The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter

New author to me, but Dr. Theodora Goss, a professor in the Writing Program at Boston University, is apparently a prolific and award winning author of novels, essays and poetry, primarily in the myth and fantasy arena. This outing builds upon several characters from Victorian era literature: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, Dr. Moreau, Dr. Frankenstein. Mary Jekyll is left penniless after her father has died (she believes) and her mother has gone mad. Looking through her father's papers and trying to sort out her mother's finances lead Mary to believe that Mr. Hyde (who she believes was a colleague of her father's) is still alive.  Years ago, there was a hefty reward for finding him in relation to a murder he committed, and that money could solve a lot of problems for Mary. Tracking down a monthly donation her mother was making for the support of the daughter of Mr. Hyde, what she finds is an unruly child, Diana, who being housed at a nunnery, but is being thrown out because she is so disruptive.  The story is told by Catherine Moreau (daughter/ creation of Dr. Moreau) with interjections from all the primary female characters (Mary, Diana, Mrs. Poole, Beatrice Rappaccini, and Justine Frankenstein), as she writes  of the mystery that brought them all together. A secret society for alchemists apparently had members who wanted to move beyond the transformation of base metals into gold and explore biological transformation--from animal to human or from dead to alive. Frankenstein, Moreau, Rappaccini, and Mary's own father, among others, all belonged to this controversial group. And it turns out they were all involved in creating monsters. Now the monsters,  most of the main women characters in the story, have found each other and are trying to create a normal life for themselves. This society may also be connected to a series of murders in Whitehall, mostly prostitutes, and it may even be that the nunnery's director is somehow complicit. There is a mystery to be solved, and it is, but the door is clearly left open for further adventures of these women with extraordinary skills. It is an interesting idea to weave all these horror tales together into an alternative narrative. And certainly the occasional direct dialogue with the characters is an unusual device. I tend to agree with Kirkus, however, which found this distracting and also felt the characters were undeveloped. Perhaps in the sequel, which is slated to be released this year? The reviewer from NPR was more positive, concluding that "At its heart, Strange Case is a lively, late-Victorian adventure that celebrates, overhauls, and pokes gentle fun at the era's weird-fiction tradition. But it's also a sparkling, insightful conversation with the canon from which it sprang." Publishers Weekly also offered a positive evaluation.