The Arnifour Affair

This is a mystery about a detective and his assistant and romantic partner, set in Victorian times. I didn't really enjoy it.

The negative reviews I saw mentioned historical inaccuracies, and I noticed a few of those too. But that kind of thing doesn't bother me much. However, there are also a lot of awkward word choices. For example, someone throws a crystal ashtray against a mirror, and the ashtray “implodes.” Unless this book is secretly set in another world where the laws of physics don't apply, “implodes” is not the right word. I noticed a lot of mistakes of this kind, where the author seemed to be choosing attention-grabbing and/or old-fashioned words, instead of choosing the correct words.

This is very much a reimagining of Sherlock Holmes, and I like Sherlock Holmes and have enjoyed a lot of similar works. But I never got too into BBC Sherlock fanfic, because the John/Sherlock pairing doesn't seem romantic to me. Sherlock lacks empathy, which makes it hard for me to get involved in a romance between him and John, unless the story handles Sherlock's emotional unavailability in an especially sensitive way.

The romance is very lowkey in this book, but the bond between Ethan, the Watson character here, and Colin, the detective, doesn't work for me, for the same reasons that I usually dislike Johnlock fic. I also don't feel that Ethan has much empathy himself. I think the author intends him to be empathetic, but he isn't. The ending, with Ethan musing about the meaning of family, makes me feel very slightly okay about the pairing. But for 99% of the book, their relationship is a fact that the author wants the reader to accept, while barely showing that they even care about each other.

The main mystery itself kept me guessing until the end, because all of the people who had motive and opportunity to commit the crimes are completely horrible people. Colin is also a pretty awful person, and Ethan, like most versions of Watson, does not have all that much personality beyond orbiting Colin's star. Most of the crime victims are also impossible to sympathize with. The side plot involves a missing child and is disturbing for a number of reasons, but most of all, I feel everyone involved should've gotten a clearer punishment.

Anyway, I doubt I will continue reading this series.