Holmes Entangled
by Gordon McAlpine
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From the Edgar®-nominated author of Hammett Unwritten and Woman with a Blue Pencil comes a startling meta-fiction tale told in the voice of Sherlock Holmes. Set in 1920s' London, Cambridge, and Paris, Holmes's final adventure leads him through labyrinths of crime and espionage in a mortally dangerous inquiry into the unseen nature of existence itself. Sherlock Holmes, now in his seventies, retired from investigations and peaceably disguised as a professor at Cambridge, is shaken when a show more modestly successful author in his late-sixties named Arthur Conan Doyle calls upon him at the university. This Conan Doyle, notable for historical adventure stories, science fiction, and a three-volume history of the Boer War (but no detective tales), somehow knows of the false professor's true identity and pleads for investigative assistance. Someone is trying to kill Conan Doyle. Who? Why? Good questions, but what intrigues Holmes most is how the 'middling scribbler' ascertained Holmes's identity in the first place, despite the detective's perfect disguise. Holmes takes the case. There is danger every step of the way. Great powers want the investigation quashed. But with the assistance of Dr. Watson's widow, Holmes persists, exploring séances, the esoterica of Edgar Allan Poe, the revolutionary new science of quantum mechanics, and his own long-denied sense of loss and solitude. Ultimately, even Sherlock Holmes is unprepared for what the evidence suggests. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
The book opens with Sr. J.L. Borges*, a librarian going to see a PI in Buenos Aries, Argentina in 1943. He carries with him a mysterious manuscript and an ever more mysterious tale. Apparently, he dreamed the detective including the details of his current case which the detective has disclosed to no one. The answers, Borges believes, are in this manuscript.
The manuscript was written by the famous detective Sherlock Holmes in 1928. Dr. Watson has been dead for the past three years and Holmes has been "retired to the country" for a while now. Instead, he spends his time in disguise teaching lectures at Cambridge and Oxford on a variety of topics. No one has caught on til now. Sir Author Conan Doyle the writer of romances, a history of the show more Boer War that earned him the knighthood, and lately articles on spiritualism, have discovered him through the most unusual means.
At a seance, the spirit of the current Prime Minister who appeared as a cripple and not a Prime Minister told him where to find Holmes and instructed him to go and talk to him. Doyle wrote up a paper for the Spiritualist Journal and was told that they didn't want it and was kicked off its board. He was then shot later that night. Someone doesn't want the information out of what he saw. So he has hired Holmes to save his life.
This book does indeed lead to the idea of multiple universes and a group that will do anything to keep the idea secret. Who can they be? My hope was that there would be more on the multiple universes but this was a mystery not a science fiction novel or a real combination of both. So I was let down a little bit. The mystery could have been a bit better. It was a very neat idea in theory and I would have like to have seen it carried out better. It was nice to see Mrs. Hudson in the role of John's widow and Sherlock's helper. This was an okay book. Something to pass the time with and a novelty.
*J.L. Borges is, for those like myself who are ignorant of the famous Argentinian literary great, Jorge Louis Borges. He was an essayist, poet, short story writer, and yes, a librarian. He is said to have invented magical realism. His short stories were connected by the topics of dreams, labyrinths, libraries, mirrors, fictional writers, philosophy, and religion. He led an interesting life. For more information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorge_Luis_Borges
Quotes
“Does this [quantum mechanics] make sense to you? I asked at last.
She answered without hesitation. “Not really.”
“Then that means there’s a chance I explained it properly, Mrs. Watson, as quantum mechanics makes sense to no one, including its brilliant progenitors, even if experiments indicate it is so.”
-Gordon McAlpine (Holmes Entangled p 140-1) show less
The manuscript was written by the famous detective Sherlock Holmes in 1928. Dr. Watson has been dead for the past three years and Holmes has been "retired to the country" for a while now. Instead, he spends his time in disguise teaching lectures at Cambridge and Oxford on a variety of topics. No one has caught on til now. Sir Author Conan Doyle the writer of romances, a history of the show more Boer War that earned him the knighthood, and lately articles on spiritualism, have discovered him through the most unusual means.
At a seance, the spirit of the current Prime Minister who appeared as a cripple and not a Prime Minister told him where to find Holmes and instructed him to go and talk to him. Doyle wrote up a paper for the Spiritualist Journal and was told that they didn't want it and was kicked off its board. He was then shot later that night. Someone doesn't want the information out of what he saw. So he has hired Holmes to save his life.
This book does indeed lead to the idea of multiple universes and a group that will do anything to keep the idea secret. Who can they be? My hope was that there would be more on the multiple universes but this was a mystery not a science fiction novel or a real combination of both. So I was let down a little bit. The mystery could have been a bit better. It was a very neat idea in theory and I would have like to have seen it carried out better. It was nice to see Mrs. Hudson in the role of John's widow and Sherlock's helper. This was an okay book. Something to pass the time with and a novelty.
*J.L. Borges is, for those like myself who are ignorant of the famous Argentinian literary great, Jorge Louis Borges. He was an essayist, poet, short story writer, and yes, a librarian. He is said to have invented magical realism. His short stories were connected by the topics of dreams, labyrinths, libraries, mirrors, fictional writers, philosophy, and religion. He led an interesting life. For more information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorge_Luis_Borges
Quotes
“Does this [quantum mechanics] make sense to you? I asked at last.
She answered without hesitation. “Not really.”
“Then that means there’s a chance I explained it properly, Mrs. Watson, as quantum mechanics makes sense to no one, including its brilliant progenitors, even if experiments indicate it is so.”
-Gordon McAlpine (Holmes Entangled p 140-1) show less
Sherlock is in his 70's and has disappeared from public life--but not so fast. Arthur Conan Doyle needs his help, and besides, there are unexplained circumstances that he must figure out. How could a famous politician appear at a seance for communicating with the dead, and how could Doyle have found Holmes in spite of his foolproof disguise?
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- Reviews
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- Rating
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- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
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- ASINs
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