The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes : The White Worm

This is Mr. Siciliano’s second Sherlockian novel. I have already posted my review of his first, “The Angel of the Opera.” This novel is told, in alternate chapters, from the viewpoint of Sherlock’s cousin, Dr. Henry Vernier and that of his cousin’s wife, Dr. Michelle Duodet-Vernier. These two viewpoints give the reader a more balanced view of Victorian English society than is normally afforded in the stories presented by Dr. Watson. The episodes narrated by Michelle are especially enlightening as they point up the absurd position held by women in that ‘civilized society.’In this book, Sherlock Holmes meets and combats his true intellectual equal, the real ’Moriarty’ that pervades the society of late Nineteenth Century England like a spider spinning a web with tendrils that connect through the highways and byways of life. In addition, we get to see a more human side of Holmes than that presented by Dr. Watson. Dr. Henry Vernier is visiting Sherlock in October, 1894 when one Mr. Donald Wheelwright comes to call. The case brought by Mr. Wheelwright began at a Pauper’s theme masked ball held in January, 1893 by a society friend. At the ball, Mrs. Wheelwright was cursed by a gypsy intruder and the curse has been reiterated by a note seemingly left at random in their home within the last few days. Sherlock is hired to uncover the person generating this threat and to remove any danger from Mrs. Wheelwright. Please note that Dr. Vernier disputes Watson’s account of The Great Hiatus and Holmes’ absence from London between 1891 and 1894.The details of the case and its societal implications seem to keep growing as Sherlock investigates. Suicides, perhaps murders, blackmailing, social unrest and conflicts ranging from the ratting parlors and whorehouses to the upper crust of society keep popping up. No common threads are seen, but the victims are connected by their attendance at the masked ball.The unique flavor of the Watson tales is missing. We do not see “The Great Detective,” with magnifying glass in hand, showing New Scotland Yard the error of their ways. Instead, we see Sherlock in intimate contact with the suffering and vice of the Victorian World. We see debauchery hand-in-hand with pietistic snobbishness and desperation allied with hopelessness. The mystery is complex but not baffling. What is difficult to see is a reasonable solution.This book was excellently edited. I only found a few spelling errors, particularly those British affectations of French spelling which so puzzle Americans. On the other hand, the characters persist in speaking in full sentences and keeping paragraphs all in one tense. I would be most frustrated were I an English teacher.Reviewed by: Philip K. Jones, October 2012