Sherlock Holmes and the Eisendorf Enigma

by Larry Millett

Overview

Dogged by depression, doubt, and—as a trip to the Mayo Clinic has revealed—emphysema, 66-year-old Sherlock Holmes is preparing to return to England when he receives a shock: a note slipped under his hotel room door, from a vicious murderer

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781517907600
Publisher:	University of Minnesota Press
Publication date:	02/12/2019
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	500,572
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.60(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Larry Millett is the author of twenty books, including seven mystery novels—mostly set in Minnesota—featuring Sherlock Holmes and St. Paul detective Shadwell Rafferty. A longtime reporter and architecture critic for the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Millett is also the author of numerous books on architecture.

Editorial Reviews

★ 12/12/2016
Sherlock Holmes returns to center stage in Millett’s outstanding eighth historical set in Minnesota after playing a supporting role in 2014’s Strongwood. In 1892, Holmes, who was believed to have perished in a struggle with Professor Moriarty, found himself in Bavaria, where he speedily identified a killer called the Monster of Munich, though his quarry escaped. In 1920, the detective, who’s battling emphysema caused by decades of smoking, is about to return to London from a visit to the Mayo Clinic, when he discovers a taunting note under his hotel room door. The anonymous author of the cryptic missive promises him a second chance to catch the Monster of Munich if Holmes will meet him in nearby Eisendorf, a community founded by German immigrants. Before arriving in the eccentric town, Holmes learns of some recent suspicious deaths, which, despite his declining health, he also attempts to solve. Millett does a superb job of portraying Holmes without the familiar Watsonian narration and creating a creepy setting for his inquiries. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

"I always look forward to a Larry Millett book. I’ve read every one of them."—Steve Thayer, New York Times bestselling author of The Weatherman

"Larry Millett breathes new life into the classic character of Sherlock Holmes in this intriguing, home-grown mystery. Sherlock Holmes and the Eisendorf Enigma is both elegant and entertaining."—Allen Eskens, author of The Life We Bury

"Millett does a superb job of portraying Holmes without the familiar Watsonian narration and creating a creepy setting for his inquiries."—Publishers Weekly

"Millett’s descriptions are lush and rich, and anyone who likes to craft a good visual in their head will appreciate his attention to detail with the setting. Minnesota is a beautiful place, and the author’s descriptions create a written picture that will match any photos you pull up on the Internet or in a book."—The John H Watson Society

"A good adventure, told with detailed attention to historical and cultural plausibilities."—Reviewingtheevidence

"Millett’s knowledge of local history and topographical information makes this as fascinating and plausible as any story set in traditional London."—The District Messenger

From the Publisher

2016-12-06
A trip to the Mayo Clinic plunges the famed sleuth into an adventure as perilous as the Reichenbach Falls. When shortness of breath threatens even his sedentary retirement occupation of keeping bees in Sussex, Sherlock Holmes has no choice but to consult noted pulmonary expert Dr. Henry Plummer at the equally famed clinic in Minnesota. Plummer's advice is uncompromising: no more three-pipe problems for Holmes. But hard as it is for the detective to give up tobacco, it's even harder to give up the thrill of the chase. So, lured by a letter purporting to be from the Monster of Munich, a killer who littered the English Gardens of that city with corpses 28 years ago, Holmes leaves Rochester for the tiny hamlet of Eisendorf, founded in the early 20th century by Dionisius Eisen as a bastion of freethinking. The population of the town has dwindled to about 40—further reduced by the suspicious deaths of Hans Eisen and Bernhard Krupp—whose lives are dutifully chronicled by archivist Frederick Halbach. But what could simple townsfolk like Peter and Wolfgang Eisen, or Bernhardt's widow Katherine, be hiding? Holmes' quest takes him into uncharted territory as he spends night after night in a cottage behind Halbach's house, determined not to leave Eisendorf until its every secret is revealed. Millett (The Disappearance of Sherlock Holmes, 2012, etc.) offers a novel Holmes: out of his urban element and uncharacteristically (and not always convincingly) caught up in the vagaries of the human heart. Even the flashbacks to Munich can't redeem the American Gothic flavor of this pastiche.

Kirkus Reviews