Raising the Undead

The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: Séance for a Vampire by Fred Saberhagen

Sherlock Holmes and Watson return to investigate the case of a girl who has come back from the dead during a séance held at her parents’ home.  While, normally, Holmes would look for the scientific explanation of the mystery, he knows better this time, and he and Watson suspect the girl may have been turned into a vampire. Written in the style of Doyle but with a twist, this Sherlockian adventure will take you back to Victorian England with a Stoker-ish twist.

When I first heard about the “Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” project I was very excited.  I chose this book as my first introduction to the series because I’m also a

Dracula fan and wanted to see how Saberhagen would combine these two legendary characters.  The story was a very enjoyable read and Saberhagen is able to take creative license while still staying true to the spirit of Doyle’s original work.  I have to admit, however, I was disappointed with the quality of the work.  Unlike a Doyle written Holmes adventure, the narration seems a little stiff and Watson’s voice doesn’t feel natural.  The portion of the story written from Dracula’s perspective are also a little forced and feel more like someone trying to write like Dracula would rather than the character speaking for himself.

After I got over my initial disappointment with the style and focused just on the story I was able to enjoy myself.  The book doesn’t try to take itself too seriously and reading it is just a lot of fun, which is the spirit in which you have

to take this book to enjoy it.  They mystery is a little intriguing (although a little flat) and the combined elements of a Stoker-like vampire hunt combined with a Sherlock-mystery solving adventure gets you to turn pages.  Saberhagen also combines some elements of world history to add a few complications to the plot that helped add some depth at the end.

As with a lot of books that pick up where the original author left off it misses the spark of an original, but still makes for an enjoyable tale.