The Battle of the Literary Heavyweights…Let's Get Ready to Rumble

“Sherlock Holmes is my friend.” John Watson in response to Count Dracula as to why he joined the odyssey against him. 

Sherlock Holmes vs Dracula

A Review by Jim Romano

Hey 1000 Bookies!!  Welcome to Halloween Season.  This week our travels through literature takes us to Victorian England in the late 1890s.  Our portal lands us at Loren Estleman’s novel entitled Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula.  Originally published in 1978, the great detective and his sidekick meet one of the most evil men in literature.  With this time of year, I love spooky books and this novel is quite spooky and of course fun.  The story runs in conjunction with and parallel to Bram Stoker’s gothic horror novel, Dracula, which I read (and blogged about) last Halloween (https://www.reading1000books.com/2019/10/i-know-there-is-no-such-person-as.htm).  Holmes and Watson are injected into the fight against Count Dracula.  This story is approximately 200 pages and pretty easy to read and holds your attention.  I enjoyed the story thoroughly and recommend it for anyone who wants to cuddle up with a good book and be spooked. 

Loren Estleman is a mystery and fiction writer who is a fan of the Sherlock Holmes series.  He wrote several Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes novels.  Mr. Estleman also wrote the introduction to the Bantam Classics 1986 edition of Sherlock Holmes, The Complete Novels and Stories, Volume 1.  Estleman is an admirer of Dr. Watson which shows both in his introduction and in this novel.  For those not familiar, Dr. Watson “wrote” the super majority of the stories of Sherlock Holmes.  This story begins with an admirer purchasing a box of items (supposedly junk) from an estate sale of Sherlock Holmes’s cousin in Canada.  In this box, the admirer finds a manuscript of an unpublished story that Watson wrote, and he begins to read it.  It seems that Dr. Watson is very perturbed that Abraham Van Helsing, vampire hunter, excised Watson and Mr. Sherlock Holmes from the story that Bram Stoker wrote on the crusade against the Transylvanian terror.  So, he was going to set the record straight. 

Holmes and Watson are engaged by a journalist to come to the shores of Whitby, England because a strange incident has occurred.  A ship named The Demeter came into port during a very violent thunderstorm.  The captain of The Demeter was found dead, tied to the steering wheel of the ship and his ship's log stuffed in his pockets.  The log he wrote tells the story of the crew members disappearing, a phantom on board and a strange animal.  And one other fact, the men at the lighthouse who witnessed that arrival of the Demeter saw a large dog jump off the boat after it landed.  Holmes examines the boat, the dead body (which he notices two punctures in the neck) and learns that crates of fresh dirt were on board (following Stoker's story).  Almost right after, Holmes and Watson are mysteriously fired from the case.  So, weeks go by with Dr. Watson not giving this story another thought.  All of a sudden, Holmes is heading back to Whitby because he has been following accounts of the “Bloofer Lady”, (a British cockneyed corruption of “Beautiful Lady”) who we know from Dracula to be a vampiric Lucy Westenra, who the Count had been…toying with over several weeks until he finally finished her off. 

Holmes leaves Watson in London and heads to the scene to investigate.  Watson gets bored and decides to go searching for Holmes.  Watson shows up near Whitby and of course meets up with Lucy Westenra. He falls under her spell and is only saved in the end by a disguised Holmes.  Eventually Holmes and Watson decided to investigate Lucy’s tomb only to tumble onto a group of men about to drive a stake through her heart.  Those men are Dr. John Seward, Quincey Morris, Lord Godalming and Abraham Van Helsing (the original characters from Dracula).  Dr. Watson is convinced he witnessed a murder. 

Later on, our six heroes meet at Van Helsing’s residence to compare notes.  Von Helsing and Sherlock Holmes have each heard of the other, their reputations preceded them—setting up an ultimate clash of egos.  This book has lots of big egos—Holmes, Van Helsing and of course Dracula. Van Helsing explains what they think and what arrived on the boat weeks prior.  Von Helsing tells the story of Jonathan Harker and Mina Murray and their backstory with the Transylvanian Count.  However, the Dracula fighting quartet does not want Holmes or Watson’s assistance or involvement at all to the point of threatening them with the authorities.  Does that stop the great Sherlock Holmes—Oh Hell No!  I was actually disappointed that Sherlock Holmes and Van Helsing did not, could not work together. I believe that would have made the story more interesting and funny with each attempting to one up the other. 

Holmes and Watson decide they are going to battle Dracula, because Holmes cannot give up a battle and let Abraham Van Helsing wound his pride.  First, Holmes and Watson go to meet with Mina Harker secretly on her train ride back to London and obtain what she knows.  Then the detectives decide to visit Dracula’s lair at Carfax Abbey where they see him and are almost attacked and killed by rats (very reminiscent of Salem’s Lot by Stephen King). 

Finally, in a different scenario than in the Dracula novel, the Count comes to 221B Baker Street to confront Sherlock Holmes.  Another battle of the titan egos.  In the novel, Dracula, the Count doesn’t reveal himself to Van Helsing, you never see them match wits and intellect but in this novel Dracula does with Holmes.  He warns and threatens Holmes to stay out of his way.  Dracula makes a point to repeat that he has heard of Holmes’ exploits even in Transylvania, which Sherlock gives credit to Watson, who watches this exchange in awe.  Of course, Holmes cannot do what the Count wants.    We know that Dracula also has his sights on Mina but that is a different story. The Count is being hunted by both Van Helsing and his group and Holmes and Watson. He must escape and uses Mary Watson as a hostage. Holmes and Watson race to rescue her. Dracula has to flee the country because we know from the novel, the Count needs his final confrontation with Van Helsing and the others in Eastern Europe.   

The overarching theme for me from both Dracula and this novel is the importance of friendship.  To conquer evil, you need friendship, you can’t do it on your own.  To quote Clarence the Angel, “No man is truly a failure who has friends.”  The quartet in Dracula defeat him through their friendship and working together.  Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson do the same.  Count Dracula has no friends, just people under his spell, servants and slaves.  My favorite scene of the book is at the hospital where Dr. Watson’s wife is recuperating after being saved from Dracula.  Count Dracula, in a surprise to all, walks in her room to confront Watson because he desperately wants to know why Watson risked everything to battle him.  Dracula understands the motivation of Van Helsing and Sherlock Holmes, and the others (Seward, Quincy and Arthur) but not Dr. Watson and it really bothers Dracula, he needs to understand.  Watson’s answer would be the answer I hope I would give in a similar situation, “Because Sherlock Holmes is my friend”.  We all have friends and there are few things we wouldn’t do for our friends. 

This was a fun read at this time of the year.  This is the type of book you could obtain at a used bookstore and read on a rainy day with a drink of whiskey and enjoy.  Happy Halloween!! 

Keep Reading My Friends!!!