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Sherlock in Love
How did Sherlock Homes come into possession of a true Stradivarius? Who was the one true love of the great detective's life? And what shattering disappointment left the detective with feelings of overwhelming melancholy? As Holmes's great friend, Dr. Watson, sets out to answer these questions and recount the thrilling "lost" adventure of Holmes's attempt to rescue the love of his life from a mad King Ludwig of Bavaria, his own life is threatened by a figure in a familiar Inverness coat and deerstalker cap.
In this extraordinary novel, Sena Jeter Naslund, author of the critically acclaimed national bestseller Ahab's Wife, brilliantly reweaves the colorfully cryptic, fog-enshrouded world of Sherlock in Love is at once a rewarding entertainment and a remarkable homage to the greatest sleuth in literature.
In this extraordinary novel, Sena Jeter Naslund, author of the critically acclaimed national bestseller Ahab's Wife, brilliantly reweaves the colorfully cryptic, fog-enshrouded world of Sherlock in Love is at once a rewarding entertainment and a remarkable homage to the greatest sleuth in literature.
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
About the author
Sena Jeter Naslund
32 books403 followersSena Jeter Naslund is the New York Times best-selling author of five novels, including Ahab's Wife (1999) and Abundance: A Novel of Marie Antoinette (HarperCollins, 2006). She is currently Distinguished Teaching Professor and Writer in Residence at the University of Louisville and program director of the Spalding University brief-residency Master in Fine Arts in Writing. Recipient of the Harper Lee Award and the Southeastern Library Association Fiction Award, she is co-founder of The Louisville Review and the Fleur-de-Lis Press. She lives in Louisville, Kentucky."
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 70 reviews
May 24, 2015
"Sherlock in Love" is supposed to be the story of Holmes' one great love and how he obtained his Stradivarius violin.
Nice idea, reasonable plot, but it would have helped if the author had actually read ACD's original stories. In the story "The Adventure of the Cardboard Box", Arthur Conan Doyle himself stated that Holmes brought his strad from a pawnbroker in the Edgeware Road. That failure to keep to canon gave the book a major strike against it before I even began to read it.
I also found it hard to believe the great man of mind and intellect could be so swayed by emotion.
However, the plot fairly bounced along and was an enjoyable read.
The second stroke against it was, for me, the lack of chemistry between Holmes and Watson. The characters felt more like polite friends than the tight bond of friendship seen in the books.
A non Sherlockian will no doubt enjoy it, but there are too many small niggles for a devotee to be entirely happy with the book.
Nice idea, reasonable plot, but it would have helped if the author had actually read ACD's original stories. In the story "The Adventure of the Cardboard Box", Arthur Conan Doyle himself stated that Holmes brought his strad from a pawnbroker in the Edgeware Road. That failure to keep to canon gave the book a major strike against it before I even began to read it.
I also found it hard to believe the great man of mind and intellect could be so swayed by emotion.
However, the plot fairly bounced along and was an enjoyable read.
The second stroke against it was, for me, the lack of chemistry between Holmes and Watson. The characters felt more like polite friends than the tight bond of friendship seen in the books.
A non Sherlockian will no doubt enjoy it, but there are too many small niggles for a devotee to be entirely happy with the book.
June 17, 2011
This is hard to explain. But let me just start by saying I think I paid about 50 cents for this at a library book sale and uh, I'd say that was a pretty accurate price point.
Basically, the novel is structured like a Conan Doyle story but a bit more topsy-turvy. Holmes is dead (never explained, how exactly and I know it's not Reichenbach falls so sometime after and during the Bee Keeping days? so who the hell knows) and Watson suddenly has a mood to write up some old stories he must have missed down the line but as soon as he starts collecting info some mysterious person keeps breaking into his flat and ripping key pages out of his memoirs. And since Watson's memory isn't exactly outstanding on the best of days, this creates a problem.
Cue mysterious mental patient, and a foray into one major event in Holmes's past involving a violin, a crazy ass Bohemian King and Irene Adler.
While we're on the subject of dear old Irene, one thing that pissed me off early in this narrative was the way the author casually dismissed Adler as a key factor in Holmes's past, summing her up as a nuiscance and a person that Holmes always looked back on with irritation as she was the woman who bested him.
Um, no? As someone who's actually read the Doyle accounts, Holmes only ever referred to Irene with respect, calling her "THE woman" with warmth, not annoyed derision. He respected her and the fact that she was able to one-up him.
The author makes up for it slightly in the end by bringing Adler back in but it still doesn't erase the fact that she threw that bit in in the first place.
The major problem I had with this book is the surprise bit at the end. And uh, SPOILER ALERT in case you're ever inclined to pull this one out of somebody's archives, this is about to spoil the ending for you. I WARNED YOU.
So what ends up happening is Sherlock meets this violin player and is impressed by "him", takes up lessons from "him" and then finds out that "he" is actually a "she". Which is fine, ok, I get it, you have to disguise yourself in the good ole' days to get any respect as a woman, that's not what bothered me. What bothered me was that she ends up being his half-sister in the end. Which you know, is gross on a whole Ian McEwan level but she figures it out in the nick of time and then fakes her own death so he can't find her. Basically forcing Holmes into one of his catatonic cocaine states because SHE TOLD HIM which, DUDE, not necessary, really. The narrative ends with her letter that Irene gives to Watson lamenting the fact that she left him and that she still wanted to go to be with him, regardless of the fact that they were related.
Which ok, I get it, this isn't exactly Flowers in the Attic, they didn't KNOW they were related but it's still a sort of unnecessary gross out factor that's obviously just there for the surprise. I think what really irritated me about it was the fact that the author felt it necessary to make her his sister in order to explain how talented and special yadda yadda yadda she was. Like I'm sorry, in order for a woman to be at all on Holmes' level she of course has to have similar DNA. WHAT? No wonder she hated Adler so bad, a character who was actually CORRECTLY WRITTEN as both a natural foil and charming ally to the original Sherlock. It's called good characterization, please look into it.
Basically, I really wouldn't bother with this. It's a quick read but essentially a waste of time.
Basically, the novel is structured like a Conan Doyle story but a bit more topsy-turvy. Holmes is dead (never explained, how exactly and I know it's not Reichenbach falls so sometime after and during the Bee Keeping days? so who the hell knows) and Watson suddenly has a mood to write up some old stories he must have missed down the line but as soon as he starts collecting info some mysterious person keeps breaking into his flat and ripping key pages out of his memoirs. And since Watson's memory isn't exactly outstanding on the best of days, this creates a problem.
Cue mysterious mental patient, and a foray into one major event in Holmes's past involving a violin, a crazy ass Bohemian King and Irene Adler.
While we're on the subject of dear old Irene, one thing that pissed me off early in this narrative was the way the author casually dismissed Adler as a key factor in Holmes's past, summing her up as a nuiscance and a person that Holmes always looked back on with irritation as she was the woman who bested him.
Um, no? As someone who's actually read the Doyle accounts, Holmes only ever referred to Irene with respect, calling her "THE woman" with warmth, not annoyed derision. He respected her and the fact that she was able to one-up him.
The author makes up for it slightly in the end by bringing Adler back in but it still doesn't erase the fact that she threw that bit in in the first place.
The major problem I had with this book is the surprise bit at the end. And uh, SPOILER ALERT in case you're ever inclined to pull this one out of somebody's archives, this is about to spoil the ending for you. I WARNED YOU.
So what ends up happening is Sherlock meets this violin player and is impressed by "him", takes up lessons from "him" and then finds out that "he" is actually a "she". Which is fine, ok, I get it, you have to disguise yourself in the good ole' days to get any respect as a woman, that's not what bothered me. What bothered me was that she ends up being his half-sister in the end. Which you know, is gross on a whole Ian McEwan level but she figures it out in the nick of time and then fakes her own death so he can't find her. Basically forcing Holmes into one of his catatonic cocaine states because SHE TOLD HIM which, DUDE, not necessary, really. The narrative ends with her letter that Irene gives to Watson lamenting the fact that she left him and that she still wanted to go to be with him, regardless of the fact that they were related.
Which ok, I get it, this isn't exactly Flowers in the Attic, they didn't KNOW they were related but it's still a sort of unnecessary gross out factor that's obviously just there for the surprise. I think what really irritated me about it was the fact that the author felt it necessary to make her his sister in order to explain how talented and special yadda yadda yadda she was. Like I'm sorry, in order for a woman to be at all on Holmes' level she of course has to have similar DNA. WHAT? No wonder she hated Adler so bad, a character who was actually CORRECTLY WRITTEN as both a natural foil and charming ally to the original Sherlock. It's called good characterization, please look into it.
Basically, I really wouldn't bother with this. It's a quick read but essentially a waste of time.
March 23, 2009
I had heard great things about Sena Jeter Naslund's Ahab's Wife, and when I went to check it out from the library, I noticed a much shorter book by her, Sherlock in Love. Now, I usually delight in pastiches, even in parodies, of famous books (Shamela, anyone?) so I thought, if AW is supposed to be good, SIL should be good too!
Wrong!
This books is truly terrible! Sandwiched between a somewhat intriguing beginning and a flaccid, unfulfilling end, is a ridiculous plot peppered with even more ridiculous characters.
The novel's premise is as follows: two years after Sherlock Holmes' death, the loyal (and in this book, kind of creepy and pathetic) Dr. Watson decides to write a biography of the great Holmes. Immediately, Watson begins receiving threats and his house is broken into. Somebody clearly wants Sherlock Holmes' biography to be scrapped. But why?
This is the question that drives Dr. Watson's tale. He becomes a detective in his own right - kind of. He delves into his own notebooks from decades before to find out just who - and why - might want to stop this book from being written. In his journals, he re-discovers a cast of characters so absurd doing things so stupid that I seriously contemplated setting the book down and returning to my Octavia Butler books about aliens.
Sherlock in Love could have been a success. There are the makings of a far more interesting and successful novel here - cross-dressing musical geniuses, schizophrenic European royals, cocaine habits... but nothing is cohesive, no character is endearing, and by the end of the book I didn't care who lived, who died, who was who, and why they did the senseless things they did.
To bring this to a close, I was sorely disappointed. I will still read Ahab's Wife, if only out of my love for the original Melville novel, but I strongly recommend staying far away from Sherlock in Love.
This books is truly terrible! Sandwiched between a somewhat intriguing beginning and a flaccid, unfulfilling end, is a ridiculous plot peppered with even more ridiculous characters.
The novel's premise is as follows: two years after Sherlock Holmes' death, the loyal (and in this book, kind of creepy and pathetic) Dr. Watson decides to write a biography of the great Holmes. Immediately, Watson begins receiving threats and his house is broken into. Somebody clearly wants Sherlock Holmes' biography to be scrapped. But why?
This is the question that drives Dr. Watson's tale. He becomes a detective in his own right - kind of. He delves into his own notebooks from decades before to find out just who - and why - might want to stop this book from being written. In his journals, he re-discovers a cast of characters so absurd doing things so stupid that I seriously contemplated setting the book down and returning to my Octavia Butler books about aliens.
Sherlock in Love could have been a success. There are the makings of a far more interesting and successful novel here - cross-dressing musical geniuses, schizophrenic European royals, cocaine habits... but nothing is cohesive, no character is endearing, and by the end of the book I didn't care who lived, who died, who was who, and why they did the senseless things they did.
To bring this to a close, I was sorely disappointed. I will still read Ahab's Wife, if only out of my love for the original Melville novel, but I strongly recommend staying far away from Sherlock in Love.
December 15, 2014
No. Just ... no. Our good Dr. Watson has to unravel the mystery of how Sherlock got his Stradivarius violin. He starts out merely to write a definitive biography of his late friend, but finds himself threatened and pages of notes about one of the cases excised. This takes him on a merry romp through his memories of some old adventures.
Weak points: a mysterious lady who is able to winkle her way out of St. Giles Hospital for the mildly delusional whenever she likes. With a dog.
Mystical appearance of "Marie Antoinette" at just the right time.
A master violinist who has a music hall magical act going between gigs.
Watson is his typical clueless self, so much so that even the reader can figure out what's going on long before he does. I did enjoy a visit to Linderhof with the duo as well as the adventure with poor, mad King Ludwig because I had been there myself and could picture it all again. [Wonders: Do writers get to write off European vacations as business expenses if they feature them in their novels?]
DEFINITE SPOILERS BELOW
Victor's gender was no surprise at all. And what disguised female who needs to keep up the pretense at all times goes to bed in a filmy nightdress??!! And it was kind of creepy that Holmes would spy on her. His job is to deduce from the clues as presented - not check them out to confirm them. The familial relationship with Holmes was a surprise, but it was also just a bit too much coincidence. As pleasant a read as this may have been, there was just too much coincidence for me to suspend my disbelief and assuage my Holmes fandom.
Weak points: a mysterious lady who is able to winkle her way out of St. Giles Hospital for the mildly delusional whenever she likes. With a dog.
Mystical appearance of "Marie Antoinette" at just the right time.
A master violinist who has a music hall magical act going between gigs.
Watson is his typical clueless self, so much so that even the reader can figure out what's going on long before he does. I did enjoy a visit to Linderhof with the duo as well as the adventure with poor, mad King Ludwig because I had been there myself and could picture it all again. [Wonders: Do writers get to write off European vacations as business expenses if they feature them in their novels?]
DEFINITE SPOILERS BELOW
Victor's gender was no surprise at all. And what disguised female who needs to keep up the pretense at all times goes to bed in a filmy nightdress??!! And it was kind of creepy that Holmes would spy on her. His job is to deduce from the clues as presented - not check them out to confirm them. The familial relationship with Holmes was a surprise, but it was also just a bit too much coincidence. As pleasant a read as this may have been, there was just too much coincidence for me to suspend my disbelief and assuage my Holmes fandom.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 16, 2011
All I have to say about this book is eww. I have read every Sherlock Holmes story and novella and cannot begin to imagine where the author thought this story fit in. Disappointment would be one thing I read "The Final Solution" and was disappointed in that. But to a true fan of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle this story borders on sacrilege.
April 26, 2017
I wish we could give less than 1 star ratings, but since this is the lowest, it'll do. The WORST Holmesian tale I've ever read, including my own childish attempts to wrte one at the age of 12.
February 13, 2017
That was the weirdest slash I ever read. Well, not including slash that have pregnant men in it.
June 16, 2022
Eh. The less said, the better. Surely you have better things to read? If not, just go back and re-read the Canon.
April 8, 2014
I have not read any of the original Sherlock Holmes tales (the horror, I know). I have also not read anything by Sena Jeter Naslund. I decided to read this book because I am attending the Alabama Writers Symposium this month, and Naslund will be a speaker there. Why did I pick this and not one of her other books? I honestly have no idea. Because, like I said previously, I'm not a huge Sherlock Holmes fan. I just read the blurb and said "Sounds interesting, think I'll read it." This story is written in Watson's POV. Sherlock Holmes is dead and Watson wants to write his biography. But every time he tries to dig into Holmes's past, someone stops him. He even receives warnings to stop his work immediately. Watson does not stop however, and uncovers the reason why "someone" doesn't want Holmes's biography written.
Honestly, I struggled in the beginning. And it got so bad at one point that I actually wondered if I was going to finish the book or not. And that is highly uncharacteristic of me. Even if I think a book is bad I will try to get through it. I don't know if it was because I'm not a Holmes addict or the current mood I was in, but for some reason I crawled through the first few chapters.
Then, a switch was flipped. I think it was around the time that Holmes met Victor Sigerson. From that point on I flew through the book and actually enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I was able to piece things together pretty well, I had a couple of things figured out before the author revealed them. HOWEVER, I was not prepared for nor did I foresee the curveball SJN threw at the very end. That is all I will tell you, for fear of giving away spoilers. Other than the fact that it was a little creepy. But, it did make an amazing plot twist.
I cannot wait to read more SJN. I think I'm going to go with Ahab's Wife next. I also can't wait to hear her speak in a couple of weeks!
4 out of 5 stars
Honestly, I struggled in the beginning. And it got so bad at one point that I actually wondered if I was going to finish the book or not. And that is highly uncharacteristic of me. Even if I think a book is bad I will try to get through it. I don't know if it was because I'm not a Holmes addict or the current mood I was in, but for some reason I crawled through the first few chapters.
Then, a switch was flipped. I think it was around the time that Holmes met Victor Sigerson. From that point on I flew through the book and actually enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I was able to piece things together pretty well, I had a couple of things figured out before the author revealed them. HOWEVER, I was not prepared for nor did I foresee the curveball SJN threw at the very end. That is all I will tell you, for fear of giving away spoilers. Other than the fact that it was a little creepy. But, it did make an amazing plot twist.
I cannot wait to read more SJN. I think I'm going to go with Ahab's Wife next. I also can't wait to hear her speak in a couple of weeks!
4 out of 5 stars
February 14, 2008
My family includes several avid Sherlock Holmes fans. The most avid of them all once told me that he's read many of the Sherlock knock-offs written by other others, and that none have done the originals justice. (Of course, he does keep reading them.)
I meant to stick with the original Sherlocks, but then came across Sena Jeter Naslund's Sherlock in Love. SJN invariably rocks my world, and I couldn't resist.
Thank goodness, because this book was fantastic. It almost fulfilled my dream of waking up to find that Sir Arthur has come back from the dead and written us another full-length Holmes novel.
Here's what I appreciated about the writing--SJN adopted Sir Arthur's styles of prose and dialog, and she did it well. They mesh with the originals, yet don't seem derivative. She also stays true to his characterization, while skillfully inserting a few fresh faces of her own, and playing around with the originals just a bit (notice a few more red-headed men than one might expect?).
Incredibly enough, I enjoyed reading about Sherlock's love affair. (Not a spoiler--it's in the title.) I could see plenty of purists believing it doesn't belong, but it worked for me. In the originals, the Great Detective is pretty much asexual, save his PG-rated fascination with Irene Adler. Fine, that's a genuine flavor of human sexuality, and it works. However, SJN replaces this with a quiet, mysterious love for one woman, and that works for me, too. Any more details would make for real spoilers.
Even if you're attached to the originals, give this one a chance.
I meant to stick with the original Sherlocks, but then came across Sena Jeter Naslund's Sherlock in Love. SJN invariably rocks my world, and I couldn't resist.
Thank goodness, because this book was fantastic. It almost fulfilled my dream of waking up to find that Sir Arthur has come back from the dead and written us another full-length Holmes novel.
Here's what I appreciated about the writing--SJN adopted Sir Arthur's styles of prose and dialog, and she did it well. They mesh with the originals, yet don't seem derivative. She also stays true to his characterization, while skillfully inserting a few fresh faces of her own, and playing around with the originals just a bit (notice a few more red-headed men than one might expect?).
Incredibly enough, I enjoyed reading about Sherlock's love affair. (Not a spoiler--it's in the title.) I could see plenty of purists believing it doesn't belong, but it worked for me. In the originals, the Great Detective is pretty much asexual, save his PG-rated fascination with Irene Adler. Fine, that's a genuine flavor of human sexuality, and it works. However, SJN replaces this with a quiet, mysterious love for one woman, and that works for me, too. Any more details would make for real spoilers.
Even if you're attached to the originals, give this one a chance.
July 8, 2011
"Sherlock in Love" is an....interesting pastiche of Sherlock Holmes. I must be more of a Holmes purist than I originally thought because I just couldn't gloss over the out-of-character/non-canon things (and there are many) in this book. In all honesty, the book - on its own - isn't terrible. However, since it very much involves Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's beloved characters, I do somewhat judge the quality of a work with the original text in mind. The constant name dropping of cases (i.e. original stories) at the beginning was off-putting. The story does slightly pick up momentum and if I'd commend anything in this book, it'd be the surprise "twist" towards the end. I was NOT expecting that!
All that being said, I'm a huge proponent of people creatively re-imagining their favorite works (literary or otherwise). Lovesick Sherlock? Bring it on. Tragic romantic past? I applaud it! But thing is...it needs to be done well! And there, I suppose, is the main problem with this book. Sherlock in Love reads like a mediocre fan-fiction. Since the latter is ubiquitous and free online, you might as well skip this book.
All that being said, I'm a huge proponent of people creatively re-imagining their favorite works (literary or otherwise). Lovesick Sherlock? Bring it on. Tragic romantic past? I applaud it! But thing is...it needs to be done well! And there, I suppose, is the main problem with this book. Sherlock in Love reads like a mediocre fan-fiction. Since the latter is ubiquitous and free online, you might as well skip this book.
July 20, 2015
I will give Sena Jeter Naslund credit for mimicking Conan Doyle's style beautifully. In terms of writing style, this novel reads like a Sherlock Holmes story, without a doubt. However, it lacks the flow of Conan Doyle's stories, and more importantly, it lacks character integrity. Watson is fairly well portrayed, but Holmes is far beyond a deeper, more personal view of the character. He is someone else entirely. Without the name, I never would have recognized him. And the little twists in the story only cement that she has abandoned the very essence of the greatest literary character of all time. My masters thesis is on Sherlock Holmes, and again, while I commend the writing style, these stories are all about the singular character of Sherlock Holmes, and because of that, reading this sort of felt like choking to death.
May 3, 2017
Non-spoiler review: don't do it. It's not worth your time or sanity.
Recommended for: Nobody.
Recommended for: Nobody.
October 15, 2012
This is easily the worst Holmes-related book I have read so far; a place previously held by the ghastly "Whitechapel: The last stand of Sherlock Holmes".
The story is ridiculous and the characterization so thin that even the inclusion of mad King Ludwig II fails to spark a little interest. To add insult to the injury, the author throws an unlikely intervention of "the woman" herself, Irene Adler.
At least, it's a short read. Straigth to the recycle bin.
The story is ridiculous and the characterization so thin that even the inclusion of mad King Ludwig II fails to spark a little interest. To add insult to the injury, the author throws an unlikely intervention of "the woman" herself, Irene Adler.
At least, it's a short read. Straigth to the recycle bin.
August 5, 2014
A thoroughly engaging read. Naslund's writing evokes the mood and characters of the original AND brings a new addition to the lore. Holmes is dead, and Dr. Watson in his loneliness decides to write a bio of Holmes. Someone seems to be thwarting him, pages from journals are missing, threatening letters appear, he is "haunted" by Holmes and others. As Watson tries to get to the bottom of things he reflects on past adventures, including an unpublished job that ended in failure.
August 31, 2017
I couldn't even finish it. I love Sherlock Holmes and was so excited to read this book, but this book was so not what I was expecting. At all. No... I don't even have words for it. Just, no.
July 13, 2020
3.5 stars. This is a good example of how an author can be an excellent writer, but not necessarily write an excellent Holmes book. The relationship between Holmes and Watson is virtually nonexistent, with an elderly Watson reminiscing about a series of strange encounters he witnessed between Holmes and a violinist, very much as an observer.
*big spoilers*
The treatment of transvestism feels very dated in this book, and there's an enormous info-dump at the end that manages to anticipate the "but you have a sister" revelation of Sherlock (not really something to boast of) and cancel Irene Adler's unique contribution to the canon. I mean, why can't two women outwit Holmes? Why does it have to be only Violet?
It has very literary, elliptical style that reminds me of A Slight Trick of the Mind, but while I was willing to accept that in a book about a Holmes loosing his mind, it doesn't seem to be as justified here. Holmes and Watson don't sound like their Doyle counterparts, and the style don't read like the canon. While that's not necessarily required for me to enjoy a Holmes pastiche, at very least there should be some evocation of the original. I feel this book could have been about (and perhaps should have been about) any eccentric detective.
*big spoilers*
The treatment of transvestism feels very dated in this book, and there's an enormous info-dump at the end that manages to anticipate the "but you have a sister" revelation of Sherlock (not really something to boast of) and cancel Irene Adler's unique contribution to the canon. I mean, why can't two women outwit Holmes? Why does it have to be only Violet?
It has very literary, elliptical style that reminds me of A Slight Trick of the Mind, but while I was willing to accept that in a book about a Holmes loosing his mind, it doesn't seem to be as justified here. Holmes and Watson don't sound like their Doyle counterparts, and the style don't read like the canon. While that's not necessarily required for me to enjoy a Holmes pastiche, at very least there should be some evocation of the original. I feel this book could have been about (and perhaps should have been about) any eccentric detective.
September 8, 2023
The MOST intriguing pastiche I’ve EVER read. And believe me...I’ve read a lot of Sherlock Holmes stories.
.
This book looks so unassuming, save its bold title. Sherlock Holmes in love??? I was a little skeptical, especially since the book is out of print now, but oh it is full of such riches. Women disguised as men! Holmes’s violin teacher! Holmes’s diary! A mad king! Bavarian castles! Irene Adler and Dr. Watson!
.
On top of all of that, I loved how the book was formatted. It’s narrator is a very elderly Watson, so it’s very fitting that his story should jump around from memories to diaries to the present to a typical Holmes short story. Fantastic.
.
I put the book on top of Sherry Thomas’s female Holmes and one volume of the Mary Russell series because, yes, I think SHERLOCK IN LOVE is superior to them...at least when it comes to discussing Holmes and Victorian gender roles. The Mary Russell series is still by far my favorite pastiches, but this book was so fun and fascinating on so many levels.
.
And the best part was that I just so happen to put on classic music while I read. The perfect soundtrack for this novel which revolves Holmes’s love for music and the violin.
.
This book looks so unassuming, save its bold title. Sherlock Holmes in love??? I was a little skeptical, especially since the book is out of print now, but oh it is full of such riches. Women disguised as men! Holmes’s violin teacher! Holmes’s diary! A mad king! Bavarian castles! Irene Adler and Dr. Watson!
.
On top of all of that, I loved how the book was formatted. It’s narrator is a very elderly Watson, so it’s very fitting that his story should jump around from memories to diaries to the present to a typical Holmes short story. Fantastic.
.
I put the book on top of Sherry Thomas’s female Holmes and one volume of the Mary Russell series because, yes, I think SHERLOCK IN LOVE is superior to them...at least when it comes to discussing Holmes and Victorian gender roles. The Mary Russell series is still by far my favorite pastiches, but this book was so fun and fascinating on so many levels.
.
And the best part was that I just so happen to put on classic music while I read. The perfect soundtrack for this novel which revolves Holmes’s love for music and the violin.
October 16, 2018
Mediocre. But not as bad as you want to basically tear the book apart and burn it. I know nothing about Sherlock Holmes, but I found this book to be very poorly executed. The plot was very "loose" and no real consistency. Some parts here and there could be saved, and some parts were entertaining. However, the author makes a terrible mistake in incorporating this weird chapter of the Mad King (again, this could be a reference to a proper Holmes book?). I just found it extremely weird! Almost surreal. Although the main character was supposed to be Holmes and Watson, Naslund seeks to give weight to Viktor/Victoria S. through music and violin. Fair enough. But to add that precipitated ending with a forced twist? (it was forced! and abrupt!) Nope. Absolutely not!
Conclusion: read this book if you have absolutely no other option.
Conclusion: read this book if you have absolutely no other option.
May 18, 2023
2.5 stars
This book was so very readable! I sped through it. On the paragraph level, even early Naslund is a delight. But also it has period-typical homophobia, and the set of queer people and the set of not very good or terrible people are exactly the same set in a very 1993-typical way. And then argh a thing that I find so triggering I often will outright avoid reading books with it in.
CN: in addition to the stuff above (including the spoiler bit), substance abuse, violent death, and mental illness depicted in ways that serve the plot rather more than anything else.
This book was so very readable! I sped through it. On the paragraph level, even early Naslund is a delight. But also it has period-typical homophobia, and the set of queer people and the set of not very good or terrible people are exactly the same set in a very 1993-typical way. And then argh a thing that I find so triggering I often will outright avoid reading books with it in.
CN: in addition to the stuff above (including the spoiler bit), substance abuse, violent death, and mental illness depicted in ways that serve the plot rather more than anything else.
September 22, 2021
Three and a half stars.
This short novel is two stories ... one sent in the 1920s, a couple of years after Holmes's death, and an unpublished early exploit of Holmes and Watson set in 1886, before the dates of most of the original stories.
This book is an enjoyable but modest accomplishment when compared to Naslund's masterpiece, Ahab's Wife.
This short novel is two stories ... one sent in the 1920s, a couple of years after Holmes's death, and an unpublished early exploit of Holmes and Watson set in 1886, before the dates of most of the original stories.
This book is an enjoyable but modest accomplishment when compared to Naslund's masterpiece, Ahab's Wife.
October 31, 2022
Really 4 1/2 stars. Ms. Jeter does an excellent job with a Sherlock Holmes mystery that is comparable to Arthur Conan Doyle. Many surprises and top-notch action makes this one book you don’t want to miss.
August 18, 2017
Not as good as her other novels, but an interesting ending.
July 28, 2018
Bad.....so, so bad.
September 16, 2019
I did not like this book until the end. I had only read Hound of the Baskervilles, so I missed a lot of the allusions. However, it did have a surprise ending that was quite poignant.
June 29, 2020
I would give this book a 3.5, if that were an option. Although it is not a work of great literary merit, I was entertained. It reads like a well-written fanfiction piece.
June 30, 2021
An homage to Conan-Doyle. Sherlock, family and love in all its guises.
January 2, 2022
Read this after Ahab's Wife and it's a very different style. Props for the Sherlock story, always enjoyable, but a little light for me. Might recommend as YA.
September 16, 2023
Disjointed and made little sense, but oddly compelling.
October 30, 2020
Interesting, but not compelling “new adventure” of Sherlock & Watson. Actually, an aging Watson is confronted by the ghost of Sherlock, long since passed away. It turns out that it’s someone impersonating Sherlock but who mostly stays out of sight. Another old nemesis of Sherlock, Irene Adler, “the woman” also shows up and helps Watson put the pieces together of an unfinished manuscript he had drafted years ago, and resolve a big part of Sherlock’s intermittent melancholy. A very tender ending to the story was really the only essential part of this novelette.
[SPOILER ALERT: turns out Sherlock had a half-sister – or perhaps full sister (their mother had a long term affair) –, also extremely talented (violin, magic, disguises, intellectual, etc.), and they unwittingly fell in love. When she, Violet Sigerson, realized it, she feigned her death and stayed hidden in an insane asylum for women for the rest of her life. She was not trapped there, she just stayed there, coming and going as she pleased. She did not tell Sherlock or anyone else, and destroyed all evidence of their shared parents, and other connections. She knew he would destroy himself if found out and realized he could never have her. As she lay dying, and in a very touching way, she asked Watson to write her story – which he did.]
[SPOILER ALERT: turns out Sherlock had a half-sister – or perhaps full sister (their mother had a long term affair) –, also extremely talented (violin, magic, disguises, intellectual, etc.), and they unwittingly fell in love. When she, Violet Sigerson, realized it, she feigned her death and stayed hidden in an insane asylum for women for the rest of her life. She was not trapped there, she just stayed there, coming and going as she pleased. She did not tell Sherlock or anyone else, and destroyed all evidence of their shared parents, and other connections. She knew he would destroy himself if found out and realized he could never have her. As she lay dying, and in a very touching way, she asked Watson to write her story – which he did.]
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