Review: HOLMES ENTANGLED by Gordon McAlpine

Thank you so much to Prometheus Books and Seventh Street Books for providing my copy – all opinions are my own.
 
Book Description: 
 
Sherlock Holmes, now in his seventies, retired from investigations and peaceably disguised as a professor at Cambridge, is shaken when a modestly successful author in his late-sixties named Arthur Conan Doyle calls upon him at the university. This Conan Doyle, notable for historical adventure stories, science fiction, and a three-volume history of the Boer War (but no detective tales), somehow knows of the false professor’s true identity and pleads for investigative assistance. Someone is trying to kill Conan Doyle. Who? Why? Good questions, but what intrigues Holmes most is how the “middling scribbler” ascertained Holmes’s identity in the first place, despite the detective’s perfect disguise. Holmes takes the case.

There is danger every step of the way. Great powers want the investigation quashed. But with the assistance of Dr. Watson’s widow, Holmes persists, exploring séances, the esoterica of Edgar Allan Poe, the revolutionary new science of quantum mechanics, and his own long-denied sense of loss and solitude. Ultimately, even Sherlock Holmes is unprepared for what the evidence suggests.

 My Review: 

This is a very unique take on the legendary Sherlock Holmes. Holmes is now retired from investigations and has taken on a disguise as a professor at Cambridge. Arthur Conan Doyle seeks him out at the university and asks for his help because his life is in danger. Holmes decides to take the case along side Dr. Watson’s widow. See what I mean? I have never read a book where the author asks his own creation for help which is what makes this book so brilliant! I believe they call this meta-fiction and it’s so damn clever

I had a great time reading this one! There are some appearances from larger than life “characters” such as Edgar Allan Poe and Ernest Hemingway. I really enjoyed the “meta” aspect of this book. It is such an inventive idea on this classic character and the juxtaposition is seamlessly done which makes this an excellent read! Highly recommended!

My rating is 3  / 5 stars! 

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