cover image The Great Detective at the Crucible of Life: Or, the Adventure of the Rose of Fire

The Great Detective at the Crucible of Life: Or, the Adventure of the Rose of Fire

Thos Kent Miller, . . Wildside, $35 (240pp) ISBN 978-0-8095-0050-5

After a lengthy introduction that explains how the manuscript of the present tale came to light, the main narrative of Miller's curious pastiche details an expedition that H. Rider Haggard's great white hunter, Allan Quatermain, makes to Ethiopia in the 1870s. Accompanying him for a variety of political, anthropological and religious reasons are naturalist Thomas Huxley, explorer Richard Burton, Wilkie Collins's Sergeant Cuff and a young Sherlock Holmes (who's traveling under an alias). Holmes, alas, has little chance to show off his deductive skills, while the parallels with the last Indiana Jones film may be too close for some readers. Still, Miller can write well and may yet come up with a strong plot for a novel that blends classic fictional characters with true-life heroes. (Nov.)