R.I.P., Michael Dibdin
Apr. 5th, 2007 02:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
marycrawfordMichael Dibdin died, alas.
He was known for his detective novels, most of them about a detective called Aurelio Zen. I haven't read those, but I read another novel of his that turns out to have been his first book. Which...wow.
It was The Last Sherlock Holmes Story, one of the best Holmes pastiches I've read, and a book that scared the pants off me. If this were fanfic - and isn't it? - I'd have to call it a darkfic AU.
In The Last Sherlock Holmes Story, Dibdin links the Jack the Ripper murders with Sherlock Holmes in a particularly horrifying way. Holmes is hired to solve the Ripper murders, but has unexpected problems. Through Watson's POV, we slowly figure out why - it's because Sherlock Holmes, the man who always lamented the lack of clever criminals to match wits with, is himself Jack the Ripper. It's horrible and painful and yet, the way Dibdin lays it out, believable. Watson's voice is very close to the real thing, and that makes it even more chilling. It's the least 'cozy' Holmes book I've ever read.
Interestingly, the connection between Holmes and Watson still feels very strong in this book, and the ending is also one of the slashiest moments I've come across in Holmes pastiches (not counting the one by Rohase Piercy that actually is a Holmes/Watson romance), showing that Holmes will do anything, even die, rather than hurt Watson. Snf.
He was known for his detective novels, most of them about a detective called Aurelio Zen. I haven't read those, but I read another novel of his that turns out to have been his first book. Which...wow.
It was The Last Sherlock Holmes Story, one of the best Holmes pastiches I've read, and a book that scared the pants off me. If this were fanfic - and isn't it? - I'd have to call it a darkfic AU.
In The Last Sherlock Holmes Story, Dibdin links the Jack the Ripper murders with Sherlock Holmes in a particularly horrifying way. Holmes is hired to solve the Ripper murders, but has unexpected problems. Through Watson's POV, we slowly figure out why - it's because Sherlock Holmes, the man who always lamented the lack of clever criminals to match wits with, is himself Jack the Ripper. It's horrible and painful and yet, the way Dibdin lays it out, believable. Watson's voice is very close to the real thing, and that makes it even more chilling. It's the least 'cozy' Holmes book I've ever read.
Interestingly, the connection between Holmes and Watson still feels very strong in this book, and the ending is also one of the slashiest moments I've come across in Holmes pastiches (not counting the one by Rohase Piercy that actually is a Holmes/Watson romance), showing that Holmes will do anything, even die, rather than hurt Watson. Snf.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-05 02:15 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-05 02:28 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-05 04:19 pm (UTC)