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It is 1901, and Lord Charles and Lady Katherine Sheridan have come to Dartmoor, he to introduce a new forensic tool -- fingerprint identification -- as a way to prove guilt or innocence at Dartmoor prison (a place that makes Alcatraz look like Disneyland) and she to find Gothic inspiration for her latest novel to be written under the pen name Beryl Bardwell. Lord Charles' first disappointment comes when a prisoner -- Dr. Samuel Spencer -- whom he's sure he can clear of the murder of his wife -- refuses to to allow Lord Charles to take a fingerprint to compare to the bloody one found on the wall at the murder scene. One of the fellow guests at the Sheridan's hotel is Arthur Conan Doyle, in Dartmoor to research his latest Sherlock Holmes adventure, which will turn out to be "The Hound of the Baskervilles." Sir Edgar Duncan and his wife invite all to a seance at Thornworthy, the castle which was awarded to him after litigation brought by his cousin. The seance does not go well, because, according to the medium, there is a doubter present. The seance will be repeated the next night, without the presence of Lord Charles, the doubter, who questions the efficacy of summoning spirits. At the "real" seance, with both Lord Charles and Sir Edgar absent, a spirit predicts that Lady Rosalind Duncan will be betrayed. Two events coincide -- an escape from Dartmoor prison and the discovery of the corpse of Sir Edgar, so badly mutilated that he can be identified only by a scar on his left arm. Lady Rosalind then reveals that she had a letter which Sir Edgar sent from a nearby coastal community, informing her that he was leaving the country with another woman. Two of the convicts are quickly apprehended, but the third -- Dr. Samuel Spencer -- remains at large. Only two suspects are even considered: Sir Edgar's cousin, Jack Delaney, who lost his suit to gain control of Thornworthy, and Spenser, the convict. Lord Charles and Arthur Conan Doyle undertake the investigation of the crime, Doyle as Holmes and Lord Charles as Watson. In an amusing parody of the Holmes stories, Doyle is more often Watson, offering various solutions to the crime, only to have them shot down by the Holmesian Lord Charles. As with the Pitt pair in Anne Perry's novels, Lord Charles and Lady Katherine are a bit too perfect. Never a cross word. Some of the secondary characters are interesting, especially Lady Katherine's old friend, Miss Patsy Marsden, photographer and world traveler, and Conan Doyle, who feels guilty for longing for the death of his tubercular wife so that he can be with his true love. The plot is very well crafted, although it sometimes bogs down with the geology of Dartmoor.
Reviewed by Robin Paige, March 2003
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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