"Moriarty Returns a Letter"
Posted: 30 Mar 2014, 09:50
Sherlock Holmes is one of my top three fictional heroes, accompanied by James Bond and Indiana Jones. Recent modern adaptations of the Holmes/Watson phenomenon, like the BBC's "Sherlock," have reawakened mass awareness of these fascinating creations.
Likewise, Michael Robertson's MORIARTY RETURNS A LETTER steps out of the box, not only relocating to present day, but maintaining Doyle's original aura of invention. Holmes and Watson are replaced by brothers Reggie and Nigel Heath, but the plot is directly tied to the famous Holmesian story, "The Final Problem." Opening the novel in 1893, Robertson starts his clever tale by interweaving his fiction directly with Doyle's, which launches his captivating book through space/time, and maintains its course into the here and now. Reggie's solicitor's firm occupies the newly constructed, auspicious address of 221B Baker Street, London, and as such, he is privy to the antique letters once addressed to Sherlock Holmes by nineteenth century despondent and delusional readers. Too, they are looked on as the inheritors of Sherlock's detective practice, and held responsible for it by lunatic criminals.
While knocked off stride by a shift in emphasis from one brother to the other, the entertainment value still stands strong.
The zip-along, fluid words dissolve your eyes into the first page, carrying them helplessly along the story line, faster and faster, fed constantly by complicating eddies, until you are flung over a climactic cliff.
Likewise, Michael Robertson's MORIARTY RETURNS A LETTER steps out of the box, not only relocating to present day, but maintaining Doyle's original aura of invention. Holmes and Watson are replaced by brothers Reggie and Nigel Heath, but the plot is directly tied to the famous Holmesian story, "The Final Problem." Opening the novel in 1893, Robertson starts his clever tale by interweaving his fiction directly with Doyle's, which launches his captivating book through space/time, and maintains its course into the here and now. Reggie's solicitor's firm occupies the newly constructed, auspicious address of 221B Baker Street, London, and as such, he is privy to the antique letters once addressed to Sherlock Holmes by nineteenth century despondent and delusional readers. Too, they are looked on as the inheritors of Sherlock's detective practice, and held responsible for it by lunatic criminals.
While knocked off stride by a shift in emphasis from one brother to the other, the entertainment value still stands strong.
The zip-along, fluid words dissolve your eyes into the first page, carrying them helplessly along the story line, faster and faster, fed constantly by complicating eddies, until you are flung over a climactic cliff.