The Case of the Scarlet Woman: Sherlock Holmes and the Occult

Review: I'm less happy with The Case of the Scarlet Woman: Sherlock Holmes and the Occult by Watkin Jones . The basic story is simple, as in most detective stories, but everything else appears to be padding, enhancing neither the atmosphere nor the mystery.

Mr Jones clearly knows about the Golden Dawn and the OTO, and seems familiar with the facts of the Ripper murders, but he has the two Holmes brothers speaking and acting quite out of character, and his attempt at Dr Watson's writing style is poor. (*If you want a good story pitting Holmes against Aleister Crowley, try Ron Weighell's The Case of the Fiery Messengers, soon to be available in a collection of his Sherlock Holmes stories from Calabash Press.*)

Reviewed by: Roger Johnson, [District Messenger 199, 2000]