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| The author, Diane Gilbert Madsen with a Corona Typewriter. (I used to type on one of those. Memories!) |
I’m
a Sherlock Holmes fan, which is why many of my reviews lately are of
Sherlock-related books. Today’s review, however, is of a contemporary mystery
novel revolving around notes left by Sherlock’s creator, Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle.
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| Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who was as great a sleuth as his brain child. |
In
The Conan Doyle Notes, new papers
have been discovered that shed light on a question that haunted Victorian
London’s populace: Who was Jack the Ripper? People are willing to kill for
these papers, and the first chapter gets off to a rip-roaring start:
DD
McGill, a Chicago insurance investigator, is tailing a client suspected of
insurance fraud when her bookseller friend, Tom Joyce, calls about an exciting
discovery: While appraising the library collection at the David Joyce Grange
estate, he found a small brown leather diary suggesting Grange had Doyle’s
manuscript, The White Company, as
well as notes proving Doyle knew who the Jack the Ripper was. Then DD hears a
sound as if the phone has been dropped and Joyce’s voice yelling someone is
trying to kill him. The phone goes dead.
After
calling 911, DD races to the mansion. An ambulance has taken Tom Joyce to the
hospital. At the hospital, she learns he is in a coma due to injuries from
falling down stairs. But DD suspects he was pushed. Why else would he say
someone was trying to kill him? And who would have pushed him? She returns to
the mansion, masquerading as Tom Joyce’s assistant appraiser, and the game is afoot.
Madsen
presents the reader with a fine array of suspects: Ivy Douglas, niece of the
Dowager (Grange’s son’s wife who mysteriously died a year earlier.) Philip
Green, a Sherlockian expert working with the estate. John Turner,
“The Pretender” – who claims his mother was a mistress of one of Grange’s sons and wants
his share of the estate. James M. Dodd, from Morrison, Morrison and Dodd Executors. Mr.
Toller, the butler, and his wife, who knows secrets. More and more names unfold
as DD investigates in a highly unorthydox manner. There is no way I can tell you how she investigates without giving spoilers right and left.
More deaths follow, and I can’t tell you who the victims are, either. But the plot
twists are dazzling and keep you guessing in every chapter.
Interesting subplots are woven in: Mitch
Sinclair, DD’s hunky boyfriend is involved in hush-hush work that keeps him in
Paris. Woodley, DD’s colleague in the insurance fraud case, is getting surly.
And someone is stalking DD, leaving threatening notes under her door.
A
quirky supporting cast adds spice: The 80-year-old Carabine twins, across the
hall from DD are vigilant crime stoppers and follow the Cook
County Crime Stoppers website, hoping to get on the show. Auntie Elizabeth, “The Scottish
Dragon”, claims she is “fey” and knows things. Wolfie, Tom Joyce’s pet
wolf, only eats burgers from McDonald’s. Karl Patrick, DD’s lawyer, is the
lawyer you definitely would want on your side.
DD
is an engaging sleuth – smart, with a humorous slant on life, a bit too impulsive
for her own good, and a loyal friend.
The
author’s setting details are just the right brush strokes to plunge a reader in
DD’s Chicago without distracting from the plot’s forward movement.
An
added bonus is the way information about Doyle is woven into the story. This is
a book to be enjoyed on many levels.
Quote: “Everybody knows he wrote the famous Sherlock Holmes stories,
but I had no idea he also introduced downhill skiing to Europe; metal helmets
for combat soldiers; the inflatable life preserver for sailors; energetically
championed divorce reform; and was an early proponent of constructing a tunnel
connecting England and France.”
You can follow Diane Gilbert
Madsen on Twitter
You can also visit her on Facebook
Visit Diane’s Website (where you can see a cool trailer and read the first two chapters.)
Visit her Blog (and sign up for her newsletter.)
And you can buy the book at Amazon
Diane Gilbert Madsen is the author of
the award winning DD McGil Literati Mystery Series including “A Cadger’s
Curse;” “Hunting for Hemingway” and her newest, “The Conan Doyle Notes: The
Secret of Jack the Ripper,” which was awarded Honorary Mention at the London
Book Fair and the Chicago Writers Association 2014 Book Awards, garnering
5-star reviews such as:
“Diane Gilbert Madsen’s “The Conan Doyle Notes: The Secret of Jack
the Ripper” was the best book I’ve read in a long, long time. I was hooked
by page six and couldn’t stop reading. Spellbinding, intriguing and with a
beguiling wit, Ms. Madsen delighted me to no end.” -- Catherine Lanigan, author, Romancing the Stone, Jewel of the Nile & Love
Shadows.
Diane
is the former Director of Economic Development for the State of Illinois where
she oversaw the Tourism and the Illinois Film Office when The Blues Brothers and The
Hunter were being made. She
later ran her own consulting firm and is listed in The World Who’s Who of Women and Who’s Who in Finance & Industry and in the 2014 edition
of Who’s Who for Executives and
Professionals, Florida Chapter.
Diane is a member of Mystery Writers of
America, Sisters in Crime, the International Association of Crime Writers, the
Chicago Writers Association, and the Florida Writers Association. She has published articles in The Hemingway Review, PBS Expressions
Magazine; Mystery Scene Magazine; Mystery Reader’s Journal; Sisters in Crime Newsletter and The Write City Magazine, and has an
upcoming article in the fall issue of The
Baker Street Journal. Diane
was a guest speaker at the 2013 International Hemingway Colloquium in Havana,
Cuba.
She lives
with her husband Tom and Angel, their Japanese Chin, at Twin Ponds, a 5-acre wildlife
sanctuary on Cape Haze in Englewood, Florida. She is a member of the Caladonian
Club of Florida West and the St. Andrews Society of Sarasota as well as The
Pleasant Places of Florida Sherlock Holmes Association.
