|
|
THE SCROLL OF THE DEADDavid Stuart DaviesTitan Books paperback, £7.99Released: Oct 23rd 2009Reviewer:Russell James |
|
Russell James has been named “the Godfather of Noir” by Ian Rankin. Russell writes crime novels - about criminals and victims, not the cozy procedural or whodunnit. He is the editor of Great British Fictional Detectives. |
|
‘What do you know of the
real world, with real people and real passions, Mr Sherlock Holmes? You
just sit here in your dry and dusty room working on clues and theories,
never considering the hurt, anguish, and tragedy in which your cases are
soaked. People are merely pieces of the puzzle to you, like figures on a
chessboard. As long as the mystery is solved you have no consideration
of how their lives are affected by your actions. You do not care.’ So snarls the villain in Stuart Davies’s latest ‘continuing adventure of Sherlock Holmes’, pitting our more-intrepid-than-usual hero against the cold, blond aristocratic madman, Sebastian Melmoth (whose name you will recognise as the one-time pseudonym of Oscar Wilde, taken in turn from Maturin’s Melmoth the Wanderer). Melmoth and his companion have more than a touch of Oscar and Bosie but, more importantly, will stop at nothing to acquire an ancient Egyptian papyrus supposedly containing the secret of resurrection and eternal life. And, as Melmoth warns, Holmes almost loses his life and reputation by being a shade too analytical. Almost – for he is the great detective, splendidly resurrected again by Stuart Davies, the ace Sherlockian. An easy page-turner.
|
| Page By Gary Cane [Contact] | ||
| Webmaster: Tony 'Grog' Roberts [Contact] |