A
bitterly cold March day in 1891, and Holmes, Watson and his
wife, Mary, are cosily ensconced in 221B Baker Street when
a Catholic priest staggers in. Gasping the words “Il
corpe,” he drops dead, and the death is quickly attributed
to cholera. But there is no epidemic, and news of a further
dead priest looks even more suspicious. Surely they cannot
truly have been on a mission to canonize the “incorruptible”
body of 18th century Bristolian Edwyn Warwick? He may have
done a lot for his city, but he was also a notorious slave
trader. When his body goes missing things take an even more
strange turn…
The game truly is afoot in this exciting and imaginative novel.
From Baker Street to Bristol, the sleuths get to stay in the
luxurious home of Lord Redshaw, participate in Japanese customs,
poke around in a spooky old church and a lot more. To be more
specific would spoil the surprises, as ostensibly this looks
to be a story about dead priests and a missing corpse, but
soon it changes into a lot more. Holmes gets to don various
disguises and, although not a supernatural tale (in keeping
with Conan Doyle’s own tales), things get pretty fantastic.
Both meanings of the word apply here: “fantastic”
as in enjoyable, entertaining and a totally absorbing read;
but also “fantastic” as in far-fetched and somewhat
unlikely. If you can suspend your disbelief – and with
a thrilling story like this you will soon get swept up in
it – this one is a lot of fun. Even Conan Doyle himself
stretched the bounds of possibility in quite a few of his
stories and so would probably have enjoyed this book himself.
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