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Honeymoon in Jail
S T Joshi, author
This is a novel set in the year 1928 involving the renowned horror writer H. P. Lovecraft and his estranged wife Sonia, who are invited to a wedding of some mutual friends in Far Rockaway, Brooklyn. In the course of a pre-wedding dinner a murder is committed at the hotel where the dinner is being held, and the bride-to-be is arrested. Lovecraft and Sonia investigate the crime. Lovecraft transforms himself into something of a hard-boiled detective, relentlessly pursuing the truth in spite of all the dangers surrounding him, while Sonia tells the tale and seeks to protect her reckless husband from injury or death. Lovecraft solves the case with a combination of keen intelligence, boldness, and a little help from his favorite species—cats.
Reviews
Lovecraft scholar Joshi (the Joe Scintilla, PI series) turns the legendary horror author into a sleuth in this intriguing whodunit. Narrated by Lovecraft’s wife, Sonia Greene, the story picks up when she and Lovecraft attend the 1934 wedding of anarchist writer James Morton (a real-life friend of Lovecraft’s) to amateur journalist Pearl Merritt in Far Rockaway, N.Y. The celebration is marred by the murder of a woman on the rooftop of the hotel hosting the ceremony, a tragedy compounded by the arrest of the new Mrs. Morton, whom a witness placed at the scene around the time of the killing. Convinced of her innocence, Lovecraft, harnessing his teenage infatuation with Sherlock Holmes, investigates, aided by Greene, who hopes the case might strengthen their strained relationship. Joshi’s extensive knowledge of his subject is a major asset, with Easter eggs aplenty for hardcore fans, and his choice to have Sonia narrate and provide perspective on her eccentric husband is an inspired choice. Lovecraftians will hope for a sequel. (Self-published)
