Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 20, 1995 TAG: 9508180095
SECTION: BOOK REVIEW PAGE: D4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
By John Lescroart. Donald I. Fine Inc. $13.95 (trade paper).
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Originally published in 1986 and 1987, these two novels feature another approach to the Sherlock Holmes character. Holmes was created by Arthur Conan Doyle, and usurped by a seemingly endless list of writers starting with Nicholas Meyer's "Seven Percent Solution" in 1974 after the character fell into public domain.
Lescroart's stories feature the purported son of Holmes and Irene Adler (a character from Doyle's "A Scandal in Bohemia" who also has a new lease on life in a series by Carole Nelson Douglas). But August Lupa (a tribute, perhaps, to Edgar Allan Poe's even earlier detective, August Dupin?) somehow lacks his father's flair at solving mysteries. He and his Watson, a French intelligence officer named Jules Giraud, almost seem more interested in the quality of beer they can locate in World War I Europe than the spy they must track down in "Son of Holmes" - the spy who has infiltrated their own inner circle of friends, and could be any one of them.
Historical events get even more of a going-over in "Rasputin's Revenge," in which Lescroart ties in the mad monk of czarist Russia with one of Doyle's own Holmes stories. The reader also gets to know the Russian royal family pretty well at a time when they are nearing overthrow by the communists. The real-life characters and events are bent a bit to serve Lescroart's story, but not enough to spoil it. And the appearance of Holmes and Watson in the second story, seemingly not at all infirmed by age, is a bonus.
Still, Doyle probably knew what he was doing when he made most of his Holmes stories less than novel-length. Lescroart has his work cut out for him to stretch the form, but he manages a pretty good job of it.
- PAUL DELLINGER
The Wolf Almanac
By Robert H. Busch. Lyons & Burford. $25.
Wolves have been in the news both local and national. On the local scene, Virginia's Explore park has joined the captive red wolf breeding program. Nationally, gray wolves have been reintroduced into Yellowstone against the vocal opposition of stock farmers. "The Wolf Almanac" is a fine reference on the misunderstood species. I would have liked more color photographs (just 16 pages) but the scholarship appears sound, and a detailed index will point the casual reader or student toward any fact he or she needs. This is a reference volume and not a "coffee table" volume, but well produced for its genre.
- LARRY SHIELD
Alley Kat Blues: a Kat Colorado Mystery.
By Karen Kijewski. Doubleday. $22.95.
Kijewski's series of mysteries featuring Kat Colorado are well crafted and well written with characters who act and react in believable ways. In her latest, "Alley Kat Blues," Kat finds a naked woman sleeping in her lover's bed and draws the obvious conclusion. Hank, a Las Vegas cop, insists the woman is just part of a case he is working on, a serial killer who preys on a certain type of woman. Kat is not convinced; but she has her own problems with a case back in Sacramento.
A young woman was killed by a hit and run driver. The police say it was an accident, the woman's mother says no and has hired Kat to find out the truth. The beliefs and prohibitions of the Mormon church make Kat's job more difficult. The woman has been excommunicated from the faith, and is therefore supposed to be shunned by family and friends. As the clues mount in Kat's case, Hank's friends become more and more concerned about his obsession with the serial killer and with a stripper named Amber. Then the two cases begin to dovetail in an unusual and interesting way.
- ANNA WENTWORTH
Paul Dellinger reports on Southwest Virginia from Pulaski.
Larry Shield trains dogs and horses in Franklin County.
Anna Wentworth reviews books and plays for WVTF-FM.
by CNB