West End Horror A Posthumous Memoir of John H Watson M D

March 1895. London. A month of strange happenings in the West End. First there is the bizarre murder of theater critic Jonathan McCarthy. Then the lawsuit against the Marquess of Queensberry for libel; the public is scandalized. Next, the ingenue at the Savoy is discovered with her throat slashed. And a police surgeon disappears, taking two corpses with him. Some of the theater district's most fashionable and creative luminaries have been involved: a penniless stage critic and writer named Bernard Shaw; Ellen Terry, the gifted and beautiful actress; a suspicious box office clerk named Bram Stoker; an aging matinee idol, Henry Irving; an unscrupulous publisher calling himself Frank Harris; and a controversial wit by the name of Oscar Wilde. Scotland Yard is mystified by what appear to be unrelated cases, but to Sherlock Holmes the matter is elementary: a maniac is on the loose. His name is Jack.

"The author of The Seven-Per-Cent Solution has 'discovered' another of Dr. Watson's manuscripts. This one concerns murder in London's West End theatre district in the year 1895. Holmes is asked by his friend Bernard Shaw to investigate the death of a prominent drama critic, and he and Watson become involved in a sequence of events that leads to another murder and the macabre death of the murderer. A great deal of ingenuity has gone into assigning the motive for the crimes, but much of the plot is overly contrived: for example, the assaults on Holmes, Watson, and Shaw and the long conversation Holmes has with the culprit at the end. Mr. Meyer's attempts to portray several of the leading literary and theatrical figures of the day (Ellen Terry, Oscar Wilde, Gilbert and Sullivan), though interesting, are decidedly amateurish." Reviewed by Daniel Weiss, Virginia Quarterly Review (Copyright 2006 Virginia Quarterly Review)

Some of the theater district's most fashionable and creative luminaries have been involved: a penniless stage critic and writer named Bernard Shaw; Ellen Terry, the gifted and beautiful actress; a suspicious box office clerk named Bram Stoker; an aging matinee idol, Henry Irving; an unscrupulous publisher calling himself Frank Harris; and a controversial wit by the name of Oscar Wilde Scotland Yard is mystified by what appear to be unrelated cases, but to Sherlock Holmes the matter is elementary: a maniac is on the loose. His name is Jack

Beguiling and convincing entertainment, an audacious novelty that should set members of the Baker Street Irregulars and even less fanatical collectors of Holmes to dancing.I hope Nicholas Meyer never stops writing Sherlock Holmes pastiches because he does it so much better than anyone else.Ingenious and persuasive.

"As authentically, irresistibly gripping as anything Conan Doyle ever wrote. . . . Don't miss it."--

Nicholas Meyerlives in Los Angeles.