April 1, 2019
Davies’s uneven ninth novel-length Sherlock Holmes pastiche (after 2016’s The Ripper Legacy) pits the master sleuth against legendary criminal hypnotist Gustav Caligari, whose guilt is revealed from the outset. A sadist as a child, Caligari remains a sadist as an adult. After his attempts at murder almost land him in custody in Prague, he moves to London, where he recruits a stranger he encounters by chance, who calls himself Robert, to become his “instrument of death.” Robert’s first victim, Lady Sarah Damury, whom he strangles at Caligari’s direction, turns out to have been connected with a stolen ruby case that Holmes is working on. The detective gets nowhere in his inquiries into Lady Sarah’s death, and uncharacteristically adopts a passive approach in the hope that the killer will make a mistake he can capitalize on. That’s not the only aspect of Davies’s depiction of his lead that jars as the story works its way to a melodramatic conclusion that doesn’t present Holmes in the best light. Davies deserves credit for trying something different, but readers will hope for better next time.