The Angel of the Opera

February 13, 2012
Despite some gratuitous shots at Dr. Watson, Siciliano's second pastiche is an improvement over his first, The Angel of the Opera, presenting a non-canonical view of Holmes that remains persuasive. Once again, the narrator is another doctor, Holmes' cousin Henry Vernier. On a visit by Vernier to Baker Street, Holmes reveals that "Watson's stories to the contrary, most crimes and criminals are stupid," and that the Moriarty of "The Final Problem" was a "complete fiction." Notwithstanding that, the detective has begun to believe that a real mastermind is at work behind the scenes of London crime. Holmes is consulted by Donald Wheelwright, heir to a potted meat business, who wants him to look into an incident from two years earlier; a female gypsy crashed a society ball, and cursed the attendees with a prophesy of ruin and early death, which preceded at least one violent death. The author's alterations in Holmes' personality might have had more power with Watson as storyteller, but there are enough positives to make this enjoyable.

May 30, 1994
In 1890 Sherlock Holmes and his cousin Dr. Henry Vernier are summoned to France to rid the great Paris Opera House of an ``opera ghost.'' Readers familiar with Gaston Leroux's story will be on safe ground in Siciliano's retelling. An elusive phantom threatens the management of the Opera with unnamed disasters unless he's paid ``several thousand francs a month'' and young and beautiful Christine Daae is cast as the lead in their productions. Under the tutelage of the ``Angel of Music,'' a fearfully disfigured musician living in the cellars of the Opera house, Christine becomes the rage of the Paris Opera. Holmes is hired by both the theater's management and the pompous and immature Viscount de Chagny, who adores Christine, to remove the Phantom's threat to profits and love. Although Holmes does little but interact with the other characters, through him and Vernier, the author re-examines the relationship of goodness and beauty. Siciliano's tale, while not original, is wonderfully atmospheric and moves briskly.