Sherlock Holmes and the Ghosts of Bly

by Donald Thomas

Overview

"Donald Thomas is the all-time best at Sherlockian pastiche."—Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine

Have you ever seen a ghost, Mr. Holmes?“ asks Victoria Temple, and Sherlock Holmes, at the height of his powers in 1898, must face a new challenge, one that plunges the great detective into the realm of the supernatural. Miss Temple has been found guilty—but also insane—at her trial for murdering a child under her care. She is locked away in the Broadmoor lunatic asylum and, worse still, she believes fully in her own guilt.


But were the hauntings at the Elizabethan manor house of Bly a vision of the walking dead, perhaps, rather than delusions of her tormented mind? Or could it be that a criminal conspiracy is to blame for the psychic phenomena? In the company of Dr. Watson, the indefatigable Holmes will track down the perpetrators through the occult underworld of Victorian London.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781605982786
Publisher:	Pegasus Books
Publication date:	02/15/2012
Series:	Pegasus Crime Series
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.60(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Donald Thomas has published forty books, including poetry, fiction, biography, and true crime.  A stage-play based on his work The Return of Sherlock Holmes, was recently produced in Wales.  His biography of Robert Browning was short-listed for the Whitbread Award and he received The Gregory Award from T. S. Eliot personally for his poetry collection Points of Contact.  The Execution of Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock Holmes and the King's Evil and Sherlock Holmes and the Ghosts of Bly are all available from Pegasus Books. He lives in Bath.

Editorial Reviews

With respect for the canon, deep knowledge of Victorian and Edwardian England, and the writing chops to replicate the
Watsonian style, Thomas is the all-time best at Sherlockian pastiche.

Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine

Henry James's The Turn of the Screw provides the inspiration for the lengthy title tale of Thomas's superb fifth collection of Sherlock Holmes pastiches (after 2009's Sherlock Holmes and the King's Evil). In 1898, Holmes and Watson intervene on behalf of Victoria Temple, a governess confined to an insane asylum after a verdict of guilty but insane for the murder of 10-year-old Miles Mordaunt, who was suffocated only days after his eight-year-old sister, Flora, died of diphtheria. The accused murderess is convinced that the ghosts of a valet and her predecessor as governess were trying to seduce both children into evil. The three other selections are nearly up to the same high standard. "The Case of a Boy's Honour," about a scandal at a boarding school, compels even without a murder to solve. Sherlockians will hope Thomas continues to turn out these faithful and imaginative recreations for years to come. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly

The game's afoot, Watson! Thomas's fifth Holmes collection (after Sherlock Holmes and the King's Evil) finds Dr. Watson, Holmes's friend and chronicler, journaling three more adventures of the great detective's feats of sleuthing ingenuity. The titular mystery revolves around a governess found guilty of murdering her ward. She is incarcerated in an insane asylum and convinced she did it, but could the ghosts at Bly have been responsible for the child's death? The opening story is a case of a poor, young military student's honor when he is accused of forgery and theft of a classmate's money. The final case is the murder of a famous, but little loved, actor during his performance of Hamlet. Did the killer pass him a truly poisoned drink? Thomas capably embodies Watson as Holmes's faithful narrator of these intriguing Doylesque investigations. Holmes himself is drawn perfectly as the brilliant intellect, with a hint of humor, and, above all, a pursuer of justice. VERDICT Highly recommended for Holmes devotees and others who enjoy captivating historical mysteries with a perceptive, ethical detective.—Susan O. Moritz, Montgomery Cty. P.L.s, MD

Library Journal

New challenges—a novel, two novellas and a bagatelle—for the inimitable sleuth and his stalwart amanuensis.

The opening novella, "The Case of a Boy's Honour," is clearly inspired by Terence Rattigan's The Winslow Boy. A student at exclusive St. Vincent's Naval Academy stands accused of stealing a postal order, and the postmistress is the chief eyewitness. Holmes methodically discredits the seemingly airtight case against the boy while uncovering disturbing events at the school. Holmes' elder brother Mycroft makes a cameo appearance. The novel-length "The Case of the Ghosts of Bly" weaves magic and mediums into a tangled story of murderous ghosts set at the venerable country estate first made famous by Henry James. A key figure in the crimes is the enigmatic governess Miss Temple, whose spectral sightings triggered panic at Bly and led her to a murderous insanity and Bedlam, where Holmes and Watson question her. Several more will die before Holmes can expose both the charlatans and the killer. The fragmentary "Sherlock Holmes the Actor" recounts the sleuth's pre-Watson fling with the theatre. "The Case of the Matinee Idol," building on that theatrical experience, probes the murder of legendary actor Carodoc Price, who was poisoned on stage in front of a sizable audience. Holmes must put aside his personal dislike of the theatrical veteran to solve the baffling crime.

The prolific Thomas (Sherlock Holmes and the King's Evil, 2009, etc.) recreates Holmes' milieu with a sure hand, gracefully spinning his well-appointed yarns.

Kirkus Reviews