When I saw this book offered by the Quality Paperback Book club, I was intrigued by not only the author but the subject. Caleb Carr wrote two very enjoyable crime novels (The Angel of Darkness and The Alienist) set in turn of the 20th century New York City and featuring a Sherlock Holmes-like detective, Dr. Lazlo Kreizel, and his sidekick John Schuyler. When I learned Caleb Carr’s latest work involved the characters of the Sherlock Holmes stories (The Canon, as devotees of the characters call it, includes 56 short stories and 4 novels), I thought this would be a can’t miss, entertaining book. The problem turns out to be that I don’t think I ever actually read any Sherlock Holmes stories, so when Carr writes in the style of their author Arthur Conan Doyle (I am assuming here), it falls short of my expectations.

For those of you, such as I, not intimately familiar with the Holmes stories, the tale is woven from the perspective of his partner in crime-solving, Dr. James Watson. I recall a movie entitled Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother. It seems that was based on the stories because this tale includes Sherlock’s older brother, Mycroft, who works for Her Majesty the Queen. The mystery here is a pair of murders at the Queen’s royal retreat in Scotland on the grounds of a castle known as Holyrood House. The House was the site of a gruesome royal murder a couple hundred years prior. The victim gives Carr the title for his story.

Upon receiving a coded message from his brother Mycroft, Holmes along with Watson set out to go to the castle and investigate for themselves. During their journey, a bomb is detonated very near the detectives’ compartment on the train. Is there a connection with the murder? Why the need for the secrecy from Mycroft?

Analysis

It is easy to assert that Caleb Carr has a gift for historical fiction. The prior titles mentioned above attest to his talents. According the Epilogue to this edition, the intention was that Carr, along with many other writers, would compose a short story since most of the Sherlock Holmes stories are in that format. This task was commissioned by the estate of A. Conan Doyle. Carr became so engaged in his task that his story stretched to book length.

I think that Carr could have benefited from some editing. Perhaps I haven’t read enough Holmes stories to know the proper style but there is so much dialogue and exposition at the beginning of the story, some readers might give up and move on to the next book. The prose is well-done. There is simply too much of it for my tastes.

Of course writing in a style to one that was published at least 100 years ago is going to suffer from some level of disconnect to the present day. I didn’t expect that a story set in the early 20th century was going to have cell phones or faxes or anything, I just expected something that didn’t seem like it was written a century ago.

Elementary, My Dear Reader

You didn’t think you were going to read a Sherlock Holmes review and not get some reference to Sherlock’s most famous line, did you? It is a tough call for me whether to recommend this book as I found it to be too drawn out. The solution to the murders is revealed with 50 to 75 pages to go in the book. While it does contain some sensational elements, the ending turns out to be something of an anticlimax. I am going to recommend it to fans only, but not to the general public or to Carr fans such as myself.

Try it at your own risk.


Recommended: No