Lord John and the Hand of Devils

Author: Diana Gabaldon
Genre: Historical, Mystery, Anthology
Rating: B

I've already reviewed the three individual novellas that make up this collection, "Lord John and the Hellfire Club," "Lord John and the Succubus," and "Lord John and the Haunted Soldier," but I thought that I might also review the collection as a whole.  The theme that connects each novella, asides from the overall connection of being a Lord John novella, is an initial apparent connection to the supernatural - although as each novella climaxes it becomes clear that supernatural elements are not entirely at play.

My one big problem with this collection was the fact that, while arranged chronologically, if you want to read the story entirely chronologically you cannot sit down with this work and read from cover to cover - there are two novels whose events happen in between the events of these stories.  Lord John and the Private Matter takes place between "Hellfire Club" and "Succubus" and Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade occurs in between "Succubus" and "Haunted Soldier."  It kind of makes reading this a bit of a hassle, having to go from one book to another and then back again, although I do appreciate having these stories collected in general - the other option being tracking down the anthologies in which they were initially written (which I have had to do for the later Lord John novellas, "Custom of the Army" and "Lord John and the Plague of Zombies").  My smaller problem is the lack of a historical note for these stories - "Succubus" does have a small one, but the others don't.  Given as I know that Gabaldon's publishers are willing to let her write lengthy tomes, I think she could have gotten away with adding a bit more to discuss the history that she utilizes in her books.

Despite those problems, however, I really did like this collection.  I really liked how these stories were related thematically, and I really enjoyed the fact the way that they each referenced each other.  Events in one novella affect the events in the next novel, or even another novella.  Secondary characters reappear, and the overall antagonists in the series all make appearances.  If you're a fan of Gabaldon's work, then I think this is a good addition to your collection.