The Disappearance of Sherlock Holmes

Review: The Disappearance of Sherlock Holmes is the fifth in a series of pastiches by Larry Millett. Like the previous books, most of the action takes place in America. Unlike those adventures, this story is not set in Minnesota.

Sherlock Holmes is drawn into a conspiracy when he receives a letter written in the stick-figure cipher from The Dancing Men. Elsie Cubitt, who had been pursued by Abe Slaney in The Dancing Men, has been kidnapped and Holmes must travel to New York and Chicago in order to save her and restore his reputation.

While subtitled "A Mystery Featuring Shadwell Rafferty," Holmes and Watson are the central characters for this story. However, it's not a classic Holmes mystery. There's much more action and adventure than mystery and detection. In addition, Holmes takes on a "leading man" role that includes a relationship with Elsie Cubitt. Watson is drawn more conventionally as a loyal but capable assistant to Holmes.

All the books in this series contain extensive footnotes on historical landmarks and locations. Millett has done his research and his descriptions add verisimilitude to the story. For some readers the footnotes may be a distraction and give the impression of a travel guide, but I enjoy them.

The chapters in this story alternate between the traditional first-person narrative of Dr. Watson and third-person descriptions of action not involving Watson. This device allows for a more complex plot. However, despite some Americanisms, I found the Watson-narrated chapters to be more interesting and compelling.

Unlike most pastiches, Millett has created an interesting character in Shadwell Rafferty. Rafferty played a major role in some of the earlier pastiches, though despite the subtitle for this one he has only a limited supporting part. Rather than make Holmes an action-hero, Millett would do better to let Rafferty handle the action and romance while focusing Holmes on the mystery and detection.

The prior books in this series will provide some nice context but are not essential to this story. That said, the earlier books were better. They had a more balanced mix of mystery and action and a more traditional portrayal of Holmes. Thus I'd recommend reading them first. If you liked these other books you will probably enjoy this one as well.

Books in the Series (in both publication and series order)

• Sherlock Holmes and the Red Demon
• Sherlock Holmes and the Ice Palace Murders
• Sherlock Holmes and the Rune Stone Mystery
• Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Alliance
• The Disappearance of Sherlock Holmes

Reviewed by: Randall Stock, July 2003 ]