The Druid of Death: A Sherlock Holmes Adventure

Set in 1899, Ryan’s uneven third Sherlock Holmes pastiche (after 2017’s The Vatican Cameos) fails to deliver on the promise of its arresting opening. Early one morning, Inspector Lestrade arrives at 221B Baker Street and persuades the detective to accompany him to Stonehenge, where the mutilated corpse of a young woman has been discovered. The victim, later identified as Annie Lock, a runaway from a Scottish orphanage, died from a single stab wound. Afterward, her killer evidently removed her internal organs and arranged them around the body along with some yew branches. Holmes identifies some strange markings, painted with Lock’s own blood on her abdomen, as Druid symbols for death. Similar murders follow, but months pass with no sense of immediate threat. Language inconsistent with Conan Doyle’s style—at one point, Lestrade asks Dr. Watson, “Is he doing that deducing thing again?”—jars, as do interludes not narrated by Watson. The clever solution, which echoes one from a golden age classic, is the book’s best feature. Serious Sherlockians will be disappointed. (Sept.)