From Publishers Weekly
Two prior books by Hardwick, (Sherlock Holmes: My Life and Crimes and The Prisoner of the Devil) have been enthusiastically endorsed by both the Baker Street Irregulars and the Conan Doyle estate. Such approval may be daunting: one way to explain why, while it faithfully echoes a Holmesian novel in tone and design, this latest effort seems to lack any life of its own. Hardwick roams freely through earlier Holmes adventures, plucking characters and situations, to form a pastiche composed of deliberately familiar elements. Thus that legendary hound (formerly of the Baskervilles) now seems to have surfaced on Hampstead Heath, a compromising letter (like the one in A Scandal in Bohemia) must be retrieved and the throne of England saved from the usual madmen. The purloining of Oliver Cromwell's bones, the beheading of a statue of Charles II and the death of a Chinese seaman provoke the appearances of most of Holmes's comrades from Scotland YardLestrade, Gregson and White Masonbut it is up to Holmes to discover the pattern underlying those events, which he does with his usual aplomb. Though this book does little to advance the Holmes legend, it does pay tribute to a character who has been fascinating readers for a hundred years. Drawings not seen by PW.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
A brutal attack on a tramp accompanied by the footprints of a giant hound sends Inspector Lestrade pounding once again on the door of 221 B Baker Street. He is not the only one with a problem. In short order an illustrious client fearing blackmail, theft of Cromwell's bones, and a sinister murder on the Channel steamer set Holmes and Watson investigating seemingly unrelated crimes. The more clues they unearth, the more obvious become the connections among all four mysteries. References and quotations from previous cases lend authenticity, but serendipity and coincidence rob this of the focus and intensity characteristic of Doyle. For devoted Sherlockians. Cynthia Johnson Whealler, Cary Memorial Lib., Lexington, Mass.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.
