The House of Lost Horizons: A Sarah Jewell Mystery

Judging by the subtitle of this volume, it seems clear that frequent Mignolaverse contributor Chris Roberson wants to make a go of giving Ms. Jewell her own series-of-miniseries.  You may remember her as the feisty American from “The Rise of the Black Flame” and vol. 6 of “Witchfinder.”  In this story, Sarah and her friend Marie-Therese LaFleur have come to help with the appraisals of a number of occult artifacts acquired by one Arlen Whetstone.  He’s the late husband to Sarah’s friend, Lilian Makepeace, and his passing was not an accident.  Stranded on the island after their boat leaves, Sarah and Marie are now left to figure out who killed Arlen in a locked room among the several potential buyers who are stuck here along with them.  They may even have time to figure out just why this man was collecting all of these artifacts in the first place.

While Roberson has done some good work in the Mignolaverse in the past, “The House of Lost Horizons” is not one of his better efforts.  The suspects in this case are a rather drab and uninteresting lot while the mystery at its core isn’t all that compelling either.  It’s implied that leprechauns may have been involved, but this fact is (regrettably) never confirmed.  Leila Del Luca provides the art and, aside from an impressive double-page splash of the mansion’s interiors early on, feels as plain and lacking in character as the writing.

The thing that keeps me coming back to Mignloaverse stories is that they’ve continued to find new and interesting ways to be weird over the years.  “The House of Lost Horizons” biggest failure is that it’s not weird at all.  It’s just an ordinary mystery with a little bit of the supernatural tacked on.  I’d have a hard time recommending this to completists of the line if this was in softcover, so they really shouldn’t bother with this story in its current hardcover format.