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Cargando... Horror en Londres (1976)por Nicholas Meyer
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Inscríbete en LibraryThing para averiguar si este libro te gustará. Actualmente no hay Conversaciones sobre este libro. I'm a sucker for books that combine fact with fiction. I'm also a theater geek, so this book seemed made for me. And it was, for about the first third of it. Holmes and Watson look into the murder of a theater critic by a young, not famous George Bernard Shaw. Taking them into the world of the theater seems a good fit for Holmes is a bit of an actor himself with all his disguises. The story is a fun, light read and I enjoyed it, but the solution, I felt, came from left field. It's not that it was impossible, it was, it's that it was melodrama at its highest. Still, a good plane read. Finally, a wonderful Holmes pastiche! And I say that as someone who is probably a bit hyper-defensive of Holmes and Watson. Normally I'm ridiculously pedantic when it comes to my beloved Holmes and Watson...the fact that people even have the sheer nerve to try to impersonate or resurrect them rankles me automatically. As I've admitted openly in previous posts, when it comes to the Canon I'm a pedantic purist (and apparently an alliterative one at that). If the pair must be visually portrayed, only Jeremy Brett will do. But this, I have to say, was pitch perfect in plot and narrative style and a great one-sitting read. You see, it's 1865 in London and a rash of strange occurrences are shaking up the dodgy theater district, including a murder, a socialite getting her throat slashed, two corpses disappearing along with a plastic surgeon. To solve the mystery, Holmes and Watson find themselves meeting a host of interesting people: Bram Stoker, Ellne Terry, Bernard Shaw, Henry Irving, and of course, Oscar Wilde. Oh, and the suspect's name? You guessed it: Jack. For more of my reviews, particularly on mystery character series that take place in England, the British Raj or Ireland, please visit my blog, The Body on the Floor, at www.bodyonthefloor.blogspot.com.
If “The West End Horror” does not come off as well as “The Seven‐Per‐Cent Solution,” it is because the first book will have removed the element of novelty from its successors. And Meyer enters just a shade too seriously into the game; some of the footnotes are exasperating. But if Meyer has never really hit the Holmesian essence, he has made a brave try. “The West End Horror” is a pleasant entertainment. If there will be those who will niggle at the plot construction of this book, it can be answered that plot is the least important element of most of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries, which have more holes in them than the flooring of a termite‐ridden house. No; it is the man and his London that count, and Meyer this right well.
March 1895. London. A month of strange happenings in the West End. First there is the bizarre murder of theater critic Jonathan McCarthy. Then the lawsuit against the Marquess of Queensberry for libel; the public is scandalized. Next, the ingenue at the Savoy is discovered with her throat slashed. And a police surgeon disappears, taking two corpses with him.Some of the theater district's most fashionable and creative luminaries have been involved: a penniless stage critic and writer named Bernard Shaw; Ellen Terry, the gifted and beautiful actress; a suspicious box office clerk named Bram Stoker; an aging matinee idol, Henry Irving; an unscrupulous publisher calling himself Frank Harris; and a controversial wit by the name of Oscar Wilde.Scotland Yard is mystified by what appear to be unrelated cases, but to Sherlock Holmes the matter is elementary: a maniac is on the loose. His name is Jack. No se han encontrado descripciones de biblioteca. |
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I do also like that Meyer is willing to take chances and also push the boundaries of Sherlock's universe, but not too much. Sherlock doesn't meet Cthulhu or Batman or Donald Trump, so these are good things.
I do, however, think that it does go a touch too Hollywood. The cameos are fun, but in a slim volume, it does begin to feel a touch claustrophobic, a touch overstuffed.
Still, with no new Doyle yarns, Meyer is, at least for now, still my favourite go-to for the further adventures of Holmes and Watson. ( )