Bonnie MacBird’s new Sherlock Holmes pastiche is spot-on. A Sherlock Holmes Adventure: Art in the Blood is like reading an Arthur Conan Doyle novel. MacBird captures Dr. John Watson’s voice perfectly as he narrates the Holmes’ adventure. It’s 1888, Holmes is thirty-four years old and in a funk as only Holmes can be. Earlier that year Dr. Watson married Mary Morstan and was enjoying a quiet domestic life. But evidently, too quiet and too domestic. Then he receives an urgent telegram from Mrs. Hudson: “[Holmes] has set 221B on fire! Come at once!—Mrs. Hudson.” Here is MacBird describing Dr. Watson’s hurried trip to his old digs: “I hurtled through the streets; tore around a corner,” and “skidded into Baker Street,” He “leapt,” “ran,” “pushed,” and “raced” up the seventeen steps to find his friend, recently released from the gaol and in a drug-induced stupor. Holmes has not eaten in days and wouldn’t explain the details of the fire other than calling it an accident.
It isn’t until the arrival of a letter—redolent of Jicky perfume—from Paris the next morning that Holmes resurrects. Cabaret singer Mademoiselle Emmeline “Cherie” La Victoria, sender of the aromatic missive, pleads for Holmes to locate her missing illegitimate son, Emil, who apparently resides with his father, the Earl of Pellingham. Ninety minutes later Holmes and Watson are crossing the Channel on the way to the Continent. The game is now afoot!
As the adventure unfolds, Holmes and Watson travel to Paris, but go back to London and eventually to the Earl’s estate near Lancaster. Holmes is circumspect over Mademoiselle La Victoria’s story, the sincerity of her male companion, Jean Vidocq, the honesty of Lord and Lady Pellingham, and the motivation behind brother Mycroft’s involvement.
The story is fast-paced; the dialogue authentic; the twisting plot intriguing. Elements readers have come to expect in any Holmes story are there: Holmes in disguise; Watson with his theories; Mycroft and his hidden motives. There is also disappearing ink; disappearing clients; and, of course, a disappearing Holmes.
Holmes spews a few classic lines. Here are a couple of my favorites: On French women: “When a Frenchwoman is not a beauty, she is yet a work of art. And when she is beautiful, there are none of her sex to surpass her.” On Watson: “My brother quite literally has the Army, and sometimes, the Navy at his beck and call. I will have only you.”
Visit MacBird’s website (http://www.macbird) for a list of annotations and view her sketches depicting scenes in the book.