Sherlock Holmes and the Beast of the Stapletons

July 6, 2020
In 1894, five years after the events of The Hound of the Baskervilles, a terrifying creature again plagues Sir Henry Baskerville in Lovegrove’s uneven second traditional novel-length pastiche (after 2019’s Sherlock Holmes and the Christmas Demon). A huge moth with glaring red eyes has been spotted on Dartmoor and is believed responsible for draining blood from sheep. Holmes is alerted to his former client’s new woes by Benjamin Grier, an African American friend of Sir Henry’s, who fears for the baronet’s mental and physical health after being warned away from Baskerville Hall at gunpoint. Watson declines to join Holmes on the moor, because of his lingering fear from his encounter with the hound. Holmes thus ends up reporting his findings to Watson. This artful inversion of the structure of Conan Doyle’s novel will please Sherlockians; those same Sherlockians, however, will be disappointed in the solution to the mystery and Watson’s uncharacteristic behavior at the climax. Those looking for a good riff on one of the most iconic mysteries of all time will be better off with Sam Siciliano’s The Grimswell Curse.

September 1, 2020

In 1889, Sherlock Holmes shot and killed the monstrous Hound of the Baskervilles. Its owner, naturalist Jack Stapleton, is also dead. Now, five years later, an American friend of Sir Henry Baskerville turns to Holmes for help. Benjamin Grier reports that Sir Henry married, has a three-year-old son, Harry, but has lost his wife. She was killed on the Dartmoor moors by some creature that drained her blood. Did Stapleton survive? Watson refuses to go with Holmes, so Holmes methodically reports on the search and discovery of a second ingenious killer with designs on the cursed Baskerville family. Something about the killer's death doesn't add up, and Holmes is angry that he missed signs that it wasn't actually a suicide. This time, young Harry has been kidnapped, and Watson accompanies his friend. Five men journey to Costa Rica by ship, tracking a dangerous killer bent on revenge, but their trip is not without murder attempts, racist attacks on Grier, Black former Buffalo Soldier, and trouble. VERDICT The latest pastiche by the author of Sherlock Holmes: The Devil's Dust is a clever follow-up to The Hound of the Baskervilles. The language, characters, and pacing is accurate enough to satisfy even hard-core Holmes fans.--Lesa Holstine, Evansville Vanderburgh P.L., IN

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