Month: Aug 2023

“I speak of magic, Mr. Holmes.”
Mr. Percy Simmons, leader of London’s Theosophical Order of Odic Forces, is fully aware that his is not a case which Mr. Sherlock Holmes would ordinarily take up.
These are not ordinary times, however.
For something, some unquiet demon within Holmes stirs into discomfiting wakefulness under the occultist’s words. The unassuming Mr. Simmons has spoken of good and evil with the sort of certainty of soul that Sherlock yearns for. A certainty which has eluded Holmes for the three years in which the world thought him dead. While, for all intents, constructions, and purposes, he was dead.
But six months ago, Sherlock Holmes returned to Baker Street, declared himself alive to friend and foe alike, took up his old rooms, his profession, and his partnership with Dr. J. Watson—only to find himself haunted still by questions which had followed him out of the dreadful chasm of Reichenbach Falls:
Why? Why had he survived when his enemy had not? To what end? And had there ever, truly, been such a thing as justice? Such a thing as good or evil?

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M. K. Wiseman has degrees in Interarts & Technology and Library & Information Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her office, therefore, is a curious mix of storyboards and reference materials. Both help immensely in the writing of historical novels. She currently resides in Cedarburg, Wisconsin.

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My thoughts: I quite enjoy this author’s take on the Sherlock Holmes stories, she sticks to the feel of the original stories well and to the style Arthur Conan Doyle used so they seem authentic. This one was interesting to read as it’s narrated by Holmes, not Watson, so there’s more of the great detective’s inner life, something that isn’t always there in the original stories. Holmes is struggling with the events of Reichenbach Falls and after, the years he was supposedly dead. He’s not a killer, rarely using any weapons, preferring his great intellect and his involvement in the death of Moriarty and his followers haunts him.

He rejects religion so is unable to find comfort in prayer or faith, unlike his creator who was a famous spiritualist, so when he meets the leader of the Theosophical Order of Odic Forces, a Mason-like order of those who believe in a form of magic, he is intrigued. He envies their faith and certainty in something other than what he can see. But something has stricken several of the order’s members, and they’re dying. But it’s no ordinary illness of the flesh. Mr Simmons believes they are under a spiritual attack by a hostile magician and he needs Holmes and Watson’s help to stop this enemy.

It’s a very interesting bent to take, Holmes prides himself on his rational mind and struggles with the concept of a hidden world beyond ours, that magic exists and can be wielded to cause harm. Having identified a possible suspect, he is too late to prevent another death. But can he stop more? With his faithful Watson and his medical bag at his side, Holmes searches for a rational cause, but refuses to believe anyone is capable of magic. Could the mysterious Mr King merely be an illusion?

A clever and enjoyable addition to the Holmes continuation, giving us an insight into the mind of the consulting detective at a strange point in his life, back from the dead but not yet feeling truly alive.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.