A review by strikingthirteen
The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The Whitechapel Horrors by Edward B. Hanna

2.0

Reading a Holmes pastiche tends to go one of two ways: very good or very bad. I wouldn't call this one very bad but it wasn't as good as I'd hoped it would be. Sherlock Holmes investigating the Ripper murders seems like an awesome idea(and it is) but this just seemed a bit too forced. I mean that in the sense that it read like the author had just inserted Holmes into places that made sense and then didn't really smooth out the rough edges to make it flow nicely. The parts I believed the most were the bits at the end with Mycroft and the whole royal cover up. The rest just didn't feel as natural as some other Holmes pastiches that I've read where he's basically inserted into historical events. The book is incredibly well researched and I guess that is to the story's detriment - at points it reads like a Holmesian essay than a pastiche.

It was a good and engaging read despite all that. I burned through the book pretty quick considering the length and I really did enjoy the ending - which frustrated me but I liked that it did instead of going an easy way and just have Holmes know everything and sit on it forever. Considering the theory that was adopted and the route that was taken I liked the fact that Holmes didn't know who the Ripper was in the end - or else would not tell Watson. Or maybe Watson did know and just never recorded it. Love the toss up there.

I guess it would be fair to say the payoff was mostly worth the journey. As much as I liked the ending as aspects of the story I don't think I'll be visiting this pastiche again.