Product Description

Two of the most famous figures in Popular Cutlure meet in these previously undisclosed papers. After Mina Murray asks Holmes to locate her fiancee, Holmes and Watson travel to a land far eerier than the moors they had known when pursuing the Hound of the Baskervilles. The confrontation with Count Dracula threatens Holmes' health, his sanity, and his life. New adventure of Sherlock Holmes, so terrifying it could not be revealed until now. Sherlock Holmes, the master of rational analysis, confronts Count Dracula, master of the occult. Will Sherlock Holmes survive his battle with Count Dracula?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #738873 in Books
• Published on: 2007-01-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 228 pages

Review
"It is more than mere pastiche; it is the first of (hopefully) a long series of new novels that provide more of Holmes and Watson for longtime Sherlock fans and today's new readers." -- Patty Inglish, Curled Up with a Good Book, March 2007

"Lovers of mysteries never tire of the adventures of Sherlock Holmes. For those who believe that Holmes, along with master criminal Moriarty, perished in Switzerland, Sherlock Holmes and the Plague of Dracula will come as a welcome surprise. ... Sherlock Holmes and the Plague of Dracula is a treat for those enamored of the occupant of 221b Baker Street. Possibly if the journals reveal more cases, readers will have more such treats in store." -- Mary Ann Smyth, BookLoons Mystery Bookshelves

"Others, notably Loren D. Estleman and Fred Saberhagen, have combined these two Victorian icons, but Seitz offers a fresh variation ... Style and the use of the characters put this in the upper echelon of pastiches." (Three stars) -- Jon. L. Breen, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, Feb. 2007

"The story must also be a ripping good yarn, as the Victorians said. Seitz manages to do this. He also captures the Victorian voice so essential for Holmes. Although I have given up on many other contemporary Holmes stories, Seitz's book carried me to the end. ... Anyone who likes the Holmes stories or is fascinated with Dracula should try Seitz's tale. It is satisfying." -- Charles Putney, The Bennington Banner, Nov. 13, 2006

"This is a four-star pastiche! It has horror, adventure, politics, even romance. No one will put the book down." -- Classic Specialties Newsletter

About the Author
Stephen Seitz is a well-known journalist and author who lives in Springfield, Vt. His reporting and interviews have appeared in newspapers and magazines all over New England. This is his first novel.

Customer Reviews

A Ripping Yarn!
I have read other pairings of Sherlock Holmes and Dracula including Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula by Loren D. Estleman, The Holmes-Dracula File by Fred Saberhagen, and Scarlet in Gaslight by Martin and Seppo Makinen Powell, and, in my opinion, this one was the most entertaining.

I really liked the fact that there was NO attempt to make Dracula a sympathetic character.

I thought that the author did a good job of capturing the relationship between Holmes and Watson, and I thought he captured the personality of Dr. Seward very well.

All things considered, I'd say this a a fast-paced, fun read.

Review by The Ill-dressed Vagabond
This is, as advertised, a tale of Holmes and the plague carried by Count Dracula. It opens with Holmes being hired by Mina Murray to inquire into the whereabouts of her fiancée, Jonathan Harker. The events in this tale interconnect with those recounted by Bram Stoker in his classic book, "Dracula." It concludes with the return from the dead of Holmes as recounted in "The Empty House." Its action takes place over a period of time that includes the events of "Silver Blaze" and "The Final Problem" as well as the Great Hiatus.

For Sherlockians who adhere to the Great Detective's dictum, "Ghosts need not apply," the book manages to be fully satisfactory. From time to time, uneasiness creeps in and one fears that a supernatural explanation will be invoked, however, it never happens. That is not to say that the Canon is not twisted a bit, here and there, or that Holmes and Watson cross every `t' and dot every `i.' There are loose ends and unexplained events, but then, these exist in life every day.

In reading the book, I found my greatest problem to be my own expectation of some descent into romanticism and vampire voodoo, as is so common in recent vampire tales. I fully expected Holmes to take up with a vampire Irene Adler and for the two of them to dance off into a Hollywood sunset to a Romberg tune. It simply doesn't happen. Holmes and Watson struggle with the events cited in `Dracula' as the Count allies with Professor Moriarty in a gigantic scheme to acquire a failing Banking firm and create a legitimate front to `launder' the illicit income of the Professor's empire.

The events as described are, within limits, reasonable and realistic. The explanations given for the vampire phenomena are plausible and entertaining and the actions described can be `shoehorned' into the Canon as it stands. The writing is well done and flows neatly, with no more than a few Americanisms as is common to most pastiches penned on this side of the Atlantic. At least it does not contain the hideous amalgam of post-WWII British usage and cockney slang found in some modern UK efforts.

I had been reluctant to try the book because of my fears of another vampire novel and I was very pleasently surprised that I did not get `good vampires' and `bad vampires' locked in a struggle to save/doom humanity. Instead, I got the Great Detective and the Good Doctor facing a very real and very serious situation using their wits and his genius to resolve it.

Reviewed by: Philip K. Jones, October, 2008.

Falters in the stretch
This book starts off with some degree of promise, although I really think the time has come to stop the entire silly "how I found this lost mystery" baloney, it has began to become predictable: The bequest or lost chest found in an ancient house. Use some imagination; a patient of Watson's retold the tale to someone or something! The real problem is the question of Dracula's vampirism.********SPOILER ALERT********** I give credit to Seitz for the Dracula/Moriarty plot, that was well thought out, and exactly the thing a schemer like Moriarty would dream up--, and be vain enough to think he could control the Vampire Lord.

The ending I could not see. Vampirism as a curable disease has been tried before--shades of Barnabas Collins on Dark Shadows. There, where everything was never what it seemed, it worked. But to suggest Dracula was less than the Prince of Darkness, and his victims curable, or that Holmes had succumbed to the vampire and died by the hand of Moriarty was nigh blasphemy!

Had the author lead on from his point with the two evils working against each other under cover of a merger, and allowed Dracula his full power, turning Helsing and Holmes loose upon the hapless pair, we would have had a grand tale indeed! Quoth the Raven...