Necropolis: A Novel of Gothic Mystery

Review: This book was marketed by the publishers as "A Gothic Mystery", but it simply a very neat detective story set in the England of Sherlock Holmes. The hero is one Clyde Beatty, a private detective of independent means with novel approaches to the art of Detection. Inspector Lestrade is an active character and Holmes and Watson are referred to often and appear briefly. The only reason to call this a horror tale is that much of the mystery revolves around Brookfield Cemetary in Surrey and the London Necropolis and National Mausoleum Company, real parts of English history. It is really a classic mystery story that is compatible with the Canon.

The cover of the Sphere edition is TRULY GOTHIC with the sun setting over a ruined church and a corpse crawling out of a grave. It has absolutely nothing to do with the text and really detracts from a very imaginative detective story. The mystery is plotted carefully and can be deduced by the reader as the tale continues, but requires thought and effort. I didn't quite figure all of it, but, in retrospect, I should have. As I said, a very neat, classic, detective story.

Basil Copper is, of course, familiar to Sherlockians as the continuing author of the Solar Pons stories after August Derleth quit writing. In addition, he wrote a Sherlock Holmes pastiche, The Adventure of the Persecuted Painter, which appears in Mike Ashley's Mammoth Book of Sherlock Holmes Adventures.

Necropolis well worth reading, but hard to find. Copies of the Arkham House edition are available for $20.00 and up on the internet while the Shpere Books paperback can be purchase for around $10.00 in the same way. There is no American paperback edition and No UK hard cover edition available so far as I can discover.

Reviewed by: Philip K. Jones, 2003