It's perhaps inevitable that countless authors over the years have put Sherlock Holmes to work solving the Jack the Ripper murders. Holmes and the Ripper were, after all, contemporaries in 1888. But so were Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the Ripper. Now comes Diane Gilbert Madsen with a crackerjack mystery that puts the author and the serial killer together.
DD McGil, former academic turned insurance investigator, finds herself on the trail of not only a lost Conan Doyle manuscript, but the also author's notes of his investigation into the Ripper murders. Before the final page she endures jail time, stalking, a fire, getting fired, and the death of friend. But she does find out who Conan Doyle fingered as the Ripper, and he may have been right.
This fast-moving, meticulously researched novel is the third adventure of the engaging DD McGil, who has a penchant for literary crimes. Earlier she tackled cases connected with Ernest Hemingway and Robert Burns. That's a theme that has some legs: DD could solve a lot more literati mysteries without exhausting the possibilities. And I hope she does.
The author really knows her Conan Doyle, heading each of the 65 short chapters with an appropriate quote from the great Scot. Oh, that's another thing, McGil is a thoroughly Scottish lass right down to the wee dram of Macallan that helps her through the rough spots.
The book will be officially launched on May 22, the 155th birthday of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, with a launch party in Chicago. Diane Gilbert Madsen will be appear via Skype from there at an ACD birthday event at the Sherlock Holmes Hotel on Baker Street.
The Conan Doyle Notes: The Secret of Jack the Ripper is available for pre order from all good bookstores including Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Waterstones UK, and for free shipping worldwide Book Depository.
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