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A review by christajls
The Sherlockian by Graham Moore
3.0
The Sherlockian by Graham Moore
Mild mannered, Harold White, is the newest inductee to the famed Sherlockian society, the Baker Street Irregulars. The Irregulars are interested in all things Sherlockian, but the one thing that really has their attention is that the infamous lost diary of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has been found! On the day of its revelation, however, its finder is found dead in his hotel room and the diary is no where to be found. Due to White's love and knowledge of Sherlock Holmes and his adventures, he sets out to to find the killer and the diary. Meanwhile in 1893, Arthur Conan Doyle has completed his latest Sherlock Holmes story. Tired of the attention given to his creation, Doyle decided it's best to simply kill him off. The public is of course outraged but Doyle refuses to give in, until of course he does, with the writing of the Hound of the Baskervilles, eight years later.
This book is an exciting and fun account of what happened during those Holmes free years, specifically the period contained within the missing diary. I loved the chapters on the adventures of Arthur Conan Doyle. I previously knew very little about the man and his character in the novel was very informative and captivating. The second major historical figure was that of Bram Stoker, before he was a known writer. He was probably my favourite character of the book and the two of them together made the perfect stand ins for Holmes and Watson. As much as I loved the historical chapters I wasn't too impressed with the modern story of Henry White. It was still fairly captivating but it read more like a Dan Brown novel than I would have expected (nerdy hero, beautiful but mysterious girl to help him out, racing around historical European landmarks etc etc). I found the modern characters a little one dimensional and a couple of times found myself rushing through those chapters to get back to the adventures of Doyle and Stoker.
Though not a great work of literature it is probably the most fun I've had reading a book in awhile and I would definitely recommend it to any mystery lovers out there. It keeps you guessing to end and will make you appreciate Arthur Conan Doyle, instead of losing him in the shadows of his creation. If nothing else it is the book that will get you in the mood to read all the old Sherlock Holmes mysteries.
Mild mannered, Harold White, is the newest inductee to the famed Sherlockian society, the Baker Street Irregulars. The Irregulars are interested in all things Sherlockian, but the one thing that really has their attention is that the infamous lost diary of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has been found! On the day of its revelation, however, its finder is found dead in his hotel room and the diary is no where to be found. Due to White's love and knowledge of Sherlock Holmes and his adventures, he sets out to to find the killer and the diary. Meanwhile in 1893, Arthur Conan Doyle has completed his latest Sherlock Holmes story. Tired of the attention given to his creation, Doyle decided it's best to simply kill him off. The public is of course outraged but Doyle refuses to give in, until of course he does, with the writing of the Hound of the Baskervilles, eight years later.
This book is an exciting and fun account of what happened during those Holmes free years, specifically the period contained within the missing diary. I loved the chapters on the adventures of Arthur Conan Doyle. I previously knew very little about the man and his character in the novel was very informative and captivating. The second major historical figure was that of Bram Stoker, before he was a known writer. He was probably my favourite character of the book and the two of them together made the perfect stand ins for Holmes and Watson. As much as I loved the historical chapters I wasn't too impressed with the modern story of Henry White. It was still fairly captivating but it read more like a Dan Brown novel than I would have expected (nerdy hero, beautiful but mysterious girl to help him out, racing around historical European landmarks etc etc). I found the modern characters a little one dimensional and a couple of times found myself rushing through those chapters to get back to the adventures of Doyle and Stoker.
Though not a great work of literature it is probably the most fun I've had reading a book in awhile and I would definitely recommend it to any mystery lovers out there. It keeps you guessing to end and will make you appreciate Arthur Conan Doyle, instead of losing him in the shadows of his creation. If nothing else it is the book that will get you in the mood to read all the old Sherlock Holmes mysteries.