is American Gods based on? That book is so long and based on various American locations that it wouldn’t really be diminished for me by the plot being lifted from a Kipling story.
I don’t remember the books that I’ve actually read having this problem, but it sounds like the basic plot of Sandman has a bunch of stuff that’s always going to remind people directly of his actual crimes. I mentioned Marion Zimmer Bradley elsewhere in this thread, and I guess it’s the same case for The Mists of Avalon.