The Disappearnce of Sherlock Holmes

With each new adventure Larry Millet makes Holmes more and more an American story.  Perhaps Larry has truly channeled Arthur Conan Doyle and Doyle's belief in spiritualism is coming true through this series of American Adventures.

While the first books were fun, the depth of the story and the character increase with each volume and in this adventure that spins off the Dancing Men mystery we see Larry giving the canon of Sherlockian writing its due and then he moves forward to put Holmes and Watson in to situations that would never have occurred to Doyle.

This is fun, because Holmes is a universal figure, an icon of mystery.  Of course, like all series the suspense is less because we  know the hero will survive.  That is why the death of Holmes in Rickenback Falls was such a shock!  But even that death could not last, nor could Holmes remain dead just because Arthur Conan Doyle died.

You can understand why Doyle wanted to eliminate this nemesis.  Holmes took over Conan Doyle's life.  Doyle may have been an interesting person - enough for novels like the Sherlockian and other Doyle focused books, but in the end it is Sherlock who continues to live.  He is the spirit that Arthur sought in his spiritualism adventures, but that was not satisfying to an author who wanted the spotlight on the real person.

In this book we cross paths with real people, just like the early Millet novels that had James J Hill in central roles.  Here we find the Astor's playing a minor role and New York and Chicago are prominent for their own character.

Holmes is set up, he is mocked, he is led through the adventures by a mind that is vindictive just as it is cunning and even knowing Sherlock has to survive we are still caught in his fast paced adventure.  Like all current day Sherlock writers, Larry takes much longer than the genius Doyle in telling his story, but the master has to have his due and it is acceptable when the pace is good like this one is.

A revelation that this book presents as the basis for its story is the fact that Irene Adler was not the only woman from the Canon of Doyle/Holmes works that Sherlock was smitten with.  Despite a century of belief in such a situation, we now find that Elsie Cubbits from the Dancing Men mystery became a frequent companion and correspondent with Holmes and as a result Holmes' enemies use her as the wedge to propel Watson and Holmes to come to NY where Holmes himself is kidnapped and ultimately Chicago.

Millet brings in the characters that he has introduced in his own boy of Sherlockian writings and they converge along with the villains - who come from both Doyle and Millet. "Wooldridge, a former police officer was described at the time as "the incorruptible Sherlock Holmes of America," and he was on a mission to save Chicago from itself." - http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/feature/chicago-detective/  I am pleased to learn about this real life detective who is as fascinating in reality as Holmes in fiction.  The second policeman ally is Wilson Hargreave of the New York Police Bureau - who was in the original dancing man mystery.