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    The Sherlockian
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    The Sherlockian
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    The Sherlockian
    Audiobook11 hours

    The Sherlockian

    Written by Graham Moore

    Narrated by Steven Crossley

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Hurtling from present day New York to Victorian London, The Sherlockian weaves the history of Sherlock Holmes and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle into an inspired and entertaining double mystery that proves to be anything but "elementary."

    In December 1893, Sherlock Holmes-adoring Londoners eagerly opened their Strand magazines, anticipating the detective's next adventure, only to find the unthinkable: his creator, Arthur Conan Doyle, had killed their hero off. London spiraled into mourning-crowds sported black armbands in grief-and railed against Conan Doyle as his assassin.

    Then in 1901, just as abruptly as Conan Doyle had "murdered" Holmes in "The Final Problem," he resurrected him. Though the writer kept detailed diaries of his days and work, Conan Doyle never explained this sudden change of heart. After his death, one of his journals from the interim period was discovered to be missing, and in the decades since, has never been found.... Or has it?

    When literary researcher Harold White is inducted into the preeminent Sherlock Holmes enthusiast society, The Baker Street Irregulars, he never imagines he's about to be thrust onto the hunt for the holy grail of Holmes-ophiles: the missing diary. But when the world's leading Doylean scholar is found murdered in his hotel room, it is Harold-using wisdom and methods gleaned from countless detective stories-who takes up the search, both for the diary and for the killer.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHachette Audio
    Release dateDec 1, 2010
    ISBN9781607887232
    Unavailable
    The Sherlockian
    Author

    Graham Moore

    Graham Moore is a New York Times bestselling novelist and Oscar-winning screenwriter. His screenplay for The Imitation Game won the Oscar in 2015. His first novel, The Sherlockian, was published in 16 countries and translated into 13 languages. Graham was born in Chicago and now lives in Los Angeles.

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    Reviews for The Sherlockian

    3.5/5

    511 ratings70 reviews

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    • 3/5
      I really wish I could give this a 3.5

      As a fan of Sherlock Holmes, I couldn't resist listening to this audiobook. Having been rather disappointed by other Sherlock Holmes related books, I didn't expect much. I was pleasantly surprised!

      The Sherlockian weaves together two story lines. In the 21st century, a Sherlock Holmes scholar finds himself swept up into searching for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's lost diary. Sir Arthur assiduously kept diaries of his activities. After his death, only one wasn't found. In the book as in the real world, that missing diary is a kind of holy grail to Holmes enthusiasts.

      The modern story is told alternately with what might have happened to Sir Arthur during the period of the missing diary. This narrative fits the known facts during that time, based on other records. It also lays groundwork for both Sir Arthur's return to writing Holmes, as well as his later interest in spiritualism. It's a bold goal to create a period in the life of a historical figure - and this attempt works well.

      The parallel narratives subtly support each other; each story is better for being braided together. Like the Holmes story, each of them is a fair play mystery - all of the data is there for the reader, but the reader may not figure it out until the end anyway.

      I wasn't particularly trying to guess the answers, although my thoughts were in the correct direction in both cases :)

      The modern story felt a bit contrived, but not painfully so. It was easy enough to put aside the plot holes and enjoy the story.

      You don't have to know anything about Sir Arthur to enjoy this book, although the serious Holmes fan will probably enjoy the scholarship of this book as much as the nicely done mysteries.

    • 5/5
      Very enjoyable novel split between 1900 and 2010. The events written for the 1900 section is based upon excellent research on the part of the author, the parts related to 2010 have taken some few events and presented them as speculative fiction. Going on my shelf next to my Conan Doyal books.
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this. A relatively light hearted Sherlockian romp. The story alternates between the present and the Victorian era, both of which hold a mystery. An interesting insight into Arthur Conan Doyle's relationship with his most famous creation. I liked it!
    • 4/5
      Its a decent mystery - when a well know figure in a hardcore Sherlock Holmes society club is found dead in a hotel room. One of the members, newly joined Harold White, gets involved in the case and tries to figure it out, the Sherlock Holmes way. A reporter interested in the Society gets involved thinking there's a story. The second part of the story involves Conan Doyle and a fictional account of a missing part of his life. A letter bomb puts Conan on a real story, a string of dead women might be something more than what it is. Bram Stoker plays the sidekick.The story is solid, well written until the very end, where certain motivations don't work (The Conan Doyle Story), however, the history is interesting, however, the story in modern times felt a bit bland at times, although solid.
    • 3/5
      A fun outing for mystery fans, and doubly so for Baker Street addicts. Two stories are told here in alternating chapters. One takes place around the turn of the 20th century and relates the actions of Arthur Conan Doyle himself--often assisted by his good friend, Bram Stoker--as he deals with public anger over his "killing" of Holmes in "The Final Problem" and as he investigates a series of murders of young women in London. The other story is a contemporary one revolving around the search for a long-lost Doyle diary and the death of a "Sherlockian" who had claimed to have recovered it. Did this man actually find the diary, or was he lying? The pursuit of these matters makes for an interesting tale and leads our protagonist from New York to London and on to Reichenbach Falls, a place known to even the most casual Holmes fan. All in all, this was a good read, and the author did a nice job of connecting the various threads at the end. I didn't care for the many allusions to Watson being "bumbling" and "comic" and a "gag," and the same was true of a description of Holmes himself as a "bitter hater of womankind." In truth, Holmes had little use for any women not named Irene Adler, but it's also true that Holmes had little use for any men, as well. As such, I would argue that any "hatred" was rather gender-neutral on his part. And anyone who calls Watson a "gag" is clearly thinking more of various horrid movie portrayals than of the man we actually met in the original stories. Oh, well. In any case, these bits, combined with the ultimate disposition of the lost diary, were enough to cost the book a star, but it was one of the most enjoyable three-star novels that I've read in quite some time.
    • 4/5
      A ripping yarn inspired by some true facts - the loss of Conan Doyle's diary from one segment of his life, and the death in 2004 of a prominent Sherlockian - which are then woven into an interesting 'what if?' story. Very enjoyable read.
    • 4/5
      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).
    • 5/5
      Rollicking good ride. 2 stories told at the same time, a hundred yrs apart. Usually when this happens I get annoyed and wish for the author to complete one section or another, but these fit so well together it wasn't an annoyance.

      Arthur Conan Doyle has killed Sherlock Holmes and is trying to get on with his life. Instead a mystery pulls him in.

      Harold White has just been inducted into the most illustrious of all Sherlock Holmes societies: The Baker Street Irregulars. He is beyond happy until one of the Irregulars is murdered.

      And all of this is around the mystery of one of Doyle's missing diaries.

      Very nicely done. I definitely enjoyed this.
    • 4/5
      I had so much fun with this one, I can't help but go the extra star, though for many reasons I am nearly convinced to give it three. Having read and enjoyed it, however, might make my argument that I'm not that obsessed with Sherlock Holmes that much weaker.
    • 4/5
      History melting into fiction. And eerily, based on another real event of this century.
    • 3/5
      Readable, but less engaging than I had hoped. The timeline switches back and forth between 1900 and 2010, between the life of Arthur Conan Doyle and Harold White, a Sherlockian, investigating the murder of a pre-eminent Sherlock Holmes scholar, Alex Cale. To me, the most interesting interactions occur between Doyle and Bram Stoker.
    • 3/5
      A revisit to Sherlock Holmes world to me. This one is also based on true story.There are 2 parallel mysteries taking places in 2 time era. One pursued by Doyle and Bram Stroker in the 18th century, after Doyle has 'killed' Sherlock Holmes and presumeably revived him. Another one, in the modern day, pursued by a Harold White who has joined the Baker Street Irregulars when a member announced that he had found the missing Doyle diaries and then murdered.The alternate storytelling takes me some time to get used to. I don't like it but I guess it's the best way to blend these 2 mysteries?Personally, I like the past mystery and everything there. It's not just a mystery. The writer tries to show the crossing-over to the new era when London will lose its foggy charm to modern electricity. There're some passages in this novel that I like--when Bram Stroker saying that we shouldn't bring Sherlock Holmes to light, or that people will always remember Dorian Gray--but not Oscar Wilde.The modern mystery looks interesting to me at first. There's the missing diaries, and then murder--all elements to hook the reader. But we're talking about the modern die-hard Doyle fan club, or Sherlockians, here. The more Horold White follows the trail to new findings, I couldn't help wondering--'Where're the rest of Sherlockians?" Aren't they supposed to be all brilliant, eager detective waiting to solve the mystery? Here's the mystery, finally. Why I see only this rookie Irregular Horold White showing off. Where's the competiton? (Well, I can't buy it that Harold is the only one smart enough to figure out everything.)I do feel that Harold White's mystery is the main mystery here. The past mystery is just what will lead you to the reason of missing diaries. So when Harold (almost) singlehandedly solves the mystery, it's just too convenient and implausible. So, this book in conclusion: brilliant use of true story and characters, clever blend, many good passages, but the investigation & ending are a bit Hollywood for me.
    • 4/5
      As a Sherlock Holmes fan, I really enjoyed this novel. Based primarily on facts from the life of Arthur Conan Doyle, the author spins a parallel mystery laced with tidbits of information familiar to Sherlock Holmes readers which resolves at the end. It is a work of pure historical fiction in the best sense and a good mystery as well. It is unfortunate that with the plethora of pastiches related to Doyle and his characters, that this is the only such work written by Graham Moore. We can hope for more.
    • 4/5
      The Sherlockian is told from two diffrent points of view. It is told through Harold (new member of a sherlock holmes society) and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Harold's parts of the book take place in 2010, while Doyle's parts take place in the 1800's. After successfuly killing off Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle sense an odd change of attidude in Englnad. When he walks into town, mobs of anry people cure and yell at him. He gets threatning letters and is called a monster in te newspaper. Arthur Conan Doyle wrights down his secrets andreasons why he killed Holmes in his diary. After his death his diary goes missing, never to be seen untill 100 years pass. It is know 2010 and Alex Cale (another member of a sherlock holmes society) has supposedly found the diary of the legendary Arthur Conan Doyle. Harold is at the hotel convention that Alex goes to. The next morning Alex is found dead in his room and the diary is missing. It is now up to Harold to solve a mystery that can only be pulled off by Sherlock Holmes.This was a fantastic book that made me feel like I was in the story. The way the author told the story from Doyle's and Halod's view was extrodanarly good. The book was not as good as Arthur Conan Doyle's books, but it was enough to feed my hunger for a good book. The book reminded me of the "Divinci Code" without the religious weirdos. Harold is basically the Sherlock Holmes in the story except he is not as smart as Holmes. I look forward to reading any other books written by Graham Moore. This is a book I could read over and over again. I suggest this book to Sherlock Holmes fans or people craving a mystery book.
    • 5/5
      This is a very clever and well-written fictional take on a few real events surrounding Sherlock Holmes and his legacy. One storyline fictionalizes the true tale of a foremost Sherlockian scholar, who purportedly found the missing Sir Arthur Conan diary, and was subsequently found dead in his room; the parallel storyline follows Sir Arthur Conan Doyle after his decision to kill off Sherlock Holmes, and the murder mystery he becomes entangled in.The writing style makes you feel like you are really there with the characters, and the twists and turns are fascinating. I would highly recommend this, not just to fellow Sherlockians, but to anyone who loves a good mystery.
    • 3/5
      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 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.
    • 2/5
      Oh dear - what a disappointment. I love novels dealing with Doylean lore but this one didn't do it for me. With alternating chapters set in 1900 and 2010, the parallel stories follow Arthur Conan Doyle and his utter frustration with the reading public and their fixation with Sherlock Holmes, and a Baker Street Irregular who investigates the murder of a noted Doylean scholar Alex Cale, who had just announced his discovery of Doyle's [imaginary] missing diary for the relevant months of 1900. Newly-minted BSI Harold White is employed to follow the clues left behind after the murder, find the diary and, perhaps, bring the killer to book. Accompanied by Sarah, a glamorous journalist, he flies to England and the quest begins. In a parallel story we read how Doyle becomes interested in a series of brutal murders and together with his friend Bram Stoker begins an investigation. The Victorian police are far more accomodating toward Doyle, famed creator of Holmes, then their Elizabethan counterparts are of Harold but both investigators back progress. ACD and Stoker realise their murders are linked by women's suffrage, while White uses his in-depth knowledge of all things Holmsian to solve clues. The book dragged I'm afraid and the characters of Doyle and Stoker did not ring true - plus there were factual inaccuracies. The murder of cale may have been inspired by the real-life murder of noted English Sherlockian Richard Lancelyn-Green and has been considered by some to be in poor taste.
    • 5/5
      The world's love affair with Sherlock Holmes and his creator, Arthur Conan Doyle, continues unabated. With more motion pictures and television shows devoted to Holmes, we can only assume that even more readers will be drawn to the original stories as well as the myriad of offshoots penned by writers paying homage to the legend and his creator. The Sherlockian, by Graham Moore, is an excellent addition to the Holmes collection. Moore gives us a very detailed portrait of Arthur Conan Doyle at a crucial time in the writer's life. Doyle feels he is being overshadowed by his own creation. He kills off his hero, but is still daily faced with reminders of Holmes' presence. In order to prove his superiority, Doyle becomes involved in solving the mystery of a slain girl. As a counterpoint, Moore intersperses a storyline set in the present wherein a Sherlockian devotee, Harold, is totally involved in the legend and lore of Sherlock Holmes. He becomes involved in the search for a missing diary which Conan Doyle supposedly penned between the time he killed off Holmes and the detective's eventual resurrection. The past and present are artfully counterbalanced to present a blend of action and romance that takes the reader deep into Conan Doyle's life to delve into the last remaining mystery of a master of mystery. Provided for review by the well read folks at Twelve Books.
    • 2/5
      I started this book two weeks ago and finished it this afternoon, after having pushed my way through the majority of it over the weekend. I had to get some momentum going, otherwise it was in danger of ending up on my re-re-re-renewed shelf. I'm sorry to say I'm pretty disappointed. To be fair, The Sherlockian isn't terrible, especially seeing as it's the author's debut novel, but it didn't hold my attention especially well nor did it have any tidbits that put me on the edge of my seat. The characters are not particularly engaging or relatable, and I felt no emotional attachment to any of them; this is a particularly disappointing aspect of the book for someone who has been known to fall in love with a fictional character or two (*ahem*). In fact, at certain points during the story I felt such intense dislike for Harold I wanted to cause him bodily harm, and I'm pretty sure that is not what the author is going for. I expected him to become a geeky, unlikely hero- you know, the inept, bumbling, lovable genius with no common sense and zero social skills who suddenly appears on the scene and, against all odds, saves the day. Well, he is certainly bumbling but not lovable. All of the characters are also strangely two-dimensional, especially Sarah Lindsay, who accompanies Harold on his quest and should have developed dramatically throughout the book. Her becoming Harold's love interest was also sadly predictable as well as completely unbelievable. To be honest, the chapters involving Arthur Conan Doyle are a little bizarre. Sir Conan Doyle did, in fact, assist Scotland Yard with some of their cases, but in the novel his experiences are portrayed as being melodramatic beyond belief. It also feels a little libelous to have a well-known historical figure be portrayed as a cross-dressing, gun-toting vigilante (who fires said gun directly at someone's head, no less). I understand the author is taking an "artistic liberty", but there must be a limit somewhere. In addition, the facts about Sir Conan Doyle's life are given in the tone of an almanac: dry and succinct, reminders to the reader that they are, in fact, reading about the real-life author of Sherlock Holmes. While I don't feel this book was a complete waste of time, and there are some semi-interesting plot points, I would recommend it only to those who (a) already have an intense love for Holmes and Doyle, (b) don't mind a fairly slow story, and (c) don't have high expectations of books belonging to the "historical fiction" genre. This was a fairly strong start to Graham Moore's writing career, and I look forward to his future works, though The Sherlockian is ultimately underdeveloped and forgettable.
    • 4/5
      It's a brave author who takes on Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle and the Baker Street Irregulars all in one go. I'm not sure if Moore got death threats over getting the color of Conan Doyle's favorite jacket wrong or something like that, but I wouldn't be surprised. For me, just a Regular, I enjoyed the mystery and the juxtaposition of the two historical eras--Moore does a great job of writing a Sherlockian novel while leaving Sherlock almost entirely out of it.
    • 4/5
      For all the Holmes fans out there, this is a definite read. Satisfyingly complex.
    • 3/5
      I almost didn't pick up this book, but I'm glad I did. It's good fun if you like mysteries. Bram Stoker as Conan Doyle friend and accomplice is delightful.
    • 5/5
      Really excellent. The chapters alternate between the adventures of Arthur Conan Doyle and his friend, Bram Stoker and a modern day Sherlockian on the trail of the same events between Conan Doyle and Stoker. The events are based on fact and are quite exciting. Graham Moore weaves the two stories together masterfully. The book is an enjoyable way to learn about Conan Doyle's real life friendship with Bram Stoker. It's also just a darned good read.
    • 5/5
      I was very pleasantly surprised by this book, by the point I am admittedly jaded when it comes to derivative takes on Holmes, but this book is engaging and fresh throughout. In his debut novel, Moore is able to conjure up a very believable world of Sherlockians, a nice mystery, and a well-researched speculative plot involving Conan Doyle's cases. It's difficult to alternate chapters (chapters alternate between a present day mystery and the adventures of Conan Doyle and Bram Stoker), and keep the reader engaged into both parallel plots, but Moore manages it while conjuring up an acute sense of nostalgia and yearning for Sherlock Holmes and his world. Even what seems to be the obligatory female sidekick/possible love interest ends up being a character with more than a couple of layers. Much in the vein of Matthew Pearl, Graham Moore delivers an entertaining, informative, well-researched, and ultimately satisifying entry in the growing literary-historical-mystery-fiction.
    • 3/5
      Fun book. Not exactly a well-wrought urn, but for a fan of Holmes an irresistible page-turner.
    • 3/5
      The pipe, the blood, the present day Sherlockian meet-up for the socially maladjusted with which the novel commences. It all warned me off this one. But only for a moment. The Sherlock love prevailed, and what first appeared to be an awkward and cringe-worthy foray into the world of Baker Street devotees, soon revealed itself to be a very clever and entertaining mystery and meditation on why we love the stories, why he seems so real, why such a deeply flawed character has such enduring appeal.Between the time Sir Arthur Conan Doyle killed off his legendary detective and then resurrected him in print some eight years later, the author avoided speaking of the character that consumed his own identity, the fictional voice that so many thought was real. As T. S. Eliot is quoted at the beginning of Chapter 22 in The Sherlockian (one of many great quotes at chapter head in this book), "Perhaps the greatest of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries is this: that when we talk of him we invariably fall into the fancy of his existence." Conan Doyle's resentment at public reaction to Sherlock's death was surely in part motivated by the fact that his creation had stolen his own spotlight, had somehow become more than his creator. So why does he bring him back? No one has ever been certain but the answer to that mystery has been rumored to have been contained in the one missing volume of Conan Doyle's exhaustive journaling.The story flips back and forth from this frustrated 19th century writer to present day where a Holmes scholar has claimed to have found the missing diary, and then is discovered murdered before he is scheduled to produce it to a conference of Sherlockians the next day. What initially appears humorous as the book-obsessed fancy themselves the detectives of their dreams turns serious as one emerges from their ranks to lead the search for the journal and the killer. The interesting part is of course that he is also seeking a resolution to the mystery of his own motivations.Conan Doyle, accompanied by his friend, Bram Stoker, have embarked upon a hunt of their own whose resolution will sync nicely with its contemporary equivalent by book's end, but the focus rests equally upon thoughts of authorship. As Stoker resists his friend's attempts to draft him into a role in his crime solving endeavors, he fires back with a sound reason as to why. He is flesh, he has dimension, he is not a literary device."Watson is a cheap, efficient little sod of a literary device. Holmes doesn't need him to solve the crimes any more than he needs a ten-stone ankle weight. The audience, Arthur. The audience needs Watson as an intermediary, so that Holmes's thoughts might forever be kept just out of reach. If you told the stories from Holmes's perspective, everyone would know what the bleeding genius was thinking the whole time. They'd have their culprit fingered on page one. But if you tell the stories from Watson's perspective, the reader is permitted to chase in the darkness with the bumbling oaf. Watson is a comic flourish. He's a gag. A good one all right, I'll give you that, but I hardly see how you'll be needing one of him."And then later, Conan Doyle again injects himself into his own fictions, equating his own real life confusions and frustrations to what his readers must occasionally feel."Was this how it felt to be one of his readers? To be lost in the middle of the story, without the slightest of notions as to where you were headed? Arthur felt horrible. He felt as if he had no control of events as they unfolded. What trust his readers must put in him, to submit themselves to this unnerving confusion, while holding out hope that Arthur would see them through to a satisfying conclusion. But what if there were no solution on the final page? Or what if the solution were balderdash? What if the whole thing didn't work? His readers took a leap, did they not? They offered up their time and their money. And what did the author promise them in return?"In the case of Sherlock Holmes, the author promised them answers. In a world full of uncertainties, Holmes will always prevail with concrete explanations to the unexplainable. As our contemporary sleuth suggests near the end, you only need be smart enough and the world is understandable, manageable. That is a comforting and irresistible notion to entertain. So more important than the satisfying parallel plots here is this look into Sherlock appeal. Not a perfect book but a fun book and a nostalgic ride for Holmes fans. Really enjoyed it.
    • 4/5
      Fun, fast mystery read, good stuff! It goes back and forth alternating chapters set in current & historical times. Arthur Conan Doyle is trying to kill off Holmes who has taken on an annoying life of his own in the public's eye, and is also trying to solve a murder mystery. In our times, a socially awkward, appealing, very intelligent member of an international Sherlock Holmes fan club is also trying to solve a murder mystery and the to discover whereabouts of the Arthur Conan Doyle diary volume supposedly found by the murder victim, that has gone missing. Has pathos, humor, historical details about the women's rights movement of the time; I enjoyed it.
    • 3/5
      Stories that alternate between the past and the present offer a lot to the reader in providing additional meaning, characterization, and plot. However, the strength of the past and my inability to care about the present's main character made this book both a pleasing and unsatisfying read.The past sections with Doyle and Stoker were great. I enjoyed the characterization and conflicts each faced individually and together. I don't know anything about Doyle's views on women's suffrage, but did wonder if the Moore indulged in a little image rehabilitation on that front or if Doyle did in fact change his position in a sincere way. On any account, I loved the past sections.The present sections felt like they were well-developed or at least had a strong foundation, a good start. Despite having read Grann's article that the story was influenced by, I still enjoyed the situation Moore set up. Unfortunately, I was unable to develop an interest in Harold White. Given that he is the main character, that was quite an obstacle. He wasn't a horrible person, in fact he was a genuine Nice Guy, and that was what prevented me from caring about his fate at all. Alex Cale began to appear more and more interesting, I longed for Sarah to break away from Harold and solve the problem herself (or even start work on another story), I even began to hope Cale's sister or the Doyle descendant would pop up again just to get a break from Harold.Still, as much as I wanted to kill Harold myself, I really did like Moore's musing on the allure of mysteries, the value of an ending that was all tied-up, the desire to know. I did like the ending itself, it felt right for the story.I would recommend this to others. I think my problem with Harold is my problem, I think many people would like him.
    • 4/5
      A good first book, and an interesting bit of historical fiction. Definitely enjoyed the story line of Archur Conan Doyle & Bran Stoker better than the modern day thread, which was trying much too hard to push the romance between the lead characters. Only major disappointment was the the book was building up to the confrontation between Doyle & Stoker, only to end without it.
    • 3/5
      This was an interesting historical thriller that combined a fictional adventure for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle with a slightly more based on reality adventure of a Holmes researcher. Both stories moved quickly, but I was more interested in the Doyle half of the story, in part because he was a more intriguing character. I would recommend this book to Holmesophiles, but only if they understand that few contemporary detectives live up to the incomparable Holmes.