Sir Arthur Conan Doyle must be one of the most difficult authors to imitate in style. Thousands have tried, but few have ever been able to capture his measured, lilting Victorian sentences — every word carefully chosen, intense drama hidden beneath the chasteness of a very careful prose, a pause in the direction that modern editors would never allow today.
So when the Conan Doyle estate, Daniel Stashower (the author of a Doyle biography), and Leslie S. Klinger (the editor of THE NEW ANNOTATED SHERLOCK HOLMES) all praise author Lyndsay Faye’s DUST AND SHADOW: AN ACCOUNT OF THE RIPPER KILLINGS BY DR. JOHN H. WATSON for its perfect pastiche of Doyle’s style, and her capturing of the inimitable characters Dr. Watson and Sherlock Holmes, the reader takes note.
And they are quite right. I have read the Holmes canon (four novels, 56 short stories) four times, and from Faye’s first paragraph, I was thoroughly hooked. While her dialogue may sometimes sound a little too ebullient coming from Holmes’ mouth, the descriptive text and the Watsonian narration just read so smoothly, it is a joy to encounter my old detecting friends once again. This time, Holmes and Watson are on the trail of the Whitechapel murderer — or, as we know him today, Jack the Ripper.
I am not competent enough to comment on the historical aspect of Jack the Ripper, but I know there is an immense number of Ripperiana experts out there who may or may not appreciate the involvement of Holmes in this case. Because you see, he does solve the case, and it may not be the person you expect.
In any event, whether you’re a Holmes fan or interested in Jack the Ripper, this is a must-have addition to your collection. It’s a stunning debut from someone who seems to be able to channel Doyle, and I hope she adds many more stories to the legend. —Mark Rose
Related posts:
- Jack the Ripper
- GRAPHIC CLASSICS to issue new ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE edition
- The Shadow of Reichenbach Falls
- The Mysterious World of Sherlock Holmes
- The Art of Detection
