The Jack the Ripper case wasn’t ever really solved and it’s been a historical mystery for centuries. I also enjoyed this combination of history and fiction.

Before my vacation to the Dominican Republic over Christmas break, I finished reading this Sherlock Holmes spinoff where the infamous duo hunt down Jack the Ripper and solve the murders that plagued the late 19th century streets of the East End, London.įor Lyndsay Faye‘s debut novel, I have to say a Sherlock Holmes retelling is rather gutsy and for that, I’m impressed because it’s really a wonderful story. Recommended for those who enjoy Sherlock Holmes pastiches.I haven’t posted a review in a while so I thought I’d start the new year out right and write one for the latest book I read.

I found it to be very well written and it kept me turning the pages to what I found to be a satisfying conclusion. I had read a small number of this author’s short stories featuring Holmes and Watson, but this is her first novel, and the first I read by her. Patient investigation leads Holmes to an elementary solution that horrifies Watson, Monk, and Lestrade: the Ripper is actually a police Constable. Holmes also receives an anonymous note from the killer, identifying himself as “Jack the Ripper.” Worse, newspaper stories suggest that Holmes himself is the killer, based on his proximity to each of the murder scenes. Holmes interrupts the killer in the process of murdering Stride, and suffers a near-fatal stab wound without being able to catch the man. In spite of their efforts, Holmes, Watson, and the police, are unable to prevent the murders of Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes. After a few nights, she excitedly claims to have identified the killer, from tavern gossip, as a soldier named Johnny Blackstone, on leave from his regiment. Investigating the murder scenes in Whitechapel, Holmes and Watson meet Mary Ann Monk, a casual friend of Mary Nichols, who agrees to spy on their behalf. However, when Annie Chapman is murdered in a similar manner, and Inspector Lestrade asks for help, Holmes is forced to notice the similarities between the two killings, and predicts that more will follow if the killer is not stopped. In 1888, Watson is horrified by the news of Mary Ann Nichols’s murder and mutilation, but Holmes dismisses it as an isolated incident. The account was confidential until then, but Watson feels its important that the true facts be known, since the deceased Sherlock Holmes, for once in his life, was wrong when he predicted that “the world has already forgotten. Watson decides to leave his manuscript account of the Ripper killings to his estate for publication after his death. In a foreword, writing in 1939, the elderly Dr. Dust and Shadow by Lyndsay Faye, 2009 Simon & Schuster hardcover, mystery novel, Sherlock Holmes pastiche, subtitled An Account of the Ripper Killings by Dr.

Dust and shadow by lyndsay faye