’ve really never seen or heard them before.

With thanks to Colin Garrow for my copy of the book and to Emma of damppebbles blog tours for my spot.

If you enjoyed my review, please consider liking and/or sharing and, of course, buying the book: Goodreads | Amazon UK | Amazon US | Smashwords

About the author

True-born Geordie Colin Garrow grew up in a former mining town in Northumberland and has worked in a plethora of professions including taxi driver, antiques dealer, drama facilitator, theatre director and fish processor, and has occasionally masqueraded as a pirate. Colin has published three stage plays, six adventures for middle grade readers, two books of short stories, the Watson Letters series and the Terry Bell Mysteries. His short stories have appeared in several literary mags, including: SN Review, Flash Fiction Magazine, The Grind, A3 Review, Inkapture and Scribble Magazine. These days he lives in a humble cottage in North East Scotland where he writes novels, stories. poems and the occasional song. Twitter | Facebook | Smashwords | Adult books | Children’s books | The Watson Letters