As a child I so enjoyed the Sherlock Holmes movies I saw predominantly with Sir\u00a0Basil Rathbone. \u00a0I fell in love with the Sherlock Holmes stories as a teenager and pledged myself to live as Mr. Holmes. \u00a0The reason and apparent stoicism of Sherlock Holmes appealed to me as a young atheist in so many ways. \u00a0Really Sherlock Holmes and Spock were my very ideals as to how to live. \u00a0I guess I didn’t realize how ironic it was that my atheistic ideals for how a human was to live was based on fictional characters. \u00a0Regardless there is much to love in these stories and through the years I have re-read them and read some of the novels by others who took on this great character. \u00a0I recently saw the latest Sherlock Holmes movie and while I enjoyed it, I had to keep many neurons from firing in complaining in disbelief how far it strayed from the original Sherlock Holmes stories.<\/p>\n
I started this out to proclaim my Sherlock Holmes bonafides and that I am a true fanboy of the character. \u00a0So when I was asked to review a new book called “Murder in the Vatican: The Church Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes ” by Ann Margaret Lewis you can imagine my delight. \u00a0The intersection of Sherlock Holmes and the Catholic Church are a combination I could hardly refuse. \u00a0That the stories involved Pope Leo XIII is another bonus.<\/p>\n
From page one I was instantly immersed in the stories and even better I was never thrown out of the story because of some inconsistency. \u00a0I felt these were truly Sherlock Holmes stories and I got the same enjoyable feeling from these as I did originally from the stories. \u00a0Having the Pope prominently involved was enjoyable, but it was not the Catholic Church grafted on to a Sherlock Holmes story, but something integral and natural to the story. \u00a0This is really quite an accomplishment in my opinion. \u00a0Even better is the fact that each of the stories is somewhat based on a snippet about some other Sherlock Holmes case alluded to in the original stories. \u00a0This makes it even better and quite amazing to me that a story could be crafted out of such a little snippet from the original stories.<\/p>\n
There are three stories in this book and while I enjoyed all of them, “The Vatican Cameos” was my favorite one and the one closest to an original Sherlock Holmes Story. \u00a0In a way that is surprising because the storytelling departs from the traditional in that Dr. Watson does not tell most of the story. \u00a0The snippet this story is dependent on is one where Dr. Watson was not involved. \u00a0Instead most of the story telling is told from the view of Pope Leo XIII who writes it out for the benefit of a request from Dr. Watson. \u00a0I so loved this story and the conversations between Pope Leo XIII and Sherlock Holmes.<\/p>\n
The only caveat I have about this novel is that in one part the Pope says \u00a0\u201cThievery is always mortally sinful and one such sin always builds upon another.\u201d \u00a0In Catholic moral teaching this is certainly not true. \u00a0A father who steals bread for his children to live has not necessarily committed a mortal sin. \u00a0What is stolen has an effect on whether a theft is mortally or venially sinful. A pen stolen from work certainly does not have the same moral weight of someone robbing a bank of a substantial sum. I just can\u2019t see a pope making such a basic error in conversation.<\/p>\n
The only real bad news about this novel is that it will not be published until August. \u00a0I really wish others could read it now it is so\u00a0enjoyable.<\/p>\n
* Footnote: On my discussion on my early love of Spock. \u00a0Science Fiction author and Catholic convert John C. Wright “If Vulcans\u00a0\u00a0had a church, they’d be Catholics.” Well maybe if Sherlock Holmes had a Church it would be the Catholic Church.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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