Wilde About Holmes

This is a complex book. It tells of a collaboration between Sherlock Holmes and Oscar Wilde. Nominally, they are working for Grover Cleveland, Democratic candidate for the Presidency in 1884, to prevent release of information on a scandal in his personal life. Being Holmes and Wilde, both are much more intent on their own ends than on their nominal cooperation. Holmes is pursuing Moriarty and Wilde is pursuing production of his latest play. As time progresses, aims and goals become more and more confused and muddled.It appears that both of the team members have prior contact with Lily Langtry, who turns up unexpectedly in New York. Neither of the principals is willing to discuss their past contacts and their future plans with the other, more or less with their client. Apparently many of the other characters also have histories with the lady and the plot becomes even murkier. In line with the plot, conversations and events that later appear in “A Scandal in Bohemia” and “The Final Problem” keep popping up in odd spots.Finally, both of the principal characters have a tendency to engage in long, self-examinations full of quotations. The fact that many of these quotations are from writers of the 20th Century is discussed in the Afterward. I found all of the complex quotations to be a distraction. One expects Oscar Wilde to be self-absorbed because of his public Aestheticism but Holmes in self-contempt mode is a real surprise. Part of that of course, stems from the fact that Watson, as the usual narrator, never shows Holmes’ inner conflicts. In this context, there are conflicts and they take up a lot of time and type.Somehow I lost the thread of the narrative about two thirds of the way through and was never able to regain it. It is apparent that Holmes, through his experiences with Mrs. Langtry, acquired a solid dose of misogyny but he never seemed to acquire any common sense. The author seemed to reflect Holmes’ logic and to distrust women on principle. Neither seemed capable of thinking of females as human beings so they keep running into hostility. I can’t imagine why.In addition to many quotations and incidents lifted from “A Scandal in Bohemia,” this book includes a great deal of material that originally first appeared in “The Final Problem.” I also find it difficult to resolve the many time discrepancies that seem to appear from the juxtaposition of the events of the 1884 election in the USA, the career of Lily Langtry and the Canonical tales. In short, this is a confusing book with quotations from a number of sources that don’t seem to help clear up the confusion. The narrative is subordinate to the characters, real, fictional or invented and the more the author attempts to resolve issues, the more confused I get.Reviewed by: Philip K. Jones, March, 2012