- Paperback: 208 pages
- Publisher: Faber and Faber; New edition edition (5 July 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0571140785
- ISBN-13: 978-0571140787
- Product Dimensions: 17 x 11 x 1.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 346,945 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Last Sherlock Holmes Story
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Product Description
Book Description
From the acclaimed author of the Aurelio Zen mysteries comes a classic must-read for all fans of Sherlock Holmes!
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
Product Description
In the late seventies an extraordinary document came to light which for fifty years had been held on deposit by the bankers of the deceased John Herbert Watson MD - better known to devotees of Conan Doyle as Dr Watson.
A continuous narrative in the doctor's own hand, the story opens in the East End of London in 1988. Three women have been savagely murdered by Jack the Ripper. To calm the public outcry, Scotland Yard approaches London's most eminent detective, Sherlock Holmes, and asks him to investigate the mystery.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
There is a long and honoured tradition among mystery writers and fans of the Sherlock Holmes tales of writing one's own mystery. This can take one of several starting points - to take a detail in the canonical stories and develop it more fully (there are a lot of dangling pieces in there), to take the characters of Holmes and Watson (and perhaps others) and involve them in completely new fictional scenarios, or, as author Michael Dibdin does here, involve the characters in actual historical events. Dibdin is not the first to pit Holmes against the murderer of Whitechapel, whom history has come to know as 'Jack the Ripper'. Indeed, if there was one case upon which the Holmesian skill was needed in London a hundred years ago, it was that case, still unsolved by the authorities.
Dibdin, however, does a twist to this. Holmes is involved in solving the case, but even he cannot do it. This, we discover in the course of things, is because of a very dark secret indeed. Holmes is known from the canonical stories to be a cocaine addict, a seven-percent solution being his favoured dose. Dibdin set the premise that this has caused Holmes to have a split personality, and that his nemesis Moriarty is in fact Holmes himself. This is an overlay of the idea of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde, a story contemporary with Conan Doyle's canon, and also one involving drug transformation.
This is a story for the true Holmes fan. As another reviewer has commented, those who are not intimately familiar with the Holmesian canon are likely going to be lost in many of the details and get a vastly distorted picture both of the detective and his arch-enemy. This is a flight of pure fancy, a 'what if?' very well crafted and executed, but rather far from what the traditional Holmesian and Sherlockian followers will accept.
Dibdin does write in an engaging style, and sets this up as a Watsonian narrative buried for a period to permit the Holmes legend to rest secure before being savaged. Of course, that legend is secure, as countless pastiches that have warped Holmes into every conceivable type of person and placed him in ever more diverse setting have been unable to shake - indeed, their continued production only serves to solidify that prominence. Dibdin's contribution is a welcome, if shocking, contribution to this body of work.
Few who read it will ever forget it.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
The Last Sherlock Holmes Story (Unabridged)
This is a very good story. However do not expect a normal Holmes story. As the plot twists and turnes you realise that all is not going too well for Sherlock. Accept this what if tale for what it is and enjoy.
This is a very good story. However do not expect a normal Holmes story. As the plot twists and turnes you realise that all is not going too well for Sherlock. Accept this what if tale for what it is and enjoy.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
...and two things probably help with this. Firstly, the fact that it is short and can be read in one sitting. Secondly, I'd never read any of the Arthur Conan Doyle stories prior to reading this. Whilst some of the intertextual points may have been beyond me at certain points (or were they? Everyone surely knows at least the basic outlines of Holmes and Watson) I felt that this was a good place to come in. My impression of Holmes as eminent detective had not been formed and, perhaps through this, what I found to admire here more than deduction, or other themes normally to be found in police procedurals and amateur sleuth stories, was Holmes' cunning.
Aside from Holmes, I found Watson to be particularly engaging narrator who led me along with a sprightly if slightly gammy-legged skip. Enjoyable, readable and a perfect starting place to help with delving into the original Conan Doyle stories as I am going to do now.
Aside from Holmes, I found Watson to be particularly engaging narrator who led me along with a sprightly if slightly gammy-legged skip. Enjoyable, readable and a perfect starting place to help with delving into the original Conan Doyle stories as I am going to do now.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A Real Sherlock
Many authors have tried to reinvent the Auther Conan Doyle's detective but have failed in the attempt. Read more
Published 14 months ago by kenW
Disappointing
As a homage to Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle (referred to here, almost endlessly at one point, as ACD), Michael Dibdin successfully uses appropriate 19th century... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Guv
What a load of nonsense!
If you are a fan of Holmes, and like me have loved and admired the character in all his forms, I would avoid this book. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Bigbloke
Don't read the review below!
I'm not one to usually write reviews on here. I will say this, for a big Sherlock Holmes fan, this is a must read and is very well written. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Ms. H. E. Gibbons
Perfect product, perfect delivery ...
Arrived, well-wrapped, in perfect shape, at a very reasonable price.
I would happily deal with this merchant again.
Thank you !
Ian
I would happily deal with this merchant again.
Thank you !
Ian
Published on 5 Mar 2010 by Ian in Paris
Shocking and interesting
There is a long and honoured tradition among mystery writers and fans of the Sherlock Holmes tales of writing one's own mystery. Read more
Published on 4 Jan 2006 by Kurt Messick
Gripping and clever
This is a great read - fast-moving, with the very best sort of twist: one which makes you think again, not just about this novel but also about Conan Doyle's Holmes stories. Read more
Published on 13 Sep 2002
Clever, but ultimately ridiculous
The author has constructed a clever and complex story that apes the style of ACD well enough. I personally much enjoyed the first half of the book, but the basic premise of the... Read more
Published on 30 Aug 2000
JUST BUY THE THING!
Utterly astonishing. A clever introduction outlines not only why this story has been so late in publication but explains why stories from the viewpoint of Watson have been written... Read more
Published on 11 Jun 2000
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