Mrs. Hudson and the Spirits’ Curse

Review: This is the first in a new series of tales by the author set at 221b Baker Street. This book gives a somewhat skewed vision of that familiar address and its inhabitants. Everything seems about 90 degrees out of the expected orientation, but all the old favorites are present. Holmes is up to his usual brilliant deductions, Watson bumbles on in his customary atonished fashion and evil doers are handed over to the law with the expected regularity.

On the other hand, Mrs. Hudson tempers Sherlock’s brilliance with common sense and a methodical approach to dealing with problems. She doesn’t have Sherlock’s immense store of specialized arcanum, but then, neither does he have answers all the time. But Mrs. Hudson has friends who do have the requisite expertise and she consults them when appropriate. Indeed, a marvelous collection of characters parade through her kitchen and respond to her notes while she continues to prepare a supper to host an Earl or a cozy dine in for two on a cold Winter evening.

This tale is told from the point of view of Mrs. Hudson’s maid-of-all-work, Flottie (short for Flotsam). Flottie is 14, an orphan and a refugee from a less well-run household whose butler combined several nasty features in one, unsavory package. Flottie runs errands, cleans silver, dusts, sweeps, washes and doubles in assisting Mrs. Hudson’s sleuthing activities. In part, thesetales are a “coming of age” cycle for Flottie, she is quite appealing. The two of them seem to feel that Holmes and the Doctor really need someone to look after them and are determined to add a healthy dose of common sense to Holmes’ detective practice.

The present case is The Giant Rat of Sumatra and it starts out with all the trappings of the exotic East, including a native curse, sinister strangers and inexplicable deaths. The “Matilda Briggs” hosts at least one mysterious death and all of Mrs.Hudson’s contacts are called into play to discover the links between blinded corpses in Sumatra and a London Butler who dabbles in the drug trade. Those who flee the mysterious curse die, one by one in agony, but those who stay still also die horrible deaths.

Sherlockian purists will recognise a number of differences from the Good Doctor’s account of the beginnings of the partnership, but the author is ahead of us and provides plausible, if not totally satisfying explanations. Meanwhile, the story moves quickly, hangs well together and is populated by a number of interesting characters. Part of the fun is playing the “Spot the Fictional Character” game. A. J. Raffles is only one of these personalities included in the tale.

The next book in the series, Mrs. Hudson and the Malabar Rose was published in the US shortly after this one and seems, at first reading, to be a worthy sequal.

Reviewed by: Philip K. Jones, June, 2006.