The Maniac Collector's Inbox Around the World in 80 Days -
(This is book review that I wrote for Barnes& Nobles for a general audience that I am sharing here today) Recently, I saw a person wearing a sweatshirt with a silhouette of Sherlock Holmes with the inscription around it that said OxBridge. This is an excellent display of the Sherlockian pawky humor. A Sherlockian is the term given to those aficionados of the great English detective Sherlock Holmes. About the Holmes mythos, they say that never has so much been written by so many for so few. Sherlockians play ‘The Game’ of keeping the memory of the Master Detective green. Mr. Brackin may or may not be a Sherlockian but he certainly keeps the memory green with his latest novel, Around the World in 80 Days: The Rest of the Story. According to Mr. Brackin, the mystery of where Holmes attended college is set to rest. Holmes teams up with his Christchurch, Oxford college professor Rev. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. Rev. Dodgson, best known by his pen name, Lewis Carroll, is also a multifaceted man – a professor of mathematics and an accomplished photographer. He also loved magic. He would be very absorbed in the production and throw all logical explanation to someone else. Sherlock Holmes was the perfect companion for Dodgson because of his cold logical mind could peel away all the layers of the conjurer’s tricks and reveal truth. Holmes and Dodgson met on a regular basis. The news of a murder during the robbery interrupted their meeting on evening. They learn that the butler of one of Dodgson’s club members was the victim and the irreplaceable family heirlooms stolen. When the two Oxford men arrive at the scene, the local constable, who has already ‘solved’ the case, dismisses Holmes as an outsider, and rebuffs him. The authorities overlook several pieces of critical evidence and soon the two Oxford men launch their own investigation. This fast moving story carries the reader from Oxford, to London, and into Newgate prison. Jules Verne and Phileas Fogg; Moriarty and Mycroft; and a host of wonderful characters weave in and out of this tale. This is a great romp between good and evil with a bit of morality thrown in to keep the spirits clean and the memory green. This is an excellent tale, well-constructed mystery that will keep a Sherlockian happy, a Wonderlander wondering and a Verne fan happy. This is nice trifecta for Mr. Brackin. Happy Reading and Happy Collecting!!
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Past 2011 Columns January 2, 2011 January 9, 2011 January 16, 2011 January 23, 2011 January 30, 2011 February 2, 2011 February 13, 2011 February 20 2011 February 27, 2011 March 13, 2011 March 27, 2011 April 3, 2011 April 10, 2011 April 17, 2011 April 24, 2011 May 1, 2011 May 8, 2011 May 15, 2011 May 22, 2011 May 29, 2011 June 5, 2011 June 12, 2011 June 19, 2011 |
