Welcome! In this column, you will find reviews of books (both awful and awesome), as well as various other things. Today, the book of choice is Jonathan L Howard’s Johannes Cabal the Detective.

Howard has created a character with the sharp intellect of Sherlock Holmes, the utter moral bankruptcy of Artemis Fowl and the rapier wit of both. In Johannes Cabal the Detective, Johannes Cabal, a “necromancer of some little infamy,” is on the run from the authorities of a small pseudo-Prussian kingdom. Disguising himself as a minor agriculture official, Cabal gains passage on a Hindenburg-esque zeppelin. But, as usually happens around Cabal, people begin turning up dead.

This time, though, the deaths aren’t Cabal’s fault—something rare indeed. Concerned for his own safety and trying to keep an old “friend” from revealing his true identity, Cabal begins an investigation as the zeppelin continues its voyage. Of course, he can’t perform necromancy—which would end the book much sooner—because of the risk of being caught. Instead, he must rely on his own intellect to find the killer.

Johannes Cabal the Detective (JCD) is a darkly funny book that will have you laughing as Cabal duels a crazed count or resurrects an obese emperor. Some of the novel’s humor revolves around incongruities between characters’ behavior and speech; some in Cabal’s dry wit; and still more in Cabal’s odd combination of social naiveté, cynicism, high intelligence and desperate attempts to act like a agriculture official. (He fails hilariously and miserably).

I really enjoyed seeing Cabal transform from a self-centered, emotionally detached, possibly insane “scientist” into a self-centered, emotionally detached, possibly insane anti-hero detective. And no, that last sentence was not a typo. Cabal keeps all his character flaws even as an anti-hero. The humor in this book broke up the more serious moments, and there was enough action to keep the book from becoming a fantasy-laced World War One CSI.

Instead, JCD feels a bit like a mashup between the Artemis Fowl series and Sherlock Holmes with a pinch of fantasy thrown in. Much of the humor wouldn’t be out of place coming from the lips of Artemis Fowl, and both Sherlock and Cabal share an affinity for cane-swords and pistols with strange calibers.

Johannes Cabal the Detective’s humor, action, mystery, and writing really sold this book for me. I would recommend this, as well as its prequel Johannes Cabal the Necromancer, to almost anyone. You can get it at Barnes and Noble or on Amazon. I give this book five out of five stars.