Sherlock Holmes and the Red Demon - Larry Millett

1996; 315 pages.  Genre : Holmesian Mystery; Historical Fiction.  New Author? : No.  Overall Rating : 7½*/10.

    James J. Hill is a very rich man.  He owns a railroad that services the logging industry in Minnesota, north of St. Paul.  To boot, he owns most of the surrounding forest.

    But someone who calls himself The Red Demon wants to ruin him.  By burning down his forest.  And his railroad.  And the entire town of Hinckley, where his business is centered.  And all the inhabitants therein.

    James J. Hill doesn't know who the Red Demon is, or why he's so mad at him.  But he can afford the very best detective in the world to figure it out.  Sherlock Holmes.  And his associate, Dr. Watson.

What's To Like...
    Larry Millett lives in the Twin Cities area, used to work for the St. Paul daily newspaper, and has researched its history and written extensively on it.  So the "historical" part of Sherlock Holmes and the Red Demon is a masterful thing.  Bringing Holmes and Watson to Minnesota in the 1890's is a bit of a stretch, but via copious notes and an amusing fictional Introduction, Millett renders it plausible.

    The case itself is so-so.  Nothing as complex or mystifying as, say, The Case of the Speckled Band.  But it kept me guessing throughout and had a logical resolution.  The pacing is good, and the cast of suspects, if not engaging, are at least diverse and equally suspicious.

Kewlest New Word...
Porte Cochere : a carriage entrance leading thru a building or wall into an inner courtyard.

Excerpts...
    "You've had a chance to read the letters, Watson.  Tell me, what do you think?"
    "They are the work of a demented mind," I said at once.  "It is my opinion that we are dealing with a madman!"
    "My dear Watson, your command of the obvious is, as always, nonpareil," Holmes said in a mocking manner which I did not find amusing.  "Of course, the person who would write such letters is quite mad.  But the world is full of madmen, and the problem before us is this: What do these letters tell us about this particular madman?"  (pg. 28)

    "Holmes. It is you!"
    "Who did you think it was?" Holmes replied with a smile.
    "The devil," I admitted groggily, for my mind was still somewhat tangled in the cobwebs of sleep.
    Holmes, who obviously took my remark as a compliment, laughed and said, "I have always thought the devil must be a most interesting fellow, with a fine criminal type of mind, and perhaps one day I shall meet him.  But I assure you, Watson, that when yout time comes, it will be St. Peter and not the Prince of Darkness who shall greet you in the great beyond."  (pg. 224)

"If the best evidence of your senses leads you to believe that a thing is impossible, then it probably is."  (pg. 75)
    There really was a James J. Hill; there really was a town called Hinckley; and it really was subject to a great fire in 1894 that claimed hundreds of lives.  Which is not a spoiler, since Millett mentions it in the Introduction.

    Arthur Conan Doyle can rest easy - he's still the master of writing Sherlock Holmes fiction.  Larry Millett won't knock him from his pedestal, but this is a decent effort nevertheless, and I've seen worse.  See here, for example.  We'll give SHatRD 7½ Stars, a bit more if you like Minnesota history.

Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Alliance - Larry Millett

2001; 401 pages (plus 32 pages of notes).  New Author? : Yes.  Book #4 in Millett's Sherlock Holmes series.  Genre : Murder/Mystery.  Overall Rating : 6*/10.

    What on earth are Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson doing in Minnesota in 1899?  Helping their friends and fellow sleuths - Shadwell Rafferty and George Washington Thomas - solve a murder/mystery.  A labor activist has been killed, stripped, and then hanged.  Just to make sure the message is clear, a sign in hung around the victim's neck, reading "The Secret Alliance Has Spoken".  But was it really done by them?  Can our fact-finding foursome get to the bottom of this?  What do you think?

What's To Like...
    The action starts immediately.  We have a body by page 4; and Rafferty is on the case by page 13.  The murder/mystery is nicely constructed.  The solution is neither too obvious, nor too arbitrary.

    Larry Millett lives in the Twin Cities, and takes pains to give you a detailed "feel" for life there at the dawn of the 20th century.  But if historical details aren't your shtick, be of good cheer - most of the minutiae are in notes in the back of the book.  The subject of labor unions vs. industry management is given an even-handed treatment.  Greed has its counter in Extremism; and in 1899, any and all foes are conveniently labeled anarchists, just like today we conveniently call them all terrorists.

    Alas, this isn't the Sherlock Holmes I know.  This one is troubled by his dreams and gets guidance from his premonitions.  Arthur Conan Doyle's Holmes would never do anything that subjective.  Also, Holmes and Watson don't arrive on the scene until almost halfway through the book (page 186, to be exact), and there are very few brilliant Holmesian deductions that we all look forward to.

    Finally, there are way too many back-reference plugs for earlier books in this series.  And Rafferty drops his g's with annoying  frequency.  Sharin'; tryin'; doin'; etc.

Kewlest New Word...
Flaneur : an idler; a loafer.

Excerpts...
    "Ah yes, Miss Addie O'Donnell, the outspoken friend of the workingman.  Have you gone through her place yet with your usual destructive thoroughness?"
    "No.  We do that and she'll raise a big stink in the newspapers."
    "True.  The First Amendment is a constant bother, isn't it, Dolph?  If the Founding Fathers had only started with the Second, our lives would be immeasurably easier."  (pgs. 32-33)

    "Am I callous?  Perhaps, but the reality is that I can do nothing about the accident any more.  Nothing.  I can only accept that what happened was part of God's plan."
    Rafferty had found that when people spoke of "God's plan" they were usually referring to someone else's misfortune, thereby confirming their own lofty status before the Almighty.  (pg. 230)

"Spite, you see, can be a form of idealism."  (pg. 77)
    Larry Millett's Sherlock Holmes will not supplant the original.  Ditto for the mystery itself, and the investigative techniques used to solve it.

    Which is a shame, because based on its own merits, this story is quite good.  If you edit out the two Englishmen (they aren't really necessary except for name-dropping), and rename the book "Shadwell Rafferty and the Secret Alliance", you avoid the inevitable comparison to Conan Doyle, and have yourself a very good historical murder-mystery.  This story rates 8* without Holmes, but only 4* with him.  That averages out to 6 Stars, so we'll go with that.