A Transylvanian nobleman called Count Dracula arrives at 221B Baker Street seeking the help of Sherlock Holmes in finding his kidnapped wife Mina. Holmes is obliged to reassess his opinions about the outré; what until recently he discounted as fiction. But is Dracula a monster or misunderstood after the misconceptions of Bram Stoker’s novel. It isn’t long before it is discovered a much more dangerous vampire exists – one with intelligence and reasoning, who has discovered a way to manipulate the stages of transformation into a creature of the night. One who is creating his own army of associates. Watson suffers a life-changing situation and struggles to keep his dignity, particularly when faced with his lost wife – now an unscrupulous and bloodthirsty vampire. But just who is the Mariner Priest...?

It’s always a welcome surprise to receive an attractive hardback book for review, and particularly one which is set in my favourite writing period of the late 19th Century and the early 20th Century. Titan must be commended for their presentations. Much of the classic gothic horror originates from this era, in the form of H.P. Lovecraft’s peerless weird fiction, Edgar Allan Poe’s tales of terror, and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (to give it the short title). Of course, two other examples are Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes and Bram Stoker’s Dracula – which are represented in this novel. Like James Lovegrove, for example, Christian Klaver is no stranger to setting his original tales in this period. This is the first installment in his The Classified Dossier series, wherein Holmes and Dr Watson come across characters from Gothic literature, such as the aforementioned Dracula, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, and Dorian Gray. The idea here is that Sherlock Holmes is dead, and Watson is given permission to release some written-up adventures which had been kept under wraps because of their bizarre, grotesque and horrific nature.

The prose is presented in four parts: 'Count Dracula; The Innsmouth Waler'; 'The Adventure of the Lustrous Pearl'; and 'Old Enemies' – which are all linked, although they initially appear not to be. The title of the third part might suggest a crossover into Thomas Preskett Prest’s A String of Pearls – featuring Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street – but this proves to be a red herring. 'The Innsmouth Waler', however, plunges unremorselessly into the depths of H.P. Lovecraft’s Damon cult, based on his stories Shadow Over Innsmouth and Dagon. As a big Lovecraft fan this is probably the most enjoyable section for me. A fake waler makes a sea crossing in record time due to a large something – or several large somethings – pulling the boat from beneath the ocean. The crew are running with putrid water and smelling of foul fish, as in HPL’s Innsmouth inhabitants, and water-based humanoid creatures make a brief ‘appearance’.

There are moments in the book when it does get a little bogged-down in exposition – irrespective of whether it is relayed in dialogue between characters or not. Nevertheless, Dracula telling his back story is really interesting, because we learn which facts from Stoker’s novel are true and which are fiction within fiction, you might say. There is a host of characters, some suspicious at best and some out-and-out abominations, so it’s wise to concentrate on the five main players. One being the mysterious Mariner Priest. Sherlock Holmes enthusiasts will no doubt not be surprised by the grand unmasking. But it doesn’t spoil the romp, which is scattered with exciting set-pieces.

8

Ty Power