The Keys of Death
A Sherlock Holmes Adventure
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
The Keys of Death is Baker Street bedrock. In Gretchen Altabef's 1880 novel, Sherlock Holmes, Doctor Watson, and Mrs. Hudson begin something great in the world. Out of the fog three young souls unite in their common desire for justice. A genesis story about friendship with the power to change the world. Here, finally, Mrs. Hudson's part in it can be told. Our cast includes Paris’s gentleman thief, Arsene Lupin, West African pirate, Félix Calabar, London’s spectacular beauty, Lily Langtry, the Imperial Theatre Orchestra, the Irregular’s, and even the Prince of Wales has a part to play in Holmes’ solution to the murder mystery. Altabef’s exploration into women’s history brings to light the immensely creative approach to freedom crafted by the ladies of the Anglo-Jewish Community. The Keys of Death rocks the heart of Holmes’ world. With a vengeful villain to match him. The world’s first consulting detective practice is born through one man’s unshakable belief in his gifts, his courage, and especially his friends. Through every challenge Sherlock Holmes upholds his vision of a merciful justice for our world.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
How did Sherlock Holmes meet his long-suffering landlady, Mrs. Hudson? Altabef (These Scattered Houses) provides a clever answer in a pastiche that otherwise has little to recommend it. In 1880, after Martha Hudson's beloved husband, James, is fatally shot in a moneylender's "disreputable premises" in Baker Street, Scotland Yard dismisses the murder as just a falling-out among Jewish ruffians. At the morgue, the grief-stricken widow meets Holmes, who catches her just as she's fainting and later ensures she returns home safely. Holmes soon becomes her tenant, along with Dr. Watson, and the pair endeavor to solve James's murder. Too many supporting characters, including Arsène Lupin, Lily Langtry, the Prince of Wales, and a "West African gentleman of honour" who "learned the art of baritsu from a Cuban pirate," weigh down the overly busy plot, which is interrupted by incidental sections on such subjects as gardening and the role of women in Reform synagogues at the time. Stilted prose doesn't help ("Mrs. Hudson from her bedroom was a bivouacked general"). Even fans of alternate takes on Conan Doyle's creations may be disappointed.
