TheHouse of het Lost Horizons introduces (or re-aquaints) Mike Mignola's Sarah Jewell and Marie-Thérèse LaFleur. In this all new story, the intrepid female detectives investigate murders in a house on an island. There is a storm, there is a vault filled with occult items ready to be bargained off. It's not an original tale, but it has been masterfully presented. First introduced in Rise of the Black Flame, this is the first time the lady detectives star in their own story, and it hits the mark straight out of the gate. You don't need to have read their debut (which is for the best considering the prices of actual paper copies seem to go for these days), as there is just a passing allusion to The Black Flame Cult that will only hit home with those that have.
No, all you need to do is pick it up and enjoy the story, and live though the storm, just like the characters, to discover just what the blazes is going on.
The addition of the first story the artist did for the Hellboy verse at the end is definitely fun, as are the sketbook pages. Especially because they include most excellent portraits as well as costume design. Because true to the Roaring Twenties, the reader is presented with an array of period fashion, so it's nice to get a slightly better look at the pieces.
A small side note: whilst the characters of Sarah and Marie-Thérèse are created by Mike Mignola, and he certainly knew what was happening with The House of Lost Horizons, the story itself is by Chris Robertson and the art by Leila del Duca, who both, just like the rest of their team, did a smashing job.
I myself am not a habitual Hellboy/BPRD reader, but I would happily pick up the next installment of the Sarah Jewell Mysteries. If the sequel isn't lost on the horizon at least, pun intended. I do hope that this won't be a stand-alone because I feel that would be injustice to the genre.
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