Sherlock Holmes and the mysterious Friend of Oscar Wilde

Review: I keep asking myself, “What is the purpose of this book?”  The homosexual lifestyle and philosophy are extolled by a brilliant and articulate Oscar Wilde. If the purpose was to elicit understanding or sympathy for this lifestyle it certainly seems to be a wasted effort in this modern era of tolerance. If the book’s purpose was to expose the plight to the homosexual in 1895 it is a very effective vehicle.  

It also points out how vulnerable any person can be to mere accusations.  Murray threatens Watson with exposure and asks, “what will happen to your medical practice?”  An unmarried Watson living with Holmes makes both easy targets. You can’t prove a negative.  Try to prove there is no Santa Clause.  I’m sure Saddam Hussein tried to prove he had no weapons of mass destruction.  

Any reader familiar with the Holmes canon is constantly distracted by this author’s use of quotes, sometimes as many as three or four to a page. While they all fit the context of the manuscript, they are frequently not used in the same context as they were in the canon.  Just as distracting is the use of Holmes quotes by Wilde.  

Holmes’s association with Mr. Oscar Wilde and the simultaneous events expose us to a radically different Holmes than we have seen in the past.  Gone is the cold unemotional professional detective. Oscar Wilde has managed to expose a raw nerve in Holmes.  Holmes hates Wilde and the lifestyle he stands for.  As Wilde is leaving, Stanley Hopkins brings Billy the Page in derbies.  Billy was picked up leaving a “private residence” (a homosexual establishment) under Scotland Yard surveillance.  Holmes, the normally rational taciturn detective has been transformed into an outraged, barely under-control homophobic. Billy was an innocent victim; he had been set up.   

Holmes was in a slack period in his life and the Wilde case promised a substantial remuneration for his efforts. Holmes decided, with great reluctance to take the case.  What in amounted to was that a very wealthy friend of Oscar Wilde was being blackmailed as a homosexual.  (It was against the law of England to be “one of them”.)  Certain unspecified letters were in the blackmailer’s hands.  Holmes now has to       

What follows are several interwoven mysteries.  The first and primary is Holmes need to recover the blackmail letters.  Secondly, what was the motive behind the framing of Billy the Page? And finally even Watson becomes a victim of a cabal led by his old and trusted orderly Murray, from the battle of Maiwand.  

The solutions to Holmes problems are an anthology from the canon, which would include Charles Augustus Milverton, The Naval Treaty, The Bruce-Partington Plans and The Second Stain. Truly, “There is nothing new under the sun. It has all been done before and will be done again”  

The high point of the book is the wit and humour of Oscar Wilde. I had to stop and laugh in about a dozen places. The low point is the portrayal of Watson’s orderly Murray as a homosexual who has harboured a crush on Watson for fifteen years. This stretches credibility beyond the belief of any normal reader.  

Finally, did I like the book?  Definitely no! It is certainly not entertaining.  The constant use of quotes from the Canon is distracting, especially when used out of their original context.  The kindest thought I can muster up for this book is that it is most assuredly thought provoking and informative in a historical sense.  

I hope somebody else will read it and give me their insights

Reviewed by: Roger F Kellogg F.I.A., Originally appeared in The Gaslight Gazette