The Angel of the Crows by Katherine Addison

 

I read The Angel of Crows by Katherine Addison to fulfill the Pop Sugar reading challenge prompt to read a book that was originally started as fan fiction. In this book, Addison does a Sherlock Holmes retelling where Sherlock is an angel named Crow and Watson is a hellhound named Doyle. In this world, there are vampires and werewolves, but someone still has to solve the Jack the Ripper case.

I have very mixed feelings about this book. It's funny. There are some unusual reveals that make it different from your regular old Holmes retelling. I like the world development, particularly the background on angels and how Crow grew to be who he is. But there's nothing really interesting about the cases that are covered here - they're pretty bog standard Sherlock Holmes stories, so the twists weren't really twisty, if you know what I mean.

It's admirable, I think. But it does read like fan fiction still.  3.5/5 stars

Lines of note:

Crow’s vanity was sometimes endearing and sometimes exasperating, but it seemed deeply ingrained in him. (page 44)

One thing I really liked about Addison's writing was the developing of characters with these funny one-liners.

“He could have suborned someone into acting as a proxy.” 
“Who?” Crow said. “Me? Mrs. Climpson? Jennie MacArthur? Dr. Doyle doesn’t see anyone else—certainly not on the sort of terms you’d have to be on to ask someone to commit murder on your behalf.” 
While I was grateful for Crow’s support, I wished he could have found a more tactful way to say I had no friends. (page 78)

Lots of humor here. 

...looking as miserable as a molting sparrow. (page 99)

I love a good animal analogy.

“Well, you’ll have all the oubliettes you could ever need,” I said. “The architect was clearly a megalomaniac.” (page 105) 

Oubliette! It came up again on page 152, too. 2023 is the Year of the Oubliette on my blog.

“I think you are making this complicated because you love complicated things,” said Lestrade—which was an accurate character assessment, if nothing else. (page 258)

Again, quick character reveals with a bit of humor. It's fun writing. 

“It’s … complicated,” Crow said. I said, “Most things involving families are.” (page 275)

Preach it. Sometimes I hear of functional families and I'm shocked. Like...how do you do that?

Things I looked up:

bouleversé (page 52) - upset in French

baize door (page 244) - I only knew the term baize as the felt used for pool tables. Apparently, at one time, a green baize door (a door to which cloth had been tacked to deaden noise) in a house separated the servants' quarters from the family's living quarters. It was a diving line between the two domains and trespassing beyond the baize door meant going into foreign/unfamiliar territory.

drugget (page 244) - a coarse fabric used for floor coverings

ferrule (page 283) - Any number of types of objects, generally used for fastening, joining, or sealing. They are often narrow circular rings made from metal, or less commonly, plastic. Sometimes called eyelets or grommets.

carte de visite (page 283) - Calling card. In retrospect, I should have been able to figure this out.

coombe (page 329) - deep narrow valley, often dry

jenny greenteeth (page 344) - figure in English folklore, similar to a grindylow

wodge (page 363)  - lump, chunk, or wad (informal British)

krait (page 412) - highly venomous snake

hamadryad (page 412) - another name for a king cobra

Hat mentions:

There were about a dozen mentions of the word hat in this book, but my favorite, by far, was the following:

“Quick, Doyle, your boots, your boots, oh my sainted hat, how are you still in your dressing gown?” (page 297)

I don't know if I've ever come across the word hat used in an oath like this before!