Sherlock Holmes Work Capitol (Fight Card)

This novel was published as part of a series of novels about boxing. There are already two dozen or more books in this “Fight Card” series. In addition, the author has had at least three novellas about Sherlock Holmes published in the “Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective series,” Volumes 1 through 4.

The author acknowledges, in his prefatory note, that this book may offend Sherlockians, but that it is, in solid fact, the way that Doyle presented Holmes in the Canon, as an action figure. I must agree. In several ways, this book seems more like the Canonical tales than many other pieces of Sherlockian fiction published in the last one hundred and ten plus years. The author does not use Dr. Watson so heavily to present Holmes as did Doyle, but the intent is there. Further, Watson is not quite so confused in this tale as he was in many of the Canonical tales, but that is only because the author did not use him to present plausible “red herrings” to distract the reader as did Doyle.

The book begins with a fairly common scene among Victorian boxing annals. Angus McMurdo is retiring from professional fighting and his friends and colleagues are throwing a celebration for him. Part of the celebration is an exhibition bout with a rising young fighter, in this case, Sherlock Holmes. It was a custom of the times that all proceeds from the bout were to go to the retiring fighter as a sort of retirement endowment. Further, as the bout was public and bare-knuckle fighting was illegal, the boxers wore gloves covered in lampblack so that the audience could see where the blows fell. Strange, but this is true to the times. This event is mentioned later by Watson in The Sign of Four when McMurdo is encountered as a security guard for Thaddeus Sholto.

Soon after the bout, a dead man is found a short distance away. Holmes and Watson investigate and come upon a vandalized bar and a dwarf who has been badly beaten. The next day, Inspector Lestrade arrives at Baker Street and questions them about the events. Holmes stresses the use of gloves and the ‘friendly’ nature of the bout, explaining that it was all quite legal. Sometime afterward, the father of the murdered man engages Holmes to find his son’s killer. At this point, things become confused, everyone seems to think Holmes and Watson are on the other side without any reason other than a guilty conscience. There appear to be at least four or five ‘sides’ and the reasons that events occur seem to pop out of the ground, not from human motivation. Everyone hates everyone else but no real motives appear. Meanwhile Christmas approaches and good cheer abounds, somewhere under the snow.

Solving the mystery takes work, brawn and a great deal of thought, but, in the end, Sherlock makes sense of it all and the villains get their come-uppance. As I said before, this tale seems to ring of the Canon. It is much more like a Canonical tale than most of the more recent pastiches published. Holmes is calculating and careful, Watson is distressed and confused and the villains are truly villainous while events occur at blinding speed and in random-seeming fashion.

Reviewed March, 2014 by Philip K. Jones