Booking It - "The Sherlockian"

As a fan of Sherlock Holmes books ever since I read The Hound of the Baskervilles when I was 13 (the sound of dogs barking in the forest can still make my heart race), Graham Moore’s The Sherlockian quenched my thirst for a new Sherlock Holmes story. However, unlike other Sherlock Holmes mysteries, Moore’s book contains two different stories from two different perspectives.

The Sherlockian opens up with a bang: Conan Doyle, the creator of Holmes, kills off the very man who made him famous. Readers of the Sherlock Holmes series know that this did indeed happen, in a way, in the story The Adventure of the Final Problem, in which Holmes tumbles to his apparent death at Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland. Doyle did this in a fit of jealousy because Holmes had become more real to the general public than the author was. But, several years later, Holmes was resurrected in The Adventure of the Empty House. The reason for Holmes’ resurrection was never fully explained.  Although Doyle was a dedicated diarist, the diary detailing his reason for bringing Holmes back went missing after his death. It is the greatest wish of every Sherlockian (a scholar of Sherlock Holmes) to recover this diary and learn why Doyle decided to bring back to life his most hated and most beloved creation.

This part of The Sherlockian is based on fact.  However, the book takes a fictional turn when the reader is introduced to the protagonist, Harold White, who has just been initiated into the very elite society known as “The Baker Street Irregulars,” an order of Sherlockians that is based on a real-life society. The big news at their conference is that their most esteemed member, Alex Cale, has discovered the missing Conan Doyle diary, and the Sherlockians’ biggest unsolved mystery is about to be revealed. Alas, Harold and a friend find Alex murdered in his hotel room with the word ELEMENTARY written on the wall in human blood and the diary missing. As a Holmes fanatic, Harold resolves to find Alex Cale’s killer and recover the diary himself, using methods that Holmes would have used.

The book shifts back and forth between Harold’s quest to solve a contemporary murder and Doyle’s investigation of a fictional murder. Because of the interweaving of these mysteries told with alternating chapters, the reader gets a two-for-one when buying this book. Both of the stories could hold up by themselves, and when combined, makes the book difficult to put down.

The Sherlockian is especially interesting because it offers a glimpse into the life of Conan Doyle and his good friend, Bram Stoker, the author of Dracula, who helps him solve the fictional case.  Although the premise for the story is fictional, it is based on solid facts about Doyle and Stoker, so that the personalities that Moore depicts are historically accurate. Clearly Moore did extensive research for this novel. Indeed, not only are the Victorian-era streets of London well described, but the contemporary Baker Street Irregular conventions are fleshed out as well, giving light to an exclusive and elusive organization.

The Sherlockian is an exciting and tense read and will thoroughly satisfy cravings for a riveting and masterful murder mystery.

New York Times Review: The Sherlockian