'Lestrade and the Sawdust Ring,' 'Lestrade and the Ripper' and 'Lestrade and the Sign of Nine'

Review: Three of M.J. Trow’s Sholto Lestrade novels are out in paperback - and not before time! The series has gone well beyond Sherlockian parody now and can be enjoyed as an achievement in its own right. Lestrade and the Sawdust Ring exemplifies the dazzling mixture of wit, slapstick, excitement and ingenuity. Mr Trow knows his history and he knows just how to subvert it. We start with Benjamin Disraeli and the Duke of Cambridge discussing, if that’s the word, the Zulu wars and Britain’s responsibility for the Prince Imperial. We progress to a dead body on the Yorkshire moors. Can Detective Sergeant Lestrade be sure it isn’t the elusive French prince? And how do the nasty events at Lord George Sanger’s circus fit into the case? I’d love to see Trow and Lestrade win the Sherlock Award for the best comic detective series.

Reviewed by: Roger Johnson, [District Messenger 216, 2001]