Word: sherlockian
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Kreizler, an intellectual autocrat of almost Sherlockian self-assurance, takes up the pursuit with a somewhat addlepated New York Times reporter named Moore; his pal Sara, a gun-packing early feminist with bumptious ambitions to be a police officer; and a pair of brothers named Isaacson, who are scientifically up-to-date detectives. From the dimmest of clues, this team deduces a shape in the fog: an intelligent, physically powerful, driven individual who was abused sexually as a child but raised in a strictly religious family. The hunt is on, with much clambering over rooftops, chasing about in cabs...
...sufficient literary merit or sheer entertainment value to make a mystery addiction seem respectable. This year's leading entries come from two old hands at humor, one regaining his form after several lean years, the other moving on to complex sociological terrain. Also affording special pleasure are a Sherlockian pastiche from an elder statesman, the eagerly awaited return of two detectives whose creator prefers plumbing the darkest of psyches, a couple of hard-boiled escapades centered on the trade in illegal immigrants, and two nightmare imaginings that unfold underground...
Umberto Eco's novel was a deliciously complex academician's joke: a multiple- murder mystery set in the Middle Ages and starring a Sherlockian monk with the mind-set of a modern semiotician. Director Jean-Jacques Annaud's pale "palimpsest" of the novel opts instead for rolling around in the muck, blood and superstitions of primitive societies -- a sort of Quest for Friar. Annaud goes about his task with the self-satisfied air of an anthropology professor shocking the freshmen out of their complacency. His reversal of the tale's priorities dulls its point and dims the mature, intelligent presence...
...simply that she is more consciously literary than most of the other detective story writers . . ." Despite Wilson's judgment, Sayers and Lord Peter Wimsey, her witty sleuth, have become two of the most beloved figures in detective fiction. An engaging mix of upper-class sang-froid and Sherlockian intellect, Wimsey set new standards in highbrow snooping. As viewers of the PBS series can testify, only Wimsey would drive a Daimler to the scene of the crime, sport a monocle, and dine out with marquesses and murderers...
...Adventure of the Sussex Vampire. " evertheless, if a man goes to bat for me, the least I can do is listen to his tale. And, in point of fact, both Dibdin and Estleman observe the law, grant them that. As the mystery writer Dorothy Sayers will write of the Sherlockian pastiche, "The rule of the game is that it must be played as solemnly as a county cricket match at Lord's." Neither writer mocks; both stories are formal. Both will have readers clued to their seats. But face it, old fellow, your speech is pathetically easy to echo...