Synopses & Reviews
Caleb Carr's novel, The Alienist
, was a blockbuster international bestseller and positioned its author as a modern master of the historical thriller. Now, Carr reaches back further, to the age of opium dens and Jack the Ripper, when fictional detective Sherlock Holmes made the science of murder as real as the gore on a killer's hands...FOUL WHISPERINGS...
Mycroft Holmes's encoded message to his brother, Sherlock, is unsubtle enough even for Dr. Watson to decipher: a matter concerning the safety of Queen Victoria herself calls them to Edinburgh's Holyrood House to investigate the confounding and gruesome deaths of two young men--horrific incidents that took place with her highness in residence. The victims were crushed in a manner surpassing human power. And while recent attempts on her majesty's life raise a number of possibilities, these intrigues also seem strangely connected to an act of evil that took place centuries earlier...
...UNNATURAL DEEDS
For indeed, the slaying of David Rizzio, music master and friend to Mary Queen of Scots, was an extraordinarily brutal and treacherous act--even for a time when brutality and treachery were the order of the day. Now, the ghosts of Holyrood House are being reawakened by someone with a diabolical agenda of greed, madness, and terror as Holmes and Watson set out to trap a killer who is eager to rewrite history in blood...
"Intriguing!"
--Booklist
"The Italian Secretary captivates."
--Publishers Weekly
Review
"Carr fails [to replicate Conan Doyle's style], but aside from that (and that's a big aside), the novel has a number of appealing features for readers who enjoy Carr and don't mind secondhand Holmes....Great setting, intriguing history, but clumsy evocation of the inimitable Holmes." Booklist
Review
"It's fun for about a hundred pages, because Carr apes Conan Doyle's plummy storyteller's voice quite ably, making Watson (who narrates) agreeably bluff and direct. But the successive disclosures become increasingly preposterous." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"Carr's return to historical fiction...blends detailed history and thrilling suspense while giving perfect cadence to the verbal discourse between Holmes and Watson. Placing these famous characters into Carr's capable hands is a gift to anyone who enjoys mysteries, historical fiction, or just a great read." Library Journal
Review
"[A] perfect setting for a Holmes tale....Carr is astute and unerring in his portrayal of Holmes and his techniques." USA Today
Review
"[Carr] uses his considerable talents as a re-creator of historic period detail to provide an entertaining continuation of the Conan Doyle canon." Chicago Tribune
Synopsis
Mycroft Holmes's encoded message to his brother, Sherlock, is unsubtle enough even for Dr. Watson to decipher: a matter concerning the safety of Queen Victoria herself calls them to Edinburgh's Holyrood House to investigate the confounding and gruesome deaths of two young men horrific incidents that took place with her highness in residence. The victims were crushed in a manner surpassing human power. And while recent attempts on her majesty's life raise a number of possibilities, these intrigues also seem strangely connected to an act of evil that took place centuries earlier...
For indeed, the slaying of David Rizzio, music master and friend to Mary Queen of Scots, was an extraordinarily brutal and treacherous act even for a time when brutality and treachery were the order of the day. Now, the ghosts of Holyrood House are being reawakened by someone with a diabolical agenda of greed, madness, and terror, as Holmes and Watson set out to trap a killer who is eager to rewrite history in blood...
Synopsis
The bestselling author of The Alienist returns with an historically rich elaboration of the Sherlock Holmes canon. The famed detective and Watson investigate a pair of gruesome murders which cast an otherworldly shadow as far as the Queen herself, in a chilling tale that has been written in cooperation with the estate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Synopsis
Mycroft Holmes's encoded message to his brother, Sherlock, is unsubtle enough even for Dr. Watson to decipher: a matter concerning the safety of Queen Victoria herself calls them to Edinburgh's Holyrood House to investigate the confounding and gruesome deaths of two young men--horrific incidents that took place with her highness in residence. The victims were crushed in a manner surpassing human power. And while recent attempts on her majesty's life raise a number of possibilities, these intrigues also seem strangely connected to an act of evil that took place centuries earlier...
For indeed, the slaying of David Rizzio, music master and friend to Mary Queen of Scots, was an extraordinarily brutal and treacherous act--even for a time when brutality and treachery were the order of the day. Now, the ghosts of Holyrood House are being reawakened by someone with a diabolical agenda of greed, madness, and terror as Holmes and Watson set out to trap a killer who is eager to rewrite history in blood...
Synopsis
Caleb Carrs novel, The Alienest, was a blockbuster international bestseller and positioned its author as a modern master of the historical thriller. Now, Carr reaches back further, to the age of opium dens and Jack the Ripper, when fictional detective Sherlock Holmes made the science of murder as real as the gore on a killers hands…
FOUL WHISPERINGS…
Mycroft Holmess encoded message to his brother, Sherlock, is unsubtle enough even for Dr. Watson to decipher: a matter concerning the safety of Queen Victoria herself calls them to Edinburghs Holyroodhouse to investigate the confounding and gruesome deaths of two young men—horrific incidents that took place with Her Highness in residence. The victims were crushed in a manner surpassing human power. And while recent attempts on Her Majestys life raise a number of possibilities, these intrigues also seem strangely connected to an act of evil that took place centuries earlier…
…UNNATURAL DEEDS
For indeed, the slaying of David Rizzio, music master and friend to Mary, Queen of Scots, was an extraordinarily brutal and treacherous act—even for a time when brutality and treachery were the order of the day. Now, the ghosts of Holyroodhouse are being reawakened by someone with a diabolical agenda of greed, madness, and terror as Holmes and Watson set out to trap a killer who is eager to rewrite history in blood...
About the Author
Caleb Carr is the critically acclaimed, bestselling author of the
Alienist series,
The Lessons of Terror,
Killing Time, and
The Devil Soldier. His books have been translated into over twenty languages worldwide. He is also a contributing editor to
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History, and the series editor of the Modern Library War Series. He was educated at Kenyon College and New York University, and currently lives in upstate New York, where he teaches military and diplomatic studies at Bard College.
Jon Lellenberg, author of the afterword, is the U.S. agent for the Conan Doyle Estate, co-editor of a number of anthologies of new Sherlock Holmes stories by mystery writers, and the historian of The Baker Street Irregulars.