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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN num: 9780970869357
ISBN number: 0970869355
Label: Mountainside Press
Manufacturer: Mountainside Press
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 228
Printing Date: January 15, 2007
Publishing house: Mountainside Press
Sale Popularity Level: 126129
Studio: Mountainside Press
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Two of the most famous figures in Popular Cutlure meet in these previously undisclosed papers. After Mina Murray asks Holmes to locate her fiancee, Holmes and Watson travel to a land far eerier than the moors they had known when pursuing the Hound of the Baskervilles. The confrontation with Count Dracula threatens Holmes' health, his sanity, and his life. New adventure of Sherlock Holmes, so terrifying it could not be revealed until now. Sherlock Holmes, the master of rational analysis, confronts Count Dracula, master of the occult. Will Sherlock Holmes survive his battle with Count Dracula?
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Rated by buyers 
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This is, as advertised, a tale of Holmes and the plague carried by Count Dracula. It opens with Holmes being hired by Mina Murray to inquire into the whereabouts of her fiancée, Jonathan Harker. The events in this tale interconnect with those recounted by Bram Stoker in his classic book, "Dracula." It concludes with the return from the dead of Holmes as recounted in "The Empty House." Its action takes place over a period of time that includes the events of "Silver Blaze" and "The Final Problem" as well as the Great Hiatus.
For Sherlockians who adhere to the Great Detective's dictum, "Ghosts need not apply," the book manages to be fully satisfactory. From time to time, uneasiness creeps in and one fears that a supernatural explanation will be invoked, however, it never happens. That is not to say that the Canon is not twisted a bit, here and there, or that Holmes and Watson cross every `t' and dot every `i.' There are loose ends and unexplained events, but then, these exist in life every day.
In reading the book, I found my greatest problem to be my own expectation of some descent into romanticism and vampire voodoo, as is so common in recent vampire tales. I fully expected Holmes to take up with a vampire Irene Adler and for the two of them to dance off into a Hollywood sunset to a Romberg tune. It simply doesn't happen. Holmes and Watson struggle with the events cited in `Dracula' as the Count allies with Professor Moriarty in a gigantic scheme to acquire a failing Banking firm and create a legitimate front to `launder' the illicit income of the Professor's empire.
The events as described are, within limits, reasonable and realistic. The explanations given for the vampire phenomena are plausible and entertaining and the actions described can be `shoehorned' into the Canon as it stands. The writing is well done and flows neatly, with no more than a few Americanisms as is common to most pastiches penned on this side of the Atlantic. At least it does not contain the hideous amalgam of post-WWII British usage and cockney slang found in some modern UK efforts.
I had been reluctant to try the book because of my fears of another vampire novel and I was very pleasently surprised that I did not get `good vampires' and `bad vampires' locked in a struggle to save/doom humanity. Instead, I got the Great Detective and the Good Doctor facing a very real and very serious situation using their wits and his genius to resolve it.
Reviewed Author name: Philip K. Jones, October, 2008.
Rated by buyers 
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It is said that a good idea is worth repeating. However, I am fairly certain that the same notion does not apply to not so good ideas that have already been bludgeoned to death, such as pitting the Great Detective against either Jack the Ripper or, as we see here, that other great bogey man of the Victorian age, Count Dracula. Still, one shouldn't be overly surprised at another go-round of Holmes vs. Dracula since it is surely one of those all too tempting propositions for writers of pastiche, who are likely fueled by the happy and probably deluded notion that this time out they will be the one to get it right. While Stephen Seitz certainly brings a few new ideas to the table in SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE PLAGUE OF DRACULA, they aren't necessarily good ones, nor are they particularly well told, but there are some moments of genuine, if extremely cheesy, fun to be had in this book.
Retaining the format of Bram Stoker's novel, Seitz presents the book as a series of letters and personal journal entries, the bulk of which are Watson's. This has the effect of giving us an unedited view of Watson's inner workings, personal life and private thoughts that apparently include his fears about the disintegration of his marriage based on a suspicion that Mary Watson nee Morstan, is engaged in some sort of affair. Sadly this immediately breaks any illusion that this might feel like a Watsonian narrative and sets an uncomfortably tawdry tone to the proceedings.
In the very first part, Castle Dracula, Mina Murray draws Holmes and Watson into a search for her missing fiancé Jonathan Harker. Our duo head off to Transylvania, exchange some embarrassingly bad dialogue with cardboard cutout villagers and gypsies, make their way to Castle Dracula where Holmes has a near fatal, Hammer Films sort of encounter with the Count's "Brides", find little trace of Harker but do find documents that indicate Moriarty is working with Dracula to destabilize a bank, before escaping and making their way back to England. Against all the evidence, being attacked, heavily bled, his remarkable recovery, etc...Holmes is not convinced of the existence of vampires!
The Plague of Dracula, begins with Watson's attempts to find his missing wife who has fled to Mrs. Cecil Forrester's home in Winchester, where it becomes apparent that she has fallen under the sway of Dracula. Holmes arrives, seemingly in the nick of time, but Dracula uses the life of Mary Watson as leverage, forcing Holmes to drop his investigation. On their way to investigate the Silver Blaze case, Holmes and Watson stop to visit the newly married Harkers, meet Van Helsing, and generally become embroiled with the Bloofer Lady aspects of Stoker's novel, until Lord Godalming takes exception to Holmes' interference and has him warned off by brother Mycroft. Still not admitting to the existence of vampires, Holmes instead believes all he has seen to be the result of clever stage trickery.
Finally, in The Great Hiatus, we return to the Canonical events leading up to the Moriarty confrontation at Reichenbach, but with a few rather surprising and largely ridiculous twists, such as Holmes perhaps actually dying, and not just once either! How does it all work out? Not in a satisfying or particularly logical manner, but if you want details, I'm afraid you'll have to find out for yourself.
Bottom line: At best, an Ed Wood-like guilty pleasure that keeps you turning pages, despite the obvious and many failings, but still eventually leaves you with the vague feeling that you've been suckered again! At worst, well, that feeling that you have, in fact, actually been suckered again! For a far better Holmes/Dracula story, go hunt up a copy of Loren D. Estleman's 1978 book, the creatively titled SHERLOCK HOLMES VS. DRACULA.
Rated by buyers -
I bought this novel in remembrance of a similiar novel I enjoyed reading years ago by an author of the Dracula series - I can't recollect or pronounce his surname well enough to put it in this review, but he was quite good, I assure you! Now I'm glad I got the current novel here - best luck to you!
Rated by buyers -
This is an interesting melding of Holmes and Watson into the traditional Dracula tale that takes the reader from London to Transylvania to the Reichenbach Falls. Mimicking the writing style of Conan Doyle, the author presents a logical insertion of Holmes and Watson with the characters in the Dracula story. It moves along at an easy pace. The last quarter of the book felt like the author was unsure of how to end the story, although he did add some interesting twists. I do, however, applaud the author for the way he wove the characters of both stories into a natural sequence of events.
Rated by buyers 
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Sherlock Holmes and the Plague of Dracula Sad, this. The story is well written enough. The problem, of course,is that it has already been done (and much BETTER done) by Loren D. Estleman in Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula: The Adventure of the Sanguinary Count. It is possible that Mr. Seitz believes (or, at least, HOPES) that the entire generation of Sherlockians (in the US) and Holmesians (in the UK) and whatever they call themselves elsewhere..are dead--or, at least, afflicted with Alzheimer's and won't remember the earlier work. After all...that was WAAAY back in 1978....
Well, we aren't (d or a w A) and we DO remember Mr. Estleman's book. SOME of us even remember BBC Radio's fine dramatization of it with John Moffatt as Sherlock Holmes and the inestimable David March giving a truly CONVINCING portrayal of Count Dracula. (A program you can download and listen to from THE INTERNET ARCHIVE if you search for SHADOWSGIRL, btw).
Mr. Seitz is, as I said before, a pretty good writer--one hopes that he will think of something ORIGINAL subsequent time.
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