Fresh Fiction Review | SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE RETURN OF THE WHITECHAPEL VAMPIRE

~ Reviewed by Monique Daost

Sherlock Holmes is now a country squire who has retired to Sussex to tend to his bees and write monographs. He hadn't written to his friend Dr. Watson in a few months, so when the post brings news from Holmes, Watson is pleasantly surprised. But Holmes has more than a few banalities to tell his old comrade: bodies have been surfacing near the coast of Newfoundland, drained of blood, but there's no trace of a shipwreck. Holmes fears their old nemesis, Baron Barlucci, after laying low for over two decades, is up to no good again. Barlucci is a painful thorn in Holmes' side. The Baron is the only villain the great detective hasn't captured, and of course, Dr. Watson must sail with Holmes to Manhattan Island, where more bodies have been found.

SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE RETURN OF THE WHITECHAPEL VAMPIRE is not the pastiche I thought it might have been, but the almost real deal. Right from the opening paragraphs, I was overjoyed because I felt I was reading a brand new Conan Doyle mystery. Being a die- hard fan of the original, I then became wary: could a modern author be successful in this tremendous undertaking? The answer is a resounding yes! SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE RETURN OF THE WHITECHAPEL VAMPIRE is more than an homage to Conan Doyle: Mr. Turnbloom essentially captures everything that is Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson but makes it his own, without the reader ever having the impression of the author "trying"; never does the author endeavour to copy, but he in fact prolongs the formidable legacy of Conan Doyle. Mr. Turnbloom's writing is eloquent and vivid, he captures the early twentieth century as accurately as a photograph, the tone is impeccable, the dialogues and the banter are entirely evocative of Conan Doyle's, and Holmes and Watson are exactly how they should be. The pacing is perfect, and the story is as gripping as any Sherlock Holmes book.

If I have one regret it's not knowing that SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE RETURN OF THE WHITECHAPEL VAMPIRE was the third book in this series, and while obviously this installment can be read as a standalone, the previous books figure now on my to-be-read-pile because it is simply brilliant. SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE RETURN OF THE WHITECHAPEL VAMPIRE is absolutely splendid from beginning to end, and should be read by anyone who hasn't had enough of Sir Arthur's great detective, and everybody who likes a good mystery!

About Dean P. Turnbloom

Born in the rolling hills of southern Indiana in 1954, Dean P. Turnbloom joined the Navy in 1973 and never looked back. He spent thirty years serving his country, during which time he met, fell in love with, and married a beautiful California girl, Nanette. Together they had three children and still live happily in southern California.

Dean’s writings have been carried in numerous small publications in print and online. He has now turned his attention toward larger works. SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE WHITECHAPEL VAMPIRE was the first work in the Whitechapel Vampire Trilogy. It was succeeded in 2014 with SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE BODY SNATCHERS, and this year comes the trilogy's completion with SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE RETURN OF THE WHITECHAPEL VAMPIRE.

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About SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE RETURN OF THE WHITECHAPEL VAMPIRE

Bodies washing up along the eastern coast of New England and the mysterious grounding of a "ghost ship" near Manhattan combine to bring Sherlock Holmes out of retirement to resume his pursuit of the villainous Baron Antonio Barlucci-the Whitechapel Vampire. But when he arrives in London to enlist the assistance of Dr. Watson, the good doctor has reservations.

It's been twenty-five years since Holmes and Watson hunted Barlucci, twenty-five years since they learned the baron was buried beneath a mountain of ice and snow. Has Holmes' preoccupation with Barlucci driven him to see connections where none exist? Have his powers of deduction gone stale while in retirement? Has Watson's worst fear, that Holmes' obsession with the baron has unbalanced his finely tuned psyche, come true? Sherlock Holmes and the Return of the Whitechapel Vampire is the exciting finalé to the Whitechapel Vampire Trilogy. In this final chapter, Holmes must face more than evil. He must face his own mortality- the only certainty in an uncertain world.