★★★★☆ A Portland Row Christmas, by Johnathan Stroud
Christmas Eve with the Lockwood Agency
A Portland Row Christmas
Johnathan Stroud
Christmas Eve with the Lockwood Agency
A Portland Row Christmas is a vignette depicting 35 Portland Row on Christmas Day, between novels four, The Hollow Boy, and five, The Empty Grave. It is barely a story, since very little happens. Instead, it is an intimate portrait of a moment of peace for the Lockwood Agency, relaxing with themselves. I enjoyed it.
It reminds me in form of Ben Aaronovitch's "Moments", most of which depict characters of his Rivers of London series at moments of ease.
I like Ben Aaronovitch's Moments and Jonathan Stroud's A Portland Row Christmas. Even without a story, they reveal intimate details of the relationships between the characters. For instance, in this one it is obvious that Lucy has gotten over her quondam resentment of Holly, and that she and Lockwood are becoming increasingly intimate. (I had never heard of the game "Sardines" -- had to look that up.)
The story consists of five images: a cover and four printed pages, that are, as far as I can determine, available only on social media: Xitter or facebook. Those are not permalinks, so you may have to hunt for it. Jonathan Stroud does not seem to have put it in what I thought would be the obvious place, his web site.