The Serpent of Venice

Moore's snarky hero Pocket inserts himself seamlessly into the most unsuspecting of famous tales – first in Fool, which (loosely) covers the plot of King Lear, and now in the Serpent of Venice, a hodgepodge of comedy, tragedy, and horror. The plots and characters of The Merchant of Venice and Othello come together to create new intrigues. With constantly snappy dialogue and just enough raunchy bits to be endearing rather than gratuitous, The Serpent of Venice is a fun read that can border on intellectual if you squint hard enough.

I have not read the original source material by Poe regarding the serpent, so at first it seemed a bit out of place for an otherwise magic-free story, but there's always a bloody ghost, so might as well throw in a mythical creature!