Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula

The full title is "Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula: The Adventure of the Sanguinary Court." The book is well written, fully aping both Doyle's and Stoker's mannerisms and atmosphere. Some of the scenes are quite effective, but ultimately this book fails to live up to the title! Here, Sherlock Holmes, the world's greatest detective is relegated to third banana.. he is seemingly always playing catch-up to Harker, the protagonist from the Dracula novel.

Estleman is so reverent to the Dracula novel that Holmes is irrelevant and inconsequential to the story. It's similar to the trend in publishing today; just dropping in bits of horror into literary classics like Pride & Prejudice & Zombies..) The reader, along with Holmes, must make a giant leap over the supernatural hurdle ("The world is big enough for us. No ghosts need apply.") and the book doesn't make the jump or make it worthwhile.

The Return of Moriarty

John Gardner has written a trilogy dealing with Professor Moriarty (The Return of..., The Revenge of..., and simply, Moriarty (which came out this year.))

While I do enjoy his attention to details and reading about the details of the Napoleon of Crime and his empire, all three rely on one simple thing; Sherlock Holmes' forbearance.

Set almost immediately after The Adventure of the Empty House, "The Return of Moriarty" states that the Professor and the Great Detective had entered into "an understanding" where they will not engage each other. That doesn't sit well with me. From the canon we understand that Holmes would perish gladly if he could be sure that Moriarty was destroyed, but a few years later he's okay with a criminal empire being run in England? I might understand if the agreement kept Moriarty out of Great Britain, but not for this seeming acceptance by Holmes of Moriarty's evil.

Sherlock Holmes' passion for justice, and not the law, was always a major part of the character to me and this condonation seems anathema.

So, sadly, I have to give all three books a thumbs down. I didn't like them. (though I did read all three and what does that say about me?)

7% Solution

The Seven-Per-Cent Solution by Nicholas Meyer.

It’s a fun, quick read and probably the first “major” Sherlock Holmes historical team-up. It was made into a rather successful movie starring Nicol Williamson and Robert Duvall as Holmes and Watson, respectively. The book has Watson discovering that Holmes is in severe addiction throes and decides to trick his friend into seeing a new specialist in Vienna. With Dr. Freud’s help, Sherlock remembers and confronts a secret from his past and then they solve a crime.

It’s one of the better non-canon reads and deserves the reputation it has. It is interesting to note that Nicholas Meyer wrote this book when he was only 28. He would later direct another historical fiction, the movie Time After Time, where H.G. Welles chases Jack the Ripper into the 20^th century.

The book was quite popular so you should be able to find it used for very cheap and then movie is on Netflix and pops up on cable once in a while.

The Last Sherlock Holmes Story

I really had high expectations for this book. It's quite well written, capturing the feel and essence of Doyle's universe and merges it with the real-life events of the Jack the Ripper homicides. How Holmes is sucked into the case and how he tackles it is very well done.

Now, comes the crapfest. HERE BE SPOILERS!!

Thou hast been warned.

Watson, as is wont a sidekick, ignores orders and follows Holmes during a footchase in Whitechapel. He discovers that Sherlock Holmes is Jack the Ripper. Which is fine... I mean, I don't like it- I think it sucks, but if that's the conceit of the book so be it. BUT, then Watson proceeds to ignore the revelation for months! Never confronting, never exploring further... until much later, when the pair travel to Reichenbach Falls to confront Moriarty (who Holmes ALSO ends up being) and then Watson is forced to kill him. Ugh. The Holmes as villain is a big enough stomach-turner and then Watson virtually condoning his actions by inaction is just awful.

This is a bad book.