The Art of Detection by King Laurie R

Author:King, Laurie R. [King, Laurie R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery, Crime, Historical
ISBN: 9780553902617
Amazon: 055390261X
Goodreads: 7177277
Publisher: Bantam
Published: 2006-01-01T08:00:00+00:00

THE telephone on the desk beside her interrupted Kate’s reading. She fumbled for the receiver, her eyes still on the page, until the voice at the other end had her removing her heels from the out-pulled desk drawer and sitting upright.

“Yes, Mr. Nicholson. How are you today?”

“Enjoying the stationary life, thank you. Have you had a chance to look at the story?”

“I’m about halfway through it.”

“Then I won’t spoil it for you by telling you the end.”

“Okay.”

“However, it occurred to me this morning that, tired as I was yesterday, I failed to give you any of its background information. Of course, I haven’t written the report Philip asked me for, having not seen the actual manuscript yet, but my preliminary judgment would probably have weighed against a Conan Doyle authorship. For one thing, Doyle wrote only two other Holmes stories as narrated by Holmes in the first person—all the others were narrated by Watson, or in one case a third-person narrative. Second, a point which carries considerably more weight, Conan Doyle absolutely did not write about sex. Or if he was required to for the sake of the story, it would be heavily couched in Victorian terms—this particular story may have been written in the Twenties, but Conan Doyle was, birth to death, a Victorian gentleman. The idea of this particular man writing openly about transvestite singers and gay relationships would be, to say the least, startling. And absolutely unique in the canon.”

“So someone else wrote it.”

“Either that, or the story provides a hitherto unsuspected side of the man. You may or may not be aware that the Victorians were very fond of erotica, but they kept it well hidden, and written anonymously or pseudonymously. I have never come across the faintest breath of a suggestion that Conan Doyle wrote any.”

“And if he did?” She couldn’t quite see where he was going with his insistence.

“If this were to be verified as a Conan Doyle story, it would change the face of the Holmesian scholarship. And incidentally, it would be worth a fortune.”

Now, there was a point she could grasp.

“Well, the original is safe in the bank, in any case.”

“Good. Give me a ring when you’ve finished it.”

“I will.”

Inspector Martinelli went back to her reading.

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