Review:
I started listening to the audiobook yesterday morning while trying to avoid having to go out into the snowy madness of town, and then got distracted by doing household chores.
However, there was a point where Faye’s grumpy version Holmes (not how I see the original character, but it may well be how Faye interprets him) hooked me right back into the story.
The book really wasn’t bad at all, which is probably the first time ever I say this about a Holmes pastiche.
I still had a problem with mixing in real characters or events with fiction, and since this story focuses on Holmes hunting down Jack the Ripper the plot was always going to be at the risk of not working for me. That said, if someone was tying Holmes in with real historical events, then I’d rather it’d be the Ripper murders, because a) the lack of resolution to that particular puzzle shrouds the events in so much mystery all the things that usually annoy me about authors getting historical facts wrong just doesn’t apply here, and b) there was a notion that (in real life) Dr. Bell, on whom Holmes is modelled, may have been asked to assist in the investigation of the Ripper murders. So, that tenuous link seems to be enough for me to make the story work.
There were a few minor issues with the book, such as Holmes calling Watson “My boy” a lot, which he only does about a handful of times in the entire original canon.
Holmes is also very, very grumpy – not how I picture him, but it also kinda worked for me. LoL.
Then there were what I perceived to be a few things that didn’t work with the timeline of the original canon – the rejection of the knighthood at this point in Holmes bio doesn’t work because it makes the discussion of the knighthood in the actual canon (set after the events of Faye’s story) somewhat redundant.
Fun fact: According to Daniel Stashowver’s biography of ACD (Teller of Tales), ACD had considered rejecting his own knighthood but was persuaded by his mother to accept it.
On October 24, 1902, in recognition of his services to the Crown during the war, Conan Doyle presented himself at Buckingham Palace to receive a knighthood. At first, he felt strongly inclined to refuse the honor. He disparaged the title as “the badge of the provincial mayor,” and believed that the “big men”—such as Kipling and Chamberlain—would not stoop to accept such honorifics.
“All my work for the State would seem tainted if I took a so-called reward,” he wrote to his mother. “I tell you it is unthinkable. Let us drop the subject.” The Ma’am would not drop the subject. She pelted her son with reproachful letters, and traveled to Hindhead to press her case in person. In the end, she wore him down. To refuse the honor, she said, would constitute an insult to the king.
Daniel Stashower – Teller of Tales (p. 247). Henry Holt and Co..
There were also some pretty gory descriptions of the victims, which would probably not have appeared in ACD’s writing. However, given the plot, this was inevitable and was actually written quite well, without dwelling on the shock-factor.
The only thing that really didn’t work for me was that, at the end of the story, Holmes is asked to do something – and agrees to do something – that is not in his character. Here again, Faye managed to turn this around for me and actually make it work in a very clever way that actually works well in line with the original characters.
Overall, this book was quite a surprise and I really enjoyed it.
Still, any Holmes pastiche will always suffer by comparison with the original.
Original post:
BrokenTune.booklikes.com/post/1840190/dust-and-shadow
One of these days I need to run the numbers on how many Holmes vs the Ripper stories there are. I’m betting by now we’re well over the number of original stories, but I’m curious if we’ve hit double that yet.
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If you do run the numbers, please let me know.
In the meantime, this particular story was not horrible. There, I said it. Praise indeed! ;D
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I expect nothing but the highest possible praise from you. This impresses me that it ranks so well.
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Grumpy Holmes really endeared himself to me…by the end. I expect it was some kind of Stockholm syndrome. 😉
Seriously, there were some really fun parts where Faye used the style and things that Holmes would do in the original canon and make them work for her story.
Like a “best of” of Holmes antics. I rather liked it.
Christie did something similar with Poirot in Mrs. McGinty’s Dead but she used it to make fun of the Poirot stories. It was equally delightful.
Anyway, here we have a pastiche that did not make cringe.
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And sometimes not cringing is the highest possible praise. lol. But seriously, Holmes vs the Ripper has become its own sub-subgenre by this point, so I expect sooner or later someone would have to raise the bar. I’ve read some truly horrific ones. This sounds better by leaps and bounds.
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This is the first I’ve read, so the height of the bar may very well vary.
Ripper stories are not something I have an interest in, and they’re usually misused for some gory horror plot, which really is not something I enjoy (and therefore don’t seek out).
In this plot, it worked.
Oooh, and there are no secret children or love interests for Holmes to deal with. So, give the book a head start over the last Holmes pastiche I’ve read.
Just so you know, I’m not seeking out the pastiches right now, it is more of an effort to clear my bookshelves (physical, electronic, and audio) of any Holmes pastiches so I don’t end up feeling like I still have to read them. Hope that makes sense. A kind of spring clean…just without the spring.
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Don’t get me wrong, I understand the draw. Holmes is so realistic he became real to many, while the Ripper became myth in spite of the reality, which in turn fed the need for someone like Holmes to be. The two are practically joined at the hip. I mostly disparage that ACD didn’t write one and call it good. I sometimes wonder if he had done that, would another Ripper killing have proved him wrong. Might have been the reason not to go there. But it left the door w i d e open. Of course writers would go through it.
I’m glad you enjoyed it. I’m overjoyed they didn’t abuse Holmes, unlike some other authors out there…
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Ah, but here is the thing: If it is true that Bell was asked to assist in the investigation, then ACD could not have possibly gotten involved in the Ripper case.
And I suspect that it would have been rather insensitive to ACD’s reading public if he had involved Holmes in yet another speculation about JtR, when nobody, not even Holmes, had the answer as to the identity of JtR.
ACD just did not trade in gossip. The idea would have been abhorrent to him (judging from everything I have read about him).
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Excellent points all around. But I often wonder if it hadn’t been for the Great War and such if he might have eventually circled around and given that some closure. It’s weird to think the idea of the Ripper only got overshadowed by something like a world war.
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I see where you’re going with this but I am not sure how he would have given this closure when it was not closed in real life.
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I agree, it’s more complex for him. But it’s one of those cases where the public clearly needed that closure. He couldn’t have been unaware of that. I respect the many reasons he didn’t go there. I’m just always amazed from my modern perspective that his scruples outweighed the instant sensationalism a story like that would have brought.
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But that is the very essence of him – scruples and a social conscience. He just didn’t go in for sensationalism. He did some pretty outrageous stuff, but not for publicity.
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Exactly. That’s the quality he brought to both Holmes and Watson that makes them both endure so well. It’s a fine line to walk, and he pulled it off. It contrasts with the sheer number of writers who went after that sensationalism. I respect it. It just never ceases to amaze me.
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Exactly. It that essence that we love in Homes and Watson. 🙂
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