The Holmes Affair

An interesting set of interlocking mysteries, one set in 1900, another set in 2010. The former concerns Arthur Conan Doyle and his buddy Bram Stoker, and the latter concerns a Sherlockian (a Holmes superfan, for those not in the know) searching for Doyle's missing diary that just happens to cover the events under discussion. It is a treat for Sherlockians, though you may see some of the things coming. It is a good enough mystery for non-Sherlockians. The only problem I had was the ending. As a historian, I abhor the destruction of documents, even ones that might shed bad light on Doyle. All-in-all, pretty good. Wouldn't mind if it was made into a movie, either of both story strands or just the Doyle-Stoker mystery.

In the dining room of New York’s Algonquin Hotel, Harold White has just become the newest member of The Baker Street Irregulars; an elite Sherlockian society that he has labored to enter since he first read Sherlock Holmes as a teenager. Now, as its youngest member, the newly installed Princeton graduate is about to step into the mind of Sherlock Holmes because one their members has been found dead in their hotel room. The corpse belongs to a member who claimed to have found Arthur Conan Doyle’s lost diary-a journal that every Sherlockian has tried to find for generations. While examining the body and the room, Harold meets a journalist named Sarah, and together they work to solve the mystery. Along with this story is another show more mystery beginning in 1900 involving Arthur Conan Doyle, years after he killed off Sherlock Holmes. This storyline is injected between the chapters about Harold’s mystery, so the reader is quickly shuttled between the present and the past, which I personally liked. Arthur Conan Doyle teams up with his friend Bram Stoker to solve the mystery of a young woman’s murder. While all of England is still disgusted with him for killing Holmes, and Scotland Yard is just humoring him; he and Bram are pulled deeply into a dangerous and sinister mystery that the inspectors at Scotland Yard have written off as a death of a harlot in a bad neighborhood.

Great writing; I underlined quite a few lines that stood out and one of my favorites is: “Sebastian conveyed the impression that your number was already up and he was just waiting for the right moment to let you know.” The book is loaded with little gems that I know readers and writers will love. This is a book for lovers of challenging mysteries, Sherlock Holmes fans, and England past and present. 5 stars. show less

Graham Moore’s first novel “The Sherlockian” is a fine work of historical fiction. Constructed via chapters alternating between a pair of murder mysteries: one in the present day at the center of a search for a missing diary of Sherlock Holmes creator, Arthur Conan Doyle; and another in set in London of 1900 (within the timeframe of the missing diary), which Conan Doyle and his friend Bram Stoker investigate. In the end, Moore skillfully brings the parallel stories together for a satisfying conclusion. I will quibble that Harold, the present day protagonist, makes a much too quick and extraordinary leap from his initial portrayal as an insecure milquetoast to an instantly bold detective. But beyond that, it all works quite well, show more and makes for an entertaining read. “The Sherlockian” clearly shows Moore’s budding talent, which would be further honed in his wonderful 2016 historical novel, “The Last Days of Night.” show less

What a brilliant mix of fact and fiction! Mixing Conan Doyle's life with his most known character and a goose chase around a lost diary, everything is bundled up in a mystery that unravels a century later. Moore does a wonderful job of characterising Doyle's life - of which I learned many fascinating facts - and constructing a compelling plot that rings true from the first to the last page. I strongly recommend this read - save yourself a good sitting: you won't want to put it down!

For me, novels with parallel narratives, one historical, one contemporary, I find myself enjoying one and just trying to get through the other, even skipping bits of the other just to keep up with the one I'm *actually* enjoying.

The Sherlockian is the rare exception. I was immediately drawn in to both narratives, the contemporary with Harold White, a young, new member of the BSI, and the historical with Arthur Conan Doyle, which eventually collide with lots of bumps, twists and turns along the way. Lots of Sherlockian easter eggs throughout, but you don't need to be a devoted Sherlock Holmes fan to "get" this book (I don't think).

This book and I had problems. Well, half this book and I had problems. The other half was amusing if completely unrealistic.

The Sherlockian is a story told in two timelines: one that begins in 1893, when Conan Doyle makes the fateful decision to kill off Sherlock Holmes, and covers then events that happen though 1901; the other timeline takes place in the 'present', which is 2010, in this case.

The Holy Grail of Sherlockians has always been what happened to a cache of Conan Doyle's papers that were missing after his death, including one of his journals, so the present day timeline is the search for that journal and the answers to who killed the Sherlockian who claimed to have found it, while the Conan Doyle timeline follows events that show more would have been recorded in the missing journal.

As I mentioned above, I found the present day timeline amusing in a mad-cap caper kind of way - the kind that requires a complete suspension of disbelief, as well as operating on the pretence that law enforcement no longer exist. This story line is entirely about the thrill of the puzzle, the hunt, the process.

But here's my beef, and it's about the other timeline; the historical one. This is a work of historical fiction, and the author is quick to point out at the end that all the events are fabricated. Fine. I read that type of historical fiction frequently - real people in fictional settings. But usually the author has a greater respect for the real-life people he uses in his fictional story lines. There's a certain respect for adhering to a character's basic ... character.

That categorically did not happen here. Moore obviously did not care a wit for maintaining the integrity of Conan Doyle because most of the historical timeline had him doing things so completely out of character as to drive me to yelling at the book.

If I knew nothing about Conan Doyle, I'd have found him and Bram Stoker dressing up as women as crashing a suffragette meeting mildly amusing, but I do know something about Conan Doyle. Enough to know that it beggars belief to think of him doing anything of the sort. If an author is going to write a fictional story using real historical people doing fictional things, those historical persons should do those fictional things the same way they'd did the factual things - otherwise, it's not the same person and the author would have been better served using a fictional character instead of maligning the real one. ("Malign" does not refer to Conan Doyle dressing as a woman, but to a different event that would be a massive spoiler.)

So. Half the book was amusing. The other half ... ok, the other half might have been amusing for someone who doesn't know, or hold in such high regard, the real life people used for fictional purposes, against their basic characters. If you know nothing about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and are in the mood for a bit of madcap mystery, go for it. If you do know and admire ACD, you've been warned. show less

In 1893, to the consternation of legions of fans, Arthur Conan Doyle killed Sherlock Holmes in "The Final Problem." Eight years later, he brought the sleuth back to the page with no explanation. Following the author's death in 1930s, several of his papers are found to be missing, including the diary that covers the period just prior to the return of Holmes. In 2010, Harold White attends the annual meeting of the Baker Street Irregulars, a Sherlockian society. The society is eagerly anticipating a speech by Alex Cale who has found the lost diary. On the morning of the speech, however, Cale is found dead in his hotel room and the diary is missing. Harold decides to use Holmes' methods to solve the murder and find the diary, but mysteries show more are far different to solve than they are to read.

Moore's novel is an intriguing mix of the historical and contemporary. The chapters alternate between Arthur Conan Doyle in 1893 and 1900 and Harold in 2010. The two mysteries in the different time periods feed off of each other. Moore plays with the Holmes canon and the mystery story, often outlining the mechanics of what he'll do before he does it. While some of the antics Arthur Conan Doyle gets up to had me raising my eyebrows in disbelief, I did appreciate some of the other literary individuals that popped up in that story line. Harold also had some flaws. His hypocrisy bothered me at times as he looks down on other Sherlockians attempting to solve the murder as amateur when he is in exactly the same position. The mysteries themselves are intriguing and the novel is entertaining for anyone who's ever encountered Sherlock Holmes in one form or another. show less