THE SECRET DIARY OF DR. WATSON
Anita Janda, . . Allison & Busby, $27.95 (279pp) ISBN 978-0-7490-0570-2
In this episodic first novel, purportedly derived from Dr. Watson's diary, Janda provides a mildly diverting revisionist view of the early years of the good doctor's association with Sherlock Holmes. Unfortunately, the author's survey approach generates little tension or drama. Taking center stage, Watson details such unknown and less than exciting matters as his relations with his publishers and with his wife, the former Mary Morstan. One of the more amusing revelations concerns Mary's doomed matchmaking efforts on behalf of Holmes, who turns out to have been even more of a misogynist than the canonical adventures suggest. In "A Scandal in Bohemia" Watson apparently invented the business about the detective's attraction to Irene Adler purely to add to the story's appeal. A not particularly likable Holmes remains a shadowy figure, glimpsed mainly through retellings of familiar tales. A lengthy paraphrase of
Reviewed on: 07/16/2001
Genre: Fiction