Folk-Spelled (Immortal Holmes Book 1)
Amaranthine series • Book 1
by Forthright .
Why You'll Love This
Sherlock Holmes is immortal, possibly cursed, and your new narrator can only speak in lies — good luck solving anything.
- Great if you want: cozy paranormal mystery with creative worldbuilding and a fresh Holmes twist
- The experience: warm and inventive — steampunk atmosphere with a gentle, unhurried pace
- The writing: Forthright layers clever constraints — a lying narrator forces inventive, precise storytelling
- Skip if: you want a darker, grittier take on Holmes rather than cozy fantasy
About This Book
What if Sherlock Holmes had never quite won his most famous battle—and the consequences of that ancient struggle were still rippling outward, centuries later? Folk-Spelled drops readers into a richly imagined world where the paranormal and the procedural intertwine, and where a young investigator cursed to speak only in lies must navigate both a murder investigation and the orbit of a legend who may or may not be what he claims. Varti Weller is easy to root for precisely because his situation is so genuinely strange: sidelined, underestimated, and suddenly in over his head in the best possible way.
Forthright writes with a warmth that keeps even the darker edges of this steampunk alternate history feeling inviting rather than grim—this is cozy suspense in the truest sense, where atmosphere and character do as much work as plot. The world-building is layered without being exhausting, fed to readers through Varti's grounded perspective rather than infodumped wholesale. The premise sounds whimsical, but the execution is patient and precise, rewarding readers who enjoy mysteries that feel genuinely surprising rather than mechanically assembled.