Paul D. Gilbert;
Publisher: Robert Hale (April 1, 2013)
“[Jeremy Brett’s]
exuberance while filming ‘The Devil’s Foot’—an exuberance that to some extent
was a result of his illness—led him to make additions to the story, some not
always in keeping with either Conan Doyle’s Holmes or his previous
performances. It was that great enthusiasm and thrill at developing the character
that was responsible for us seeing Holmes wearing a bandana around his head, as
Brett had worn one in the swinging ‘sixties. He also draped his scarf around
his trilby hat in a strange way. Bohemian, maybe; risible, certainly. A still
in ‘The Sunday Times’ which featured Holmes with this scarf/hat concoction was
captioned: ‘Sherlock Holmes as a teapot!’” (David Stuart Davies, “Bending the Willow”)
The Sherlock Holmes of Paul Gilbert’s books is immediately recognizable.
Beyond the features that automatically mark the character as the Great
Detective, there is a more specific quality in every turn of phrase, sharply
raised eyebrow and peculiar idiosyncrasy. Gilbert’s Sherlock Holmes is
unquestionably and unmistakably Jeremy Brett. The author of four collections of
Sherlockian pastiche – The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes, The Chronicles of Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock Holmes and the Giant Rat of Sumatra, and most recently, The Annals of Sherlock Holmes – Gilbert said in a 2010 interview:
"He was a great actor and when
I write, Jeremy Brett is my Sherlock. His family have read my books and I
believe they have gone down well with them… I owe a lot to Jeremy Brett. I
never met him but my interpretation of Holmes owes a lot to his character."
And that debt to Jeremy Brett is present within even the
first few pages of The Annals of Sherlock Holmes, a collection of three stories inspired by canonical references (to both
unpublished cases in Dr. Watson’s dispatch box at Cox and Co., at Charing Cross,
and fringe characters from published stories). In the very first tale, as
Holmes and Watson keep a frigid vigil on Christmas Eve, Watson remarks:
“I could not help but wonder at my
friend’s effrontery. After all, he was sitting comfortably in the corner of
this tiny stable with his muffler tied down about his hat while a large brown
blanket was draped over his shoulders forming the shape of a teepee (13).”
The passage evokes an almost instantaneous recollection of
Jeremy Brett’s puzzling wardrobe choices from the Granada Television adaptation
of “The Devil’s Foot.” Gilbert’s Sherlock Holmes is a vivid and sharply painted
portrait, recognizable in every word and gesture. It is a remarkable tribute.
Likewise, his Watson seems to be equal shades of David Burke and Edward Hardwicke – although there appears to be a little bit more of Hardwicke’s interpretation
in his Watson’s frustration and exasperation: “Really, Holmes, on this occasion
you have surely surpassed yourself. Your shabby treatment of me displays a
wanton lack of respect that I surely don’t deserve!” (51) Over the course of
three separate stories, Gilbert successfully achieves cohesiveness and
consistency, allowing the collection to be appreciated as a whole – as well as for
the merits of its parts.
vvv
The Dundas Separation
Case: In “A Case of Identity,” as he attempts to explain to Dr. Watson just
how infinitely strange life can be, Sherlock Holmes makes reference to some
papers, saying:
“This is the Dundas separation
case, and, as it happens, I was engaged in clearing up some small points in
connection with it. The husband was a teetotaller, there was no other woman,
and the conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of winding
up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling them at his wife, which
you will allow is not an action likely to occur to the imagination of the
average story-teller.”
While the canonical reference makes it sound as if Watson
was unaware of this peculiar case, Gilbert’s readers soon learn that this just
simply isn’t so. When Holmes and Watson are contacted by Miss Edith Swinton – a
friend of Miss Violet Hunter (COPP), she asks their help in deciphering the excessively
bizarre behavior of her employer, Sir Balthazar Dundas. Since the arrival of a
mysterious visitor, Dundas has begun to treat his wife in an appallingly
abusive fashion, and is now cloistering himself in the attic of his home in Dungeness.
Readers soon learn that this case is also the explanation behind Watson’s oblique
canonical reference to “the whole story concerning the politician, the
lighthouse, and the trained cormorant” (VEIL).
The Abernetty Mystery:
During “The Adventure of the Six Napoleons,” Sherlock Holmes tells
Inspector Lestrade:
“The affair seems absurdly
trifling, and yet I dare call nothing trivial when I reflect that some of my
most classic cases have had the least promising commencement. You will
remember, Watson, how the dreadful business of the Abernetty family was first
brought to my notice by the depth which the parsley had sunk into the butter
upon a hot day.”
The unpublished case of the Abernetty family has always stimulated
curiosity. What could be a better example of Sherlock Holmes’s keen deductive
reasoning than his observations on something as seemingly insignificant as a
sprig of parsley? When Holmes and Watson are invited to visit the Collier
family (a reference to Gilbert’s previous work, Sherlock Holmes and the Giant Rat of Sumatra), Watson suggests that
they make a brief visit to his friend, Montague Abernetty, along the way. But
where Holmes and Watson go, trouble is sure to follow. When the men arrive,
Abernetty is already dead of cyanide poisoning – and every member of his family
is a suspect!
The Adventure of the
Reluctant Spirit: "I have come to you, Mr. Holmes," Miss Mary Morstan told Sherlock Holmes in The Sign of Four, "because you once enabled my employer, Mrs. Cecil Forrester,
to unravel a little domestic complication. She was much impressed by your
kindness and skill." While it has been some time since the passing of his
wife, Dr. Watson still maintains contact with the woman who once employed her,
Mrs. Cecil Forrester. Unfortunately, Mrs. Forrester is recently bereaved and
under the influence of a medium who claims he can make contact with her
deceased daughter, Evangeline. As such, she turns again to the man who once
impressed her with his “kindness and skill”. But with Sherlock Holmes
supposedly engaged in the investigation of a sapphire gone missing from a
locked room, Watson appears to be on his own in assisting his old acquaintance.
However, the two cases begin to intersect, and Langdale Pike (3GAB) arrives,
with his own peculiar set of skills, to aid them both.
vvv
Gilbert has summoned a Sherlock Holmes who is in full
possession of his powers, and does not hesitate to use them completely. His
Watson is at equal turns admiring and exasperated, but always at the Detective’s
side. Everything about them is authentic and familiar, as comfortable as a
visit to Baker Street and an old dressing gown. The Annals of Sherlock Holmes is the latest contribution to Paul
Gilbert’s fine collection of Sherlock Holmes pastiche, and he remains exacting
in his details and faithful in his execution.
oOo
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