jesse read @darthnerdus

I greatly enjoyed this refreshing combination of Sherlock Holmes pastiche and modern day mystery. The Sherlockian intermingles chapters from the viewpoint of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as he attempts to play detective in the mode of his literary creation and a current-day Sherlockiana scholar lost in the mystery of a fellow scholar’s murder and Sir Conan Doyle’s lost diary. Alternating between the untold history of Doyle’s crime solving during the “Great Hiatus” and a man’s search to solve that very puzzle drives home the enjoyable, albeit bittersweet, ending.

While I think this story has wide appeal, a working knowledge of the Sherlock stories and an appreciation of their themes, devices, and the character of Sherlock will allow the reader to absorb additional context and deepen their appreciation of this modern remix married to a classic gaslight mystery. It read like a mashup of a classic Holmes tale an Dan Brown novel.

Reading medium: Kindle
Rating: Enjoyed
My categorization: Historical Mystery/Modern Mashup

Given my childhood obsession with Jack the Ripper, this book tapped into an undercurrent of nostalgia for me. It was an enjoyable, engaging read that held my attention throughout in the face of a somewhat unsurprising plot. Laura Joh Rowland layered deep emotional bonds between the main character and her supporting cast, which help maintain a high stakes as the danger drew closer and closer. That said, the connection she had to the Ripper’s murder victims felt tenuous at best and I was left wondering whether someone would really put themselves at such risk, especially after the initial confrontation with the villain.

The only other fault I had with the book was too much “telling” of the emotions and feelings of others through the main character. It started to feel as though they were projecting and, frankly, being petty. But this wasn’t enough to tear me out of the flow of the story and may have simply been an accurate portrayal of the character’s thought process.

Reading medium: Kindle
Rating: Enjoyed
My categorization: Historical Mystery

I didn’t always hate GoDaddy, but it didn’t take long. I think the second (of many, many, many) renewal notification emails was all it took. And, finally, the bulk of the domains I host there are coming up for renewal this month. I figured this would be a prime opportunity to transfer to the domains rather than renew them at GoDaddy. I did a little research, and based on a recommendation from Marco Arment I decided to transfer to Hover¹

Hover has extremely simple offerings, and an equally simple (but easy to use) control panel. They don’t pass the All Under One Roof test (they don’t offer SSL certificates, which isn’t too big of a deal), but they do what they do well. I would definitely recommend them to anyone looking for a domain registrar.

1. Yes, that is an affiliate link. ⏎

James Shelley:

No mat­ter how you explain the world around you, your expla­na­tion is the nucleus and ker­nel of how you explain your­self.